Two mathematicians must join forces to stop a serial killer in this spellbinding international bestseller
A paperback sensation in ... read full description
A paperback sensation in ... read full description
reviews
May 05, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it: 
I know a lot of nerds. People who are super smart and experts in everything from the schism in the group that was (is? are?) translating the bible into Klingon to optimizing analytic algorithms in software. And despite my lumping of Star Trek knowledge and software designers together, I know a lot of other nerds, too. You know, people who run corporate Treasury departments and are obsessed with Mike Judge films. They come in all shapes and sizes. There is only one thing that they (we) all have i
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Jul 30, 2011
Marvin
rated it: 
This novel has more red herrings than a communist fish market.
But that's OK because I like novels that throws you off and keeps you guessing. Even if some of the herrings are obvious, there are always a few that swim by when you are not expecting them. The Oxford Murders is a nifty mystery about two Oxford academics that are trying to solve a murder and if it seems a little...well...academic. it's because it is. Martinez mixes a nice share of mathematics, Wittgensteinian philosophy More...
But that's OK because I like novels that throws you off and keeps you guessing. Even if some of the herrings are obvious, there are always a few that swim by when you are not expecting them. The Oxford Murders is a nifty mystery about two Oxford academics that are trying to solve a murder and if it seems a little...well...academic. it's because it is. Martinez mixes a nice share of mathematics, Wittgensteinian philosophy More...
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Jun 16, 2008
Gavin
rated it:
Murder by numbers, quite literally. Two mathematicians, one an ageing professor, the other an eager young student, set out to unravel a series of murders in and around the ancient University city of Oxford.
There are puzzles within puzzles throughout this book, which should keep most people guessing until the denouement, even those eminent mathematicians out there. I recently watched the film adaptation starring John Hurt and Frodo. A good job was done on said adaptation. Both book an More...
There are puzzles within puzzles throughout this book, which should keep most people guessing until the denouement, even those eminent mathematicians out there. I recently watched the film adaptation starring John Hurt and Frodo. A good job was done on said adaptation. Both book an More...
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Dec 03, 2011
Isabel
rated it: 
An interesting murder mystery set in Oxford and written by an Argentinean maths professor. A serial killer at work in Oxford leaves notes announcing the time and place of each murder where professor of logic Arthur Seldom will find them. Each note also includes a mathematical symbol as if the murderer is taunting him, so with the blessing of the police, Seldom and an Argentinean graduate student who was lodging with the first victim, take up the murderer's challenge and attempt to solve the prob
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Mar 04, 2011
Deb
rated it:
On a summer's day in Oxford, a young Argentine mathematics student finds his landlady - an elderly woman who helped decipher the Enigma Code during World War II - murdered. Meanwhile, leading Oxford logician Arthur Seldom receives an anonymous note bearing a circle and the words, 'the first of the series. Murders begin to pile up - an old man on life-support is found dead with needle punctures in his throat, a percussionist at Blenheim Palace dies before the audience's very eyes - seemingly unco
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Dec 16, 2008
متاسفانه تنها فیلمش رو دیدم ....
قتل در آکسفورد" یکی از کمیاب ترین فیلم هاییست که ذهن بیننده رو از دقایق آغازین تا به انتها شدیدا درگیر میکنه ـــــــ "مارتین" دانشجویی است که به همراه " پروفسور سلدوم" سعی در حل معمای قتل های زنجیره ای آکسفورد از طریق رمزگشایی سری کدها داره ـ در این فیلم زمان زیادی صرف شرح جزئیات در روابط مارتین ارتور سلدوم بت و لورنا میشه . این مطلب باعث شدحس کنم نویسنده ذهن خلاقی راجع به معما و رمزگشایی نداره به همین دلیل یک سری حس ازعشق وحسادت وار More...
قتل در آکسفورد" یکی از کمیاب ترین فیلم هاییست که ذهن بیننده رو از دقایق آغازین تا به انتها شدیدا درگیر میکنه ـــــــ "مارتین" دانشجویی است که به همراه " پروفسور سلدوم" سعی در حل معمای قتل های زنجیره ای آکسفورد از طریق رمزگشایی سری کدها داره ـ در این فیلم زمان زیادی صرف شرح جزئیات در روابط مارتین ارتور سلدوم بت و لورنا میشه . این مطلب باعث شدحس کنم نویسنده ذهن خلاقی راجع به معما و رمزگشایی نداره به همین دلیل یک سری حس ازعشق وحسادت وار More...
