The Fractal Murders
Mark Cohen
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Mysterious Press
ISBN: 0892967994

PI Pepper Keane & Jane Smyers, a specialist in fractal geometry, hunt for the common denominator in the deaths of three fellow professors.

Who is systematically slaying top American mathematicians? How can this esoteric form of geometry be a danger or a profit to anyone? Six months ago Jayne Smyers, an assistant math professor, had sent out a paper, then she notices a pattern of death among the fractal specialists --two had been randomly killed & the third one's death is listed as a suicide. Jane is not so sure the deaths were random or suicide, however, the FBI agents haven't connected the dots, so she hires Nederland, Colorado PI Pepper Keane -- ex-Marine -- to find out what he can, & as he follows the leads, the suspects begin to multiply.

It is Pepper Keane, who narrates this tale, as he looks for his own perilous patterns in the cutthroat world of “publish or perish” academics. Keane has a past, a wry wit, & an enemy who wants him clueless.

The Fractal Murders is a fast-paced, if wordy, adventure through the tangles of mathematics, economics, philosophy & greed. Even though Mark Cohen works to make the math comprehensible, I got lost. Still, the telling of the mystery lopes right along, liberally spiced with humor & has an ending that sneaks up & scares your socks off!

Mark Cohen is himself a former JAG who is now a municipal judge in Colorado. His writings have appeared in magazines such as Inside Kung-Fu & Camping & RV. This is his first novel.
(04/25/04)

Rebecca