The Literary Murder

The subtitles of Gur's detective series featuring Israeli detective Superintendent Michael Ohayon give the reader a hint of what's in store....this one is "A Critical Case". (It's more than just word play although I love them for that alone; the first was The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytical Case, and next up is Murder on the Kibbutz: A Communal Case.) One does not approach these expecting thrill-a-minute action or Holmesian deduction. They are intellectual exercises above and beyond simply figuring out whodunit. In this one, the key to solving two murders within the Hebrew Literature department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem lies in philosophical debate over artistic ethics. Despite his superior's repeated declarations show more that the police department "is NOT a university", it is Ohayon's academic background and growing understanding of politics within that community which allows him to finally parse out how a nationally recognized poet and one of his most fervent disciples ended up dead by violence within days of one another. Lots of fairly dense discussion among the characters about the value of poetry, what constitutes "good" poetry, what can and should be sacrificed to Art, as well as some true literary criticism and interpretation of Biblical references in the work of poets Natan Zach and Solomon ibn Gabirol made this a challenging, yet rewarding read. If I have a quibble it is that occasionally I felt I might be missing something due to the translation. show less

This is a bit of a step up for me (the second in the Michael Ohayon mystery series) or maybe it's because I really love the literary world and can identify with the academia-people on display here. This one has more philosophy about literature than the others (obviously, since it takes place in the Literature Department), which really rekindled my love of literary theory, and it had some really interesting points to make about the nature of art. I also really admire how Gur manages to get under the skin of the various groups she portrays. Again Gur writes a solid mystery but this one has a little extra "oomph" for me personally.

I'm really glad I finally read this book. I originally got it because it was by an Israeli author. I've had this book so long that the author is no longer alive. As I'm not that good at deciphering mysteries, I kept a list of characters (there were so many!), plot sequences, vocabulary words, and my guesses at who commited the two murders. I guessed one of the two people but I didn't guess why. The plot was so involved that I thought for sure I'd never figure out what happens in the end. During this mystery, the plot takes goes off onto a tangent about poetry. Ooops! I almost got lost there. Fortunately, the story gripped me enough that I wanted to read quickly to find out the end. I was not disappointed. It all made sense when I got to show more the end of the story.

The plot was based on a employees of the Department of Literature at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, but more specifically those who are involved with teaching poetry. There is no way I could have guessed the end of this book because the key to what happened really lies almost at the end of the book in a subplot. I generally don't like mysteries that go on and on and only reveal the entire twisty plot in the end, but this was an interesting story throughout.

I have other books by Batya Gur. Now I Ilook forward to reading those as well. show less

We first met Michael Ohayon in The Saturday Morning Murder. Since then he has been promoted to Superintendent and his new case is the violent death of a famous poet, lecturer, critic and literature professor from Hebrew University. Curiously, at the same time, albeit miles away, another murder has taken place and this victim is also a member of the same department at the same university. Very interesting. What makes this case so interesting is that Ohayon must wrestle with the complexities of literary criticism, intellectual integrity, and ethics in a world of competitive academia. Everyone at the university becomes a suspect when the motive is simple envy.

This one didn't grab my attention in exactly the same way that PD James novels don't (there I've said it in public). The characters were the sort of people I imagine I wouldn't like if I met them in real life and the plot was disjointed and full of small details that didn't interest me in the slightest. So I didn't finish it. Unusually for me (and only because it is set in Israel which is a place I love and don't have any other good crime fiction from) I'm going to throw it to the bottom of the TBR mountain and might pick it up again in a year or three. But for now I'm done.

The 2nd in the Michael Ohayon series.

Set in Israel, Ohayon is a superintendent with the Jerusalem Police. Within the space of a weekend, two people who are associated with the Hebrew Literature Department of the Hebrew university are murdered. Ohayon investigates.

That’s the plot. It does have some nice twists and turns, particularly towards the end. The resolution is very good.

The writing in this book, given that Gur is a literary critic for a leading Israeli publication, is surprisingly mediocre. It works for the story but is uninspired to say the least. Her characters are pretty one-dimensional, and you wind up not really caring what happens to them. Which is too bad, really, because she does come up with a nicely varied cast. show more It’s no surprise, though, to find out that university politics is the same the world over.

What is really annoying about this book is the quantity o peetic analysis thrown in. it may be, as the jacket blurbs comment, a passion of Gur’s, but it does nothing for the book. I followed most of it with difficulty, got totally lost in some sections, and was extremely irritated by the last, lengthy section which purported to sum up the semester and did nothing of the sort. As a former university teacher, I found that annoying.

This is not a book I would particularly recommend. Too much wrong with it despite some nice plotting. show less

ספר יותר טוב מאשר רצח בשבת בבוקר. העלילה הבלשית שקופה, אבל ההצצה לעולם האקדמיה, שהמחברת שוחה בו היטב, מהנה.