Feb 04, 2012
Ape
rated it:
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Jan 15, 2012
Cian
rated it:
While definitely a good book, and smart with its murders, there's an uneventful quality to its narrative that's almost the most important part. The setting of Oxford and questions of mathematics (specifically mathematical logic) are meant to be the zest in it, but they fit more like a red-herring that supplies interesting references (including a fascinating one to what they call "Wittgenstein's infinite rule paradox", which is not something so discreetly defined or named, as you will f
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Jan 12, 2012
Maurizio
rated it:
Il titolo originale, "Crímenes imperceptibles" nella versione italiana è rimasto come sottotitolo, insieme alla frase "un mistero fatto di numeri". D'altra parte qui si vuole cercare di emulare il successo del Codice Da Vinci. Bene: questo libro non c'entra nulla. Per fortuna. Qui c'è un giallo in stile Ellery Queen che credo i cultori troveranno banalotto - io non faccio testo, non imbrocco mai il colpevole - dove i protagonisti sono due matematici: la matematica permea tutt
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Mar 07, 2011
Xirxe
rated it:
Oxford - Hort des Wissens und der Bildung. Selbst Serienmörder hinterlassen hier nicht einfach nur ihre Toten, sondern in diesem Fall auch Nachrichten mit kryptischen Zeichen, die gezielt Seldom, einem berühmten Mathematiker, zugespielt werden. Nichts scheint die Toten miteinander zu verbinden, außer diesen Nachrichten und der Tatsache, dass alle bereits wesentlich länger lebten als ihnen die Medizin vorhergesagt hatte. Gemeinsam mit Seldom macht sich der argentinische Mathematikgaststudent, der
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Mar 03, 2011
John
rated it:
We saw the 2008 movie of this (John Hurt, Julie Cox, Elijah Wood, Leonor Watling) a while ago, and were charmed by it even though the "mystery" part of it didn't seem to make much sense. The book, despite some continuity problems, is a lot more coherent. The landlady of an Argentinian student mathematician in Oxford for his PhD is murdered; he and a distinguished mathematician who was an old family friend of the dead woman assist an astonishingly well educated copper in the quest for this killin
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Aug 02, 2010
Rowland
rated it:
The Oxford Murders is narrated by an Argentinian maths student, describing events that took place when he went to Oxford on a scholarship in 1993. He only tells the story years after the fact, after hearing of the death of one of the people he knew there; clearly the truth -- or at least the whole story -- about the 'Oxford Series' of murders that happened that summer did not come to light at the time.
Back then the narrator has arranged to room at the house of Mrs. Eagleton while at More...
Back then the narrator has arranged to room at the house of Mrs. Eagleton while at More...
Jul 23, 2010
Chris
rated it: 
I like watching Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis. (Okay, for Inspector Lewis it's because I like Hathaway, but still). I liked Numbers for a bit.
I didn't like this book.
Sometimes I don't mind when you can figure out the solution by page 30. The Blood Doctor is somewhat like that but it is still a good read because of the characters.
Not interesting characters here.
And boy, did I mind.
And the book is like Numbers but after the first More...
I didn't like this book.
Sometimes I don't mind when you can figure out the solution by page 30. The Blood Doctor is somewhat like that but it is still a good read because of the characters.
Not interesting characters here.
And boy, did I mind.
And the book is like Numbers but after the first More...
Jun 15, 2010
Cori
rated it:
Another book that I liked but didn’t love. I think I would have liked it more had I understood the math a little better. For the most part, it was simple and didn’t affect the plot to any degree that made it unintelligible. But there were a few longer sections about mathmatical theory where my brain melted out of my ear and sat in a puddle on the floor, begging me to Stop With The Numbers. The writing was a little dry, but that sort of made sense since the main characters were mathematicians. It
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Feb 10, 2010
E.J.
rated it: 
Mystery, Murders, Motivations and Mathematics.
This books has it all.
