The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld

My latest reading selection came from the ubiquitous Richard & Judy Book Club. This particular one is from their offerings for 2007 and it actually won their competition as their book of the year. Having not read all the others it was up against I can't comment on that result. However, their selections are usually pretty good reads and it certainly helps take out the wondering about what to read next. This one certainly did not disappoint so I can stay faithful to the scheme. Encouraging reading must be a good thing in general and should be supported. This book is predominantly set out as a ... more

Paperback Fiction rev iew The Interpretation of Murder. It is a multi award winning novel that has seen much advertising in the press in the UK. It was first published in Hardback in GB in 2006 and then in paperback 2007. The author is Jed Rubenfield and American Professor of law and former drama student. This is his first novel. The plot is briefly outlined on the back of the novel. On the morning Sigmund Freud arrives in New York to begin a series of lectures a young woman is found murdered. The following night another young girl is discovered bound and gagged and tied to a chandelier ... more

This is one of the books doing the circuit of book groups across the nation at the moment, as it's in a popular genre (the whodunit) yet has plenty to talk about. Psychology, Shakespeare, American society, sexuality, jealousy, class and politics all play a part in the tale, leaving endless threads for discussion. The plot focuses on a fairly mysterious episode in the life of Sigmund Freud, who had a very peculiar reaction to his one and only trip to the United States. Jed Rubenfeld (a first-time novelist) speculates about what could have caused the father of psychoanalysis to turn against the ... more

Interpreting murders, minds and mysteries The Interpretation of Murder is the first novel from Jed Rubenfeld (see below) and was published in 2006. It won the Richard & Judy Book Club Best Read. I received the book as a gift at Christmas, and it came as a welcome break for me from reading John Rebus novels! The Book Although it is a novel - and therefore fiction - it is based around real events and at the end of the book is a section explaining which events in the book are real - and which are false. The book is set in 1909, in New York. It begins with Sigmund Freud and his two European ... more

I was given this as a gift a few months ago because the person knew I loved my crime thrillers and that I’m a psychology nut. The two combine well in this novel, and it’s one I’d seen advertised a fair bit so I was looking forward to reading it for myself. On the front of the book we’re told that this is a ‘million-copy bestseller’, and that The Guardian thinks it’s ‘Spectacular… fiendishly clever’. It’s always nice to see a bit of praise on the front to draw you in. The cover itself is quite simple and doesn’t give too much away, just hints at the time in which the novel may have been set ... more