"Aristotle Detective"

The Greek philosopher Aristotle is still regarded today, nearly 2400 years after his birth, as the father of Western philosophy. According to the brief biography found in Wikipedia, Aristotle's writings covered many subjects, such as mathematics, physics, biology, zoology, logic, politics and government. As far as I know, however, there is no record that - in real life - he was a detective, in the sense that we use the word in discussing crime fiction. That little oversight, however, is resolved in a thoroughly enjoyable mystery written in 1978 by Margaret Doody entitled Aristotle Detective, and it is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the full review by clicking here.

In Aristotle Detective we are introduced to a young Athenian named Stephanos, a landholder and a former student of Aristotle, who is our narrator for this story. Stephanos is shocked when his neighbor, a respected citizen of Athens, is murdered, apparently by an arrow shot from a bow. Stephanos is even more deeply shocked when his cousin, Philemon, who had already been banished from Athens, is accused of the crime. Stephanos turns to his former teacher for help. And Aristotle draws on his own knowledge of logic and rhetoric - and human behavior - to help discover the truth of what happened.

Along with the story, the reader is given some idea of what everyday life may have been like in ancient Athens in what I must admit is a regular page-turner of a story. It's not really what I'd consider a "fair-play" puzzle; Aristotle does not always reveal his thoughts, plans and clues to Stephanos (or to the reader). That said, however, it is a thoroughly enjoyable book. Margaret Doody is a literature professor at the University of Notre Dame and the author of additional mysteries featuring Aristotle. The University of Chicago Press has republished Aristotle Detective and provided me with a copy for this review.

The Challenge

As part of my continuing commitment to the Vintage Mystery Bingo Reading Challenge under way at the My Reader's Block blog, I am submitting this to cover the Bingo square calling for one book set anywhere except the US or England. For details about the challenge, and what I'm doing for it, please click here!

UPDATE (Posted August 13): My bad. This book was first published in the 1970s, making it eligible for the silver challenge, but not the gold. I still need a book set anywhere except the US or England. I have one...and will review and post on it eventually...

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Les - I'll admit I prefer mysteries with 'fair play.' Still, this one does sound appealing, and I like historical crime fiction. One for my list, methinks.

[Les Blatt]

Margot, Margaret Doody certainly puts a lot of historical detail into her writing. I learned a good deal about criminal and legal procedure in ancient Greece. It's a good read, I think.

[Yvettespaintbox]

I'd never heard of these, Les. Well, that shouldn't surprise either of us. :) But it does sound interesting. I'm adding this to my Vintage TBR List. Thanks again for another intro to a missed (by me) author.

[Les Blatt]

It was brand new to me too, Yvette - I never heard of them until this book arrived from the publisher!