The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez is not just a fascinating murder mystery but also a puzzle that captures the reader and keeps you feverishly turning pages until the end.
The story is told from the perspective of an Argentinian mathematics graduate student who has just arrived at Oxford and is enjoying the novelty of English subtleties and a tendency toward reserved silence until this More...
This books has it all.
The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez is not just a fascinating murder mystery but also a puzzle that captures the reader and keeps you feverishly turning pages until the end.
The story is told from the perspective of an Argentinian mathematics graduate student who has just arrived at Oxford and is enjoying the novelty of English subtleties and a tendency toward reserved silence until this More...
Jun 03, 2009
LJ
rated it:
First Sentence: Now that the years have passed and everything’s been forgotten, and now that I’ve received a terse e-mail from Scotland with the sad news of Seldom’s death, I feel I can break my silence (which he never asked for anyway) and tell the truth about events that reached the British papers in the summer of ’93 with macabre and sensationalist headlines, but to which Seldom and I always referred – perhaps due to the mathematical connotation – simply as the series, or the Oxford Series.
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Jul 27, 2009
Gary
rated it:
I'm with a group of students in Rome at the moment, and I found this book at an international bookshop. The great thing about such bookshops, where in Rome or London, is that you usually find relatively inexpensive paperbacks of books that seem less well known here in the U.S. Perhaps everyone is reading Guillermo Martinez, but he was new to me.
Martinez is an Argentinian writer who has a PhD in Math. He has written several novels and a collection of short stories, most of which have More...
Martinez is an Argentinian writer who has a PhD in Math. He has written several novels and a collection of short stories, most of which have More...
Jul 25, 2011
Lorenzo
rated it:
I would have never wondered that a movie from Hollywood could have been better than a novel by a writer from Argentina. Which is like saying that I prefer a McDonald's plastic-like burger to a succulent meaty asado. But, well, there's always a first time.
For the big screen version of "The Oxford Murders" is far from being brilliant, but still better than the original version of the story on print. I think this should tell you a lot regarding this novel. And when you do prefer More...
For the big screen version of "The Oxford Murders" is far from being brilliant, but still better than the original version of the story on print. I think this should tell you a lot regarding this novel. And when you do prefer More...
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Jan 17, 2010
Iris
rated it:
The Oxford Murders is one of the cleverer mysteries I have read in a while. The murders, which take place in Oxford, draw two mathematicians into helping the police solve them. With each murder a symbol is left, and if they can determine the next symbol in the series they may be able to prevent the next murder.
The story is written by a mathematician, and there is some discussion on the nature of mathematical series and the philosophy of math. Although the names of mathematicians behi More...
The story is written by a mathematician, and there is some discussion on the nature of mathematical series and the philosophy of math. Although the names of mathematicians behi More...
Aug 27, 2009
Denis
rated it:
Clever and astute - a cool thriller that reads fast and is perfect for a lazy Summer. The Oxford Murders is actually a potboiler disguised as literary fiction. Nothing wrong with that. The plot is ingenious, intelligently constructed, and intriguing enough to maintain our attention, and turn this book into a fun read. Martínez knows enough about maths (especially on a historical and philosophical level) to make this interesting mix of mathematics and murders (in the most famous university city o
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Oct 25, 2010
Andrew
rated it:
I wondered whether to give this 3 or 4 stars, because for the most part I did find the book somewhat enthralling. I struggled initially, thinking it was a bit too much like a Dan Brown novel although obviously the author's ability with sentence construction and mathematical intelligence put him a little higher up the scale than the peddler of ultimate nonsense.
The maths though was somewhat distracting. As genuinely fascinating as I find theoretical maths, it is difficult to comprehen More...
The maths though was somewhat distracting. As genuinely fascinating as I find theoretical maths, it is difficult to comprehen More...
Dec 28, 2008
Megan
rated it:
I enjoyed the book, but didn't love it. I thought the writing could have been better and I definitely wanted more from the main characters. It bothered me, for instance, that the narrator seemed to believe what anyone told him. The mystery wasn't solved for a long, long time because the narrator accepted people at face value. I don't want to give away the story so I'm trying to tread around my biggest complaint ... let's just say that I felt like he could have shown some doubt or at least as
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Apr 25, 2010
Laura
rated it:
I loved the setting in this book. It reminded me of a summer I spent in Oxford as a student, learning English, right from the start: the arrival in the city. Carmen Martin Gaite, the Spanish novelist, used to say that many good novels start with an arrival to a new (or old) place.
