The Interpretation of Murder

First edition (US)
Author	Jed Rubenfeld
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Mystery novel
Publisher	Henry Holt and Company (US) Headline (UK)
Publication date	2006
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	384
ISBN	978-0-8050-8098-8 (Hardcover)
OCLC	65302409
Dewey Decimal	813/.6 22
LC Class	PS3618.U233 I58 2006

The Interpretation of Murder, published in 2006, is the first novel by the American law professor Jed Rubenfeld. The book is written in the first person perspective of Dr. Stratham Younger, supposedly an American psychoanalyst. Other events where he is not present he is informed upon so that he has enough knowledge to write and comment on them.

Plot summary

On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York City on his first – and only – visit to the United States in 1909, a stunning débutante is found bound and strangled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another beautiful heiress, Nora Acton, is discovered tied to a chandelier in her parents' home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or to recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple, Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer's identity.

Characters

• Sigmund Freud
• Carl Jung
• Abraham Brill
• Rose Brill
• Sándor Ferenczi
• George B. McClellan Jr., Mayor of New York City
• Stratham Younger, Dr. (fictional). The first person story teller in the book.
• Nora Acton (fictional). Based on Freud's case study of "Dora" (Ida Bauer)
• Mr. Harcourt Acton and Mrs. Acton, Nora's parents (fictional)
• George Banwell, Building contractor (fictional)
• Clara Banwell, George Banwell's wife (fictional)
• Jimmy Littlemore, Detective (fictional)
• Charles Hugel, Coroner (fictional)
• Granville Stanley Hall
• Ernest Jones
• Smith Ely Jeliffe, Dr, Publisher
• The "Triumvirate":
  • Charles Loomis Dana
  • Bernard Sachs
  • M. Allen Starr
• Elizabeth Riverford (fictional)
• Mr. and Mrs. Biggs (fictional), the Acton family's servants
• Betty Longobardi (fictional)
• Chong Sing
• Leon Ling, alias William Leon
• Seamus Malley (fictional)
• Harry Thaw
• Elsie Sigel, granddaughter of General Franz Sigel
• Mr. and Mrs. Sigel, Elsie's parents
• Mabel, Mr. and Mrs. Sigel's niece
• Charles Johnson
• Susan A.(Susie) Merrill, Brothel owner
• Mr. and Mrs. Hyslop
• Mr. and Mrs. Fish
• Charles Becker, Police Sergeant
• Louis Riviere

Places, landmarks and buildings

• Manhattan Bridge
• Gramercy Park
• Clark University
• Metropolitan Museum
• Hotel Manhattan
• Waldorf-Astoria (not current)
• Coney Island
• The Balmoral Hotel (fictional)
• Gillender Building
• The Players Club
• Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane