The Fractal Murders - Hardcover

Cohen, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0892967994 ISBN 13: 9780892967995

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 2004

Synopsis

Learning that three instructors who were researching fractals have died under mysterious circumstances, fractal geometry professor Jane Smythe turns for help to former marine and private investigator Pepper Keane.

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Reviews

A surprising premise and an extraordinary theme equal an accomplished debut. That's simple math, but the geometric concepts that fuel Cohen's book are far more advanced. Former federal prosecutor Pepper Keane is hired by University of Colorado mathematics professor Jayne Smyers to look into the deaths of three colleagues who had nothing in common other than their field of expertise-fractal geometry. An FBI investigation prompted by Smyers found no link among the geographically separate, methodologically different deaths (two of them murders, one ruled a suicide). An appealing maverick, Keane lives in a small mountain town near Boulder with two animal rescue dogs, collects old-time rock 'n' roll and country music tunes and likes to read philosophy. In his dogged effort to connect the three deaths, Keane butts heads with an old FBI nemesis and finds an occasional ally, as well as an unexpected rival. While the killer's identity turns out to be disappointingly ordinary, Cohen's writing style is direct and amazingly lucid, even when handling the concepts and applications of fractal geometry or outlining the tenets of Martin Heidegger. Readers looking for something refreshingly different should be well satisfied.
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This clever mystery pits a private eye against a murderer who is systematically slaying top American mathematicians. The link? The victims are all proponents of fractal geometry, the discipline that analyzes geometric shapes to identify patterns and predict behaviors in complex systems. Jayne Smyers, an assistant math professor, noticed the pattern of death among fractal specialists when she sought responses to a paper. Three of the mathematicians died in the preceding six months--two were murdered and one was an apparent suicide--prompting Smyers to consult Pepper Keane, a Colorado private eye. Keane, a former Marine and federal prosecutor, narrates this tale of finding his own patterns in the cutthroat world of "publish or perish" academics. Keane has a past that fleshes out his motivation, a wry wit, and an enemy who does everything to keep him permanently clueless. A consistently absorbing first novel. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0892967994
• ISBN 13: 9780892967995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320