The Philosophical Detective

by Bruce Hartman

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967. Nick Martin has just started graduate school when he’s dragooned into serving as the driver, guide and confidant of a blind poet by the name of Jorge Luis Borges. Together they must address an extraordinary series of crimes and the equally baffling conundrums of literature and philosophy, including Zeno’s paradoxes, the mind/body problem, and the mysteries of destiny, personal identity and artistic creation. Nick plays the parts of Watson, Sancho Panza, Dante and Stephen Daedalus, and before the story ends he hears the last tale of Scheherazade and finds the love of his life. Forty-five years later, struggling with pain and grief, he looks back with wonder at the magical year when he wandered into the labyrinth and took his first steps to self-understanding.

Lighthearted but deeply serious, The Philosophical Detective is a unique journey into the visionary world of a genius.

Kirkus Reviews called The Philosophical Detective “...a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel with an unlikely lead detective: a fictionalized version of iconic Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)..... An intelligent, original detective novel.”

Note: With my apologies, at this time the book is available only in the United States.

Genres: Mystery, Philosophy, Fiction, Crime

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

Bruce Hartman has worked as a pianist, bookseller and attorney. The author of twelve novels, he divides his time between Pennsylvania and Colorado. He has been writing fiction for many years.

Bruce Hartman's first western, LEGEND OF LOST BASIN, was published in September 2024. Kirkus Reviews called it, "A riveting addition to the Western genre... Skillful storytelling and rich characterizations make this a must-read for fans of Westerns or those who just like good storytelling.," The book aims to transcend the western genre into the area of literary fiction. It was Finalist for the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for Best Traditional Western Novel in 2025. It was also awarded the Peacemaker Award by Western Fictioneers for Best First Western Novel.

His second western to be published was THE DIVIDE, the second book in the Lost West Trilogy.

Prior to those westerns, his most recent book was THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE'S LAST CASE, the third and final book of the Philosphical Detective Trilogy. The previous books are THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE, published in 2014, and THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE RETURNS, published in 2020. All three novels feature the iconic Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrestling with an extraordinary series of crimes and the equally baffling conundrums of literature and philosophy, including Zeno's paradoxes, the mind/body problem, and the mysteries of destiny, memory, personal identity and artistic creation. Kirkus Reviews called THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE "a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel.. an intelligent, original detective novel." Midwest Book Review rated THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE RETURNS as "...highly recommended for classic detective story enthusiasts who look for complexity and intellectual challenges in their characters and stories."

Bruce Hartman's previous book, PAROLE, is a crime thriller in the tradition of Elmore Leonard about an unlikely pair of parolees from San Quentin struggling against the odds to recover their lives and fortunes in L.A. If it were a movie, it would probably be classified as an action/comedy/thriller. It has recently become available as an audiobook on Audible.

His first novel, PERFECTLY HEALTHY MAN DROPS DEAD, won the Salvo Press Mystery Novel Award and was published by Salvo Press in 2008. In 2018 it was reissued by Swallow Tail Press in a revised Tenth Anniversary Edition (both paperback and ebook).

Bruce Hartman's second book, THE RULES OF DREAMING, published by Swallow Tail Press in 2013, was awarded Kirkus Star for Books of Exceptional Merit. Kirkus Reviews called it "a mind-bending marriage of ambitious literary theory and classic murder mystery" and selected it as one of its "Top 100 Indie Books of 2013." Another mystery, THE MUSE OF VIOLENCE, was also published in 2013.

Bruce Hartman's seventh novel, POTLATCH: A Comedy, is a satirical comedy set in Philadelphia. Readers' Favorite Book Reviews called it "one of the most amusing reads ever to be published."

POTLATCH is the second entry in a projected trilogy which began with A BUTTERFLY IN PHILADELPHIA. Readers' Favorite Book Reviews called BUTTERFLY "one of the strange comic masterpieces that you're quite lucky to run across once in a very great while."

POTLATCH followed another comic novel, BIG DATA IS WATCHING YOU!, a satirical techno-dystopia set in a future in which the all-powerful force of Big Data rules humanity through the Internet of Things and the corporate power of the FANGs. It is the story of how one defiant customer foils the conspiracy to delete humanity from Google Earth. A slightly revised version of this book has also been published under the title, I AM NOT A ROBOT!

