The Interpretation of Murder
Jed Rubenfeld
Published 2007, by Headline Review
529 pages
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The Interpretation of Murder is a clever historical murder mystery, set in Manhattan in the year 1909. It has famous real life individuals like Freud and Jung becoming involved in a fictional criminal investigation. I bought it years ago, and it was a random pick from my “unread” bookcase, which I ended up rather enjoying, and learning quite a bit from.
In 1909, Freud and three of his associates arrive in New York by ship for a lecture tour to introduce his theories – considered shocking at the time, to a willing new audience. (This part is true.) He is met by a young psychiatrist eager to learn from him, Stratham Younger. Then a beautiful young woman is found dead in her luxury apartment, and another is attacked the next night – she survives but cannot speak due to the trauma, so the police ask Dr Younger to use the new science of psychoanalysis to determine what happened. The more he learns, the greater the danger, as powerful factions close ranks to protect their own interests.
This had a complicated and unpredictable plot, with multiple mysteries and conspiracies entwining to deliver an ultimately satisfying story. It’s told partly from Younger’s first person perspective, the rest is in third person, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of – the afterword explains which are real, and which he made up, as well as which events. I recommend not reading this until the end because it contains spoilers. It incorporates extensive research about the architecture and evolution of the city, as well as throwing in treatises on psychoanalysis, theories about Shakespeare, corruption in city politics, the building of the Manhattan bridge, and the lives of the rich and famous of the time. This does slow the pace down, but unlike some reviewers I found it all quite interesting – especially the underwater caisson used to build the bases of the bridge, about which I had no idea.
While the blurb implies a major role for old Sigmund in solving the murder, his role is actually quite minor – there’s a likeable detective, Littlemore, who joins forces with Younger to work it all out. I was kept guessing about what was going on until each reveal – as usual in this kind of novel there’s a bit too much coincidence and suspension of disbelief required. Others have criticised the misogyny, racism and homophobia displayed, but I’m pretty sure that was standard for the time – it’s okay to feel angered by it, but we shouldn’t pretend it didn’t happen. Overall I’d recommend this if you have an interest in the history of psychiatry or of New York itself, and like the crime fiction genre. There’s a sequel featuring some of the same characters which I’ll be looking out for.
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