Beethoven's Assassins: (Dedalus Original Fiction In Paperback)

Simultaneously a touching human story, a meditation on art and science, and a primer on Beethoven's life and work, Andrew Crumey's ninth novel skilfully weaves history, music, erudition and humour in a page-turning mystery that will resonate in the reader's mind long afterwards. A lost opera and a dark conspiracy lie at the heart of this philosophical comedy which views Beethoven through the eyes of multiple characters across time, linked by strange events at a rambling country house. Nowadays a retreat for artists, scientists and researchers, the house was formerly an asylum with a clairvoyant inmate, and before that, a location for esoteric experiments. As labyrinthine as the architecture is a plot whose themes include Crusader legends and 1920s literary London, mesmerism and freemasonry, psychoanalysis and theosophy. Holding everything together is a present-day scholar whose pandemic disasters propel him into the byways of history and towards an untimely demise. AUTHOR: Andrew Crumey was born in Glasgow in 1961. He read theoretical physics and mathematics at St Andrews University and Imperial College in London, before doing post-doctoral research at Leeds University on nonlinear dynamics. After six years as the literary editor at Scotland on Sunday he now combines teaching creative writing at Northumbria University with his writing.

About the Author :
Andrew Crumey was born in Glasgow in 1961. He read theoretical physics and mathematics at St Andrews University and Imperial College in London, before doing post-doctoral research at Leeds University on nonlinear dynamics. After six years as the literary editor at Scotland on Sunday he now combines teaching creative writing at Northumbria University with his writing. He is the author of nine works of fiction: Music, In a Foreign Language, Pfitz, D'Alembert's Principle, Mr Mee, Mobius Dick, Sputnik Caledonia, The Secret Knowledge, The Great Chain of Unbeing and Beethoven's Assassins.

Review :
"Beethoven's Assassins is that refreshing thing, a novel of ideas with all the intrigue and momentum (and occasional red herring) of an absorbing mystery, underscored by a dark, ironic sense of humour. Coyle's shifting relationship with his dementia-afflicted father, Crouch's feelings of inadequacy, Marion's compassion for the boy in her care and Therese's willingness to forgive her brother-in-law Beethoven on his deathbed all anchor the story in a relatable humanity, even as the characters are drawn inexorably into a weird hinterland of esoteric lore, paranormal phenomena and ancient conspiracies." -Alastair Mabbott in The Herald "Crumey gives each of his chapters its own period and central character, and flips from one to another with the dexterity and humour of a champion juggler. Matters of art, science and philosophy are deftly discussed and sometimes linked to each other within the narrative. 'Seeing connections everywhere is a hallmark of madness as well as German Romanticism' is just one of Crumey's witty remarks, with a hint of self-mockery to it. But Crumey is not mad or a German Romantic; he is just full of pizzazz and fun." -Paul Griffith in The Literary Review "Crumey mixes in a whole host of ideas, a slew of fascinating stories with plots which are sometimes resolved but often not, a range of historical characters, many of whom most of us will have known little about and a lot more about Beethoven, some of which might be true and some might not. In short this novel is aiming to be an everything novel, a novel which aims to cover a whole range of seemingly unrelated or only tangentially related topics while telling its story. From my side, it is a first-class novel and essential reading for anyone interested in the modern novel." -John Alvey in The Modern Novel "Crumey presents in Beethoven's Assassins, a deliciously intellectual, ambitious book that explores time, metaphysics, narrative and pretty much everything, all at once." -Ruth McKee in The Irish Times "He is one of Jonathan Coe's "three or four favourite modern writers". Hilary Mantel praised the "good-humoured, jaunty and sometimes enjoyably silly" nature of his work. So why isn't Scottish novelist Andrew Crumey better known? Perhaps because (as Mantel also said) his books are "an intellectual treat", and give our brains an unaccustomed workout." -John Self in The Financial Times "It's great cerebral fun, with its quantum physics, telepathy, time travel and fraying of fact and fiction. But all this is its own misdirection. Coyle's mother has died suddenly, and his father has dementia. The writing here about the soul-grinding nature of the bureaucracy surrounding illness and death is chillingly good. The questions the novel poses about science and aesthetics (is Einstein as good as Beethoven?) pale in comparison to the rawness of the loss it depicts with the same scrutiny as an equation or a late quartet." -Stuart Kelly in The Spectator