Bruce Hartman's eighth novel, a legal thriller entitled THE DEVIL'S CHAPLAIN, was published in 2018. This book tells the story of a young attorney, Charlotte Ambler, who volunteers to represent a death row inmate, a once-prominent biologist named Christopher Ritter,

Reviews

[Bruce Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this book, so I'm taking the liberty of adding it to the list. It is the only book, to my knowledge, that features JLB as a detective. It is my homage to Borges and my lifelong obsession with him, and a bit of literary biography and criticism, as well as, I hope, a novel that can stand on its own two feet.

[Simon Robs · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Private Eye Lettuce"
By Richard Brautigan

Three crates of Private Eye Lettuce,
the name and drawing of a detective
with magnifying glass on the sides
of the crates of lettuce,
form a great cross in man’s imagination
and his desire to name   
the objects of this world.
I think I’ll call this place Golgotha
and have some salad for dinner.


On the subject of art ...“The proper subject of art – even a detective story – isn’t reality as we know it, but the world of uncreated ideas, the world of as if’s and might have beens. So be careful that you don’t wish those potentialities into being. Every detective story is an uncommitted crime.”

This was “Borges” speaking, titular philosophical detective, after having solved the first of a series of literary inspired crimes by unraveling the storyline connections of famous literary pieces and fitting them into the murder (s) scenes/investigations that he and this book’s narrator Nick Martin get spun into, a centrifuge of philosophical intrigue and psychological awakening. He (Borges) also said much earlier that all art was fundamentally about justice and morality.

So then justice is served and morals examined during this recounting and recording of memories/monographs for Nick Martin’s autobiography (shouldn’t it be memoir?) of the year 1967 when he was enlisted to assist the blind dignitary Jorge Luis Borges, yeah that one, or/and around on a lecture series that led to friendship and apprentice snoop as they solve four murder mystery cases for local authorities unfamiliar with the particulars that “caused” these narrative crimes. Nineteenth Century essayist Thomas De Quincey’s “On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts” is one heavily drawn from and eluded to piece. In fact all four vignettes are nicely plotted murders to match famous literary precursors. They are each imaginative and thrilling reconfigurations.

Well let’s just say if you like Borges and labyrinths; Spinoza and Descartes; Ford Galaxie and Greatful Dead; Detective story and philosophical fairy tale, well you’ll probably like this book!

[Tannaz]

When u never ever liked Jorge Luis Borges 's books, you must be crazy to buy and read this one!
I am Craziest!!!!!

[Virginia B · Rating 3 out of 5]

One character talked about being in a room full of mirrors. That’s what this story was like. I am not fond of philosophy, seems pretty smoky stuff to me, but the detecting was good, so was the Archie Goodwin teller-of-the-tale. Guess I’m glad I persevered because it ended in a predictable way although I could never have predicted it!

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comparative literature grad student Nick Martin is the narrator of this literary mystery featuring a man who may or may not be Jorge Luis Borges. Acting as Borges’s assistant and sounding board, the two delve into literature and philosophy while investigating several murders during Borges’s semester as guest lecturer at Harvard. An enjoyable read—metafiction at its best.

[Bruce Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores the boundary of literary fiction and the mystery genre. Naturally, when asked to give it a rating, I gave it five stars! I hope you will enjoy it. If you're not sure whether you will, please try downloading the free ebook (available on Kindle and Kobo) called MURDER CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE FINE ARTS, a self-contained short story which forms the first part of The Philosophical Detective. Thanks, and good reading! (Note: With my apologies, at this time the book is available only in the United States.)

[Michael Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a fiction about Jorge Luis Borges as a crime solver. He was a poet not a philosopher so it should have been called the Poetic Detective. But the character in the book was neither. I had high hopes for the story from the title but I should know better. It was a routine murder mystery story. Also, the story was written in first person for no clear reason. It added nothing to the story. I guess first person allows the reader to be closer to the story but if third person works, it is easier for me to read. As for the murders, of course, all these killings happen around the Detective because of all these grudges people have for Borges. Grudges that are only revealed after the fact. But why does the revenge all come together at once? It was just too much killing with little in return from the Detective. He just knew the people involved and what they would do and then stood up to spout it out to end the mystery. Even the writing style was mundane. It was first person POV of a boring individual. A rather stupid one from the way the story worked out. I wasn’t certain why he was telling the story. All I got from reading the fiction was a feeling of disappointment. Maybe that was what the author wanted? Oh well. Read something else.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jorge Luis Borges is not the first blind detective in literature. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, there was Max Carrados, the creation of tea merchant Ernest Bramah. Borges, of course, was a real person, a great Argentinian poet, essayist, and story writer who became blind in the 1950s. Bruce Hartman made him the hero of The Philosophical Detective.

