The Grand Complication
By (Author) Allen Kurzweil
Cornerstone
Arrow Books Ltd
1st April 2003
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary
813.54
Paperback
368
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 23mm
255g
A wonderfully entertaining literary crime novel, a cross between The Name of the Rose and The Big Sleep. Alexander Short is a stylish young reference librarian. With his job in jeopardy and his marriage coming apart, Alexander meets the improbably named Henry James Jesson III, a book-lover who hires the librarian for some after-hours research. His task- to complete a cabinet of curiosities chronicling the life of a mysterious eighteenth-century inventor. As the investigation heats up, Alexander realizes there are many more secrets lurking in Jesson's cloistered world than those found inside his elegant Manhattan town house-
This attention to detail lends a satisfying completeness to the novel. Kurzweil also displays the journalists ability to explore varied subjects making this an engaging story that deftly and wittily satiates at every level. * Times Play *
Allen Kurzweil is the author of one previous novel, A Case of Curiosities. He is currently a Fellow at Brown's University's John Nicholas Brown Center. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife and son.