An engrossing page-turner, The Interpretation of Murder breathes new life into the historical fiction genre. Thanks to Jed Rubenfeld’s artistry, New York in the summer of 1909 comes alive under a Manhattan skyline of electric lights, beautiful, strangled young women, and invisible but watchful hotel maids who come up missing because of what they know.

The novel centers around the mysterious week that famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud spent in America. For unknown reasons, Freud never set foot in the country again, later referring to Americans as “savages” and “criminals.” Taking this “lost” week as a jumping off point, the Rubenfeld uses known facts about Freud’s visit to develop a murder mystery in which Freud will play a significant part.

Cleverly told from the perspective of two young men, the novel is a study in observation. The seemingly naïve Detective Jimmy Littlemore, who initially appears to be of no consequence, asks the most important question in the novel: Where’s the maid? The other perspective is that of young Dr. Stratham Younger, an impressionable American doctor who has dedicated his life to Freud.

Despite occasional jarring shifts in point of view, Rubenfeld does well overall in characterization. The outside perspectives cast a fun light upon Freud, who displays occasional lightheartedness, along with little-known, dark insights into Carl Jung as a womanizing, brooding protégé destined to split with his mentor and friend.

The Interpretation of Murder appeals on more than one level to armchair psychologists and mystery fans like me, and to history and Shakespeare buffs through its use of case histories, analyses of Hamlet, and amazing historical facts about turn-of-the-last-century New York. On the historical side, Rubenfeld transports readers to the beginnings of modernity, from the first telephone at the Balmoral Hotel and the construction of the Manhattan Bridge to the dark caverns of Chinatown's opium dens. Extra treats for gossip buffs are the detailed machinations and intrigues of the famously wealthy Astors and Vanderbilts. These are thrilling to read.

Don’t let the historical backdrop combined with psychoanalytic theory and Hamlet references deter you. Rubenfeld is a master storyteller, combining these elements into seamless literary form. For an exciting, suspenseful, lyrical read, The Interpretation of Murder really delivers.