A compelling murder mystery that combines the psychology of Freud, musings on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and descriptions of New York at the beginning of the 20th Century. Part of a group entertaining Freud during his first and only visit to America, a young doctor is asked to apply this burgeoning practice of psycho-analysis on a young woman suffering from amnesia who is believed to have been attacked by the murderer of another woman. Not everyone is convinced this new type of therapy is sound medicine as evidenced by an inner plot line that reveals another set of men trying to undermine Freud’s work. Consisting of believable, well fleshed out characters, as well as an adequate but not mind-numbing amount of twist and turns, The Interpretation of Murder is a pleasant and enjoyable read. A few times I was a little perturbed to begin a new chapter hoping for the action of the previous one to be continued only to be met with one of Rubenfeld’s digressive depictions of some part of New York society or architecture. However, they were deftly kept short, informative, and interwove themselves well within the story so I usually became unperturbed very quickly. Overall, would recommend this book to anyone looking for a murder mystery that contains a little depth of inner reflections as well.
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