The Fig Eater

A dark, multi-layered, mesmerizing literary novel of suspense, superstition and latent eroticism set in fin-de-siecle Vienna. 'He watches her eating one fig, then two more, grinding the seeds between her teeth, the sound echoing in her head, perhaps the last sound Dora heard before there was the thunder of blood in her ears...' Vienna, 1910. On a warm August night, the body of a young girl is discovered in the city's celebrated Volksgarten. She has been strangled. Using the latest forensic methods and psychological thinking, the Chief Inspector of Police begins his painstaking search for the killer. He is not alone, however. His wife Erszebet - an exotic, passionate woman steeped in the folk tales and Gypsy lore of her native Hungary - becomes obsessed with the dead girl. In secret, and enlisting the help of a young English governess, she conducts her own investigation of the murder, guided by intuition, instinct and superstition... With its beautifully-evoked setting of Vienna just prior to the Great War, a city embracing the modern and yet in thrall to superstition and prejudice, and riven by corruption, perverse sexual practices and disease, The Fig Eater is a rich and seductive period page-turner of a novel.

About the Author :
A resident of New York, Jody Shields is the former Design Editor of the New York Times magazine and a former Contributing Editor of American Vogue and House and Garden. The author of two non-fiction books on fashion, she has also written several screenplays and is a collected artist. The Fig Eater is her first novel.

Review :
'A gripping psychological thriller...capturing the nervous mood of a city preoccupied, like one of its most famous residents, with sex and death' 'This is a captivating thriller that blooms into vivid life ... It's a novel written with immense skill, its sense of place and language constantly surprising and invigorating. A superb debut.' 'Highly unusual, eerie...a glorious maze of dead ends and false leads. Sometimes gruesome and highly mysterious, it is an exciting new brand of detective story' 'An artful and evocative thriller...rich in the texture of corruption' Independent 'An intensely powerful sense of time and place in this atmospheric and accomplished period whodunit' 'Astonishingly original and vivid...one of the chief attractions of the novel is the laconic and elegant style. The writing is vivid and highly visual, but reveals very little about the character's feelings. Understanding and judging the motives of the characters is, with brilliant effectiveness, left to the reader' 'Enjoyable and intelligent...tense, sophisticated and wholly tempting, it is good entertainment, with barely a word out of place' 'Lush with dreamy suspense, gypsy portents and forensic detail' 'Shields has a powerful gift for poetic and painterly imagery. Her startling scenes, rich in metaphor, linger long in the memory...Beautifully written' 'Eerie and erotic - a Viennese dance of death'