In the late 1960s Borges came to Harvard University to give a series of lectures and, according to Hartman's novel, solve a few crimes that were closely linked to his own fictions. The tale is narrated by Nick Martin, who supposedly ferried Borges and his wife around in his Ford Galaxie.

As much as I love Borges, I find that the mysteries in this book are shoehorned to fit Borges's themes in his most famous stories and essays. Still, it is entertaining; and there is a big surprise at the end, which I do not care to divulge.

[Elizabeth du Fresne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neither Fish nor Fowl

Hartman is premise was so appealing. The title itself drew me in. Borges is such a towering figure of intellectual depth that having him play the detective in a year spent at Harvard in the late sixties with young Nick the graduate student as his "Watson" and driver, was impossible to resist. However, the novel itself holds none of the power of the initial idea. It is in no way a compelling mystery. Neither is it an enlightening philosophical study. It takes rudimentary elements of several philosophical schools (for instance metaphysics and dualism) and tosses around a few of the concepts of those schools. It is surface reference without the deep exploration -- and yet the reader must be familar with the actual fields or a good portion of the book is not accessible. I had a triple major in English, History and Philosophy. I am addicted to murder mysteries. I would seem to be this book's Perfect Audience. And yet it left me cold. Had to power through to finish it. I cannot think what audience it might please.

[LINDA MCALISTER · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quirky short book and I think I could list any number of ways the book might have been better as a detective novel. But I find I really liked it. I found myself highlighting way more passages and ideas than I would ever have in a "regular" detective novel. The characters were minimally developed. The mystery plots themselves were flimsy; the murders not very interesting on the whole, and certainly not the main force of the novel. Rather the ideas, paradoxes, philosophies examined in context of "solving" the mysteries propel the trajectory of the book -- the plot is the excuse for the solution rather than the solution serving the resolution of the plot. (I think I am starting to sound a little too much like the Borges character in the novel.) There are 2 more books in this series if you are still wondering at the conclusion of this one if the reality behind the reality is an illusion or any other such intriguing "mysteries."

[Melinda]

A Philosophical Murder Mystery to Die For!

If you like your murder mysteries loaded with a good dose of philosophical discussion and a bit of debate, you will find this volume fascinating. Four separate murder cases are solved by Jorge Luis Borges and his assigned English major student, Nick. Questions about the nature of reality, free will, fate, determinism, illusions, evil and the multiplicity all play a role in solving these four cases. What a treat to read something so wonderfully cerebral, that stretches the mind in enticing ways. Speculative Murder Mystery should be a new genre. Bravo, Mr Hartman ...

[Al Sevcik · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s well-written and an entertaining story. What more can one want? A blind, old, poet takes on the role of detective and actually solves puzzling crimes. A modern day Sherlock. Along with an interesting story the author serves us a thought-provoking philosophical discourse on the meaning of existence. At the story’s end I found myself wondering about the existence of the book’s characters and, by extension, myself and the world around me. A great read. Five Stars.

[David Orenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very light-weight book with a series of murders, tied together by the narrator's tale of a mysterious, famous philosopher/poet, Jose Luis Borges, whom he (the narrator, as an uninspired grad student) must shepherd around Boston and Cambridge. The supposed Burges claims to be both a detective and the perpetrator of all of the murders. The book, with its ventures into philosophy and detection, was light and enjoyable, if not world shaking in its erudition or detection...

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book served as my introduction to the blind Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges, but when I chose to read it I did not realize the main character was a real person. I had no preconceived notions of who this figure was and was more interested in the young man tasked with showing this visitor around Boston. I found the characters and action to be quite entertaining as it was eerily other-worldly and unlike any book I had read.

Kindle Unlimited

[Kayla Sale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borges is an elusive detective

A remarkable and lovely book. A perfect homage (reflection of?) Borges. Pedantic about philosophy and literature while also playful and skillful with the most fun parts of detective fiction. Reminiscent of some other “post modern mysteries” I’ve read and loved.

[Anne Belvoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and philosophically titillating. A “we may never find the world of make-believe” as a page turning biographical attempt about both the narrator and his subject. Reminds me of my first exposure to the great 20th century Latin American literature, but from a totally North American perspective . Worth the time spent.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Death of Philosophy?

Unfortunately for the lovers of wisdom, many regard philosophy dead, meaningless in a world of instant answers. It is with great joy that I find wisdom dancing through the phrases and pages of this wondrous tale, one to be savored as a great glass of wine. Determinism demands a reading of two of this story.

