The Library Paradox

Catherine Shaw has written a very dense and meaty mystery novel that you will just sink your teeth into to find out who done it.  This is more of a puzzle to solve than anything else.  The well known, hated, anti -Semitic Professor at King's College in London is dead of a gunshot wound in his study.  Two students heard him yelling at someone right before the gun went off.  When they entered the room there was no one there and they saw no one running out.

The year is 1896 and Vanessa Weatherburn is a new young mother of twins, who has given up her career as a teacher.  She talks of how hard it is to stay home and be responsible for the domestic commitments.  Her husband seems supportive or at least does not hold her back.  When the Professors come to see her about helping to solve what looks like a clear case of murder, she takes the case.  Because she thinks to herself, "Certainly I am neither experienced nor famous nor brilliant, and yet, there was a period, after I married and stopped teaching, where if some interesting problems did not come my way, I should have fallen into gloom out of sheer boredom - indeed there is quite simply a part of my brain that is not fulfilled by the plain enjoyment of domestic pleasures and yearns to touch the rougher spots of life's texture."

Shaw is careful to write the story in the style of speech of this earlier century and to follow the mores, styles and customs of this time period.  So that even though Vanessa is stepping out of conventional behavior of a women of 1896, she is careful to not behave in a manner that would be unacceptable at that time.

Also there is the explanation of the title, The Library Paradox.  A paradox is a statement that is contradictory, because it contains two statements that are both true but cannot be true at the same time.  The contradictory elements of this murder are the statements of the witnesses.  Though the facts they present are all true, there is still a dead body that could not have been killed if the witness are all telling the truth, thus a paradox.  Because it happens in a library, Shaw brings in the famous logical paradox about the Catalog of Catalogs.  This gives the reader something to sink their teeth into as they try to understand the complicated circular points of this paradox

Also central to this mystery novel is the notorious "Dreyfus Affair".  There is so much historical evidence and evidence in this novel about the atmosphere in England during this time period.  This also plays apart in the anti-semitism of the murdered Professor, who was involved in writing articles about the Dreyfus conviction and other "blood libel" cases in history.

This is a book packed with history, mathematics, logic along with the intrigue and relationships.
A history lesson, logistics challenge and a who done it all wrapped up in one fun read.