I took out an old map of Oxford and it was great to recognize the names of the colleges, the streets, and even the shops and cafés. I could still see some of these places in my head: I must go back to Oxford one d More...
I took out an old map of Oxford and it was great to recognize the names of the colleges, the streets, and even the shops and cafés. I could still see some of these places in my head: I must go back to Oxford one d More...
Mar 30, 2009
James
rated it:
I was given this book because it is a math murder mystery book, and I am a math person and, secretly, a mystery novel fan (I am only a little ashamed). I thought this book excelled in neither category. The math in the clues was too obscure to be followed, and the non-math clues were clumsy and seemingly random. A careful observer gained little over the causal reader, and there was no filtering metric that I could find to sort out the canards.
That being said, the non-clue math, and th More...
That being said, the non-clue math, and th More...
Dec 03, 2009
Moodthy
rated it:
Well, you can see it was a first book written by a mathmatician: his observations are sharp, but his ability to write characters and natural speech are a bit stiff to say the least. The murders themselvees wern't as clever as I expected. Numb3rs kind of ruined that for me. There's also one old wives tale in this book that is presented as fact, which boggles my mind. Could the guy not have at least hit google to check before asking his readers to buy into this? At first I thought it was a ploy: w
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Jan 29, 2010
Tanya/dog eared copy
rated it:
This is an intellectual vanity piece on the part of the author, a South American mathematician who features himself by another name in this mystery about serial murder. There are some academically interesting passages about serial logic, a couple red herrings, and a reasonable conclusion but not enough in the story arc itself to direct the reader to the same conclusion. Jonathan Davis reads the text carefully and does a nice Scottish accent for one of the major characters, but makes no effort wh
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Aug 17, 2011
"Miss"
rated it:
I enjoyed this mathematically slanted murder mystery. An elderly woman is murdered and cryptic mathematic notes lead to her killer. The author, Mr. Martinez, introduces us to an array of characters but stops short of making us feel that we truly "know" them. He also leads us down paths that may or may not lead to the truth.
This writing style is clever and sly. Who is to be trusted? The reader never feels quite comfortable with any revealed clue.
I liked the Oxford setting a More...
This writing style is clever and sly. Who is to be trusted? The reader never feels quite comfortable with any revealed clue.
I liked the Oxford setting a More...
Feb 06, 2012
Delafere
rated it:
The story of two mathematicians who join forces to solve a murder. I tend not to be fond of books where I can see the solution a mile off and this was one of those books. At first it went well, the writing is catchy, the characters are likable and interesting then the murder happened and it all rather fell apart. I felt the whole scenario was rather far fetched and needlessly so.With the same material the author could have created something unforgettable and instead he tripped over himself to ma
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Nov 04, 2010
Maura
rated it:
felt like it was trying to be clever, but not succeeding as much as it thought it did.
felt like i was supposed to find the protagonist charming and attractive and delightfully foreign compared to his surroundings... and instead I found him shallow and chauvinistic.
plus the math was wasted; oh, they talked about it a lot, but when you get down to it, these murders could have been justified/figured out just fine without it -- just substitute a little psychology babble instead.
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felt like i was supposed to find the protagonist charming and attractive and delightfully foreign compared to his surroundings... and instead I found him shallow and chauvinistic.
plus the math was wasted; oh, they talked about it a lot, but when you get down to it, these murders could have been justified/figured out just fine without it -- just substitute a little psychology babble instead.
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Sep 30, 2010
If you like murder mysteries and you like mathematics then I'm sure you'll really like The Oxford Murders. It starts out a little slow but you have to give it a chance because the more it gets into the story it is much better and far more interesting.
It is a very unique story with a huge spin at the end that I think you'll either love or hate. It's one of those things. I really liked it because it's something that I like to think about often so it didn't bother me, but reading some More...
It is a very unique story with a huge spin at the end that I think you'll either love or hate. It's one of those things. I really liked it because it's something that I like to think about often so it didn't bother me, but reading some More...