[David O'Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a "novel," better a series of vignettes, with a fictionalized character based on the poet Borgias, with an everyman companion, in and around Boston, who pair up to solve a number of crimes, while the poet waxes at length about life, art, freedom, crime, and thinking. While trying and frustrating at times, it was a good read in small doses.

[Joseph Teller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Clever Book

I found this set of entwined short stories that form a greater narrative of deeper complexity most interesting and amusing, with some echoes of Umberto Eco in its twists and turns of murder investigations of a literary and philosophical nature.

A fast read, and set primarily during the 1960s in the turbulent environments of Massachusetts.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst part about it is that the philosophical bases on which he deduces the murderers are not even correctly interpreted - i.e. Cain v. Abel cannot be an artistic crime because it is motiveless when the motive was obviously jealousy as this is the ENTIRE point of the parable.

[Rheba Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of my top 10 books

I LOVED this book. It's extremely well written and I had to stop reading at points to consider the philosophical arguments. I'm looking forward to reading another of Mr Hartman's books.

[Marlene M. Oaks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky

This book was quite unusual, so therefore quirky. At times tedious, but It rebounded to interesting eventually. It refers to various thinkers, many of whom I have read. I don't p!an to read the next two in the series.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really neat premise that is well executed.

[Jim Ecock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Read

Some confusion at the end but overall a fun read. I'm considering reading the rest of the series. Let's hear more from Senora Borges. She's hilarious,.

[Clarissa Simmens · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading The Philosophical Detective by Bruce Hartman, I frantically raked my memory for what I’d learned about Jorge Luis Borges as an English major in college. Alas, it was the decade of the 80s, the Women’s Movement was rampant, and I good-naturedly blew off the male writers and concentrated on the female ones. The good news is: you don’t have to know a thing about Borges to read this book because as the author says, he is “a purely fictional product” of his imagination. So I just read on enjoying the humor, the philosophy, the Sherlock Holmesian solving of the different crimes and all the symbolism that the not “real” detective gave us in his, um, not “real” books. I am a great fan of Bruce Hartman’s previous books but this is definitely my favorite one because his wit is ever present, bouncing off mirrors and leading us through labyrinths peopled with ghosts in the machine, a wife fluent in the Phrasebook Conversations language, a magician’s assistant dressed as Scheherazade who is a real Scheherazade (you’ll see) and the young student driver/seeing eye dog, Nick Martin, who is also the narrator from his viewpoint as an old man. Even the board game of Clue—my personal favorite before internet games—looms large in one of the crimes. I will try to fulfill Hartman’s recommendation to read the “real” Borges’ stories and essays. However, I always read my favorite books once a decade and The Philosophical Detective—not the root of that book--will be added to my list!

[Kristy McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very intelligent and labyrinthine mystery novel! We follow our intrepid narrator as he's assigned to watch over a visiting author--none other than Jorge Luis Borges.(Or so we believe...!) Together, they end up helping to solve a series of murders, all while discussing philosophical concepts and other fascinating literary bits & pieces. I liked the style--a series of vignettes that Nick, our narrator, is recounting, each concerning a mystery that the pair become involved with. In between, we get snippets from present-day Nick's life as well, as he segues from mystery to mystery. If you enjoy your mysteries with a healthy dose of erudition, check this one out!

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on the mystery milieu. The premise of the story is a graduate student accompanies a blind, Latin American man of letters named Jorge Luis Borges as he solves mysteries. But is he really "that" Borges? It's more about the art of the mystery story than a mystery story itself. It reminded me a lot of Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveller..." in that you were never quite sure what's real and what's an illusion - which is of course the best part of the book!

[Paulah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A self-described detective walks into a murder scene. He’s blind, he’s old, he’s a poet by trade, so you might wonder how this man could ever solve a crime. By deduction, of course! Drawing on his knowledge of classical philosophical arguments, he flushes out the killers, to everyone’s astonishment. Is he for real? Is he a fake? Are you for real? He may have you wondering by the time you finish this entertaining romp, perhaps Bruce Hartman’s finest.

[Sinecureseeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very intriguing, original mystery. I loved just letting it take me along paths I don't frequent that often. It has murders solved, philosophies explored, and just a little magic. I enjoyed it very much.

[Barbara Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take an the detective novel

An interesting read but sometimes the philosophy is difficult to follow. Needed to read some sections a few times to get the meaning