The Mystery of the Invisible Hand: A Henry Spearman Mystery

New
Hardcover
2014
$25.44

Henry Spearman, the balding economics professor with a knack for solving crimes, returns in The Mystery of the Invisible Hand--a clever whodunit of campus intrigue, stolen art, and murder. Having just won the Nobel Prize, Spearman accepts an invitation to lecture at Monte Vista University. He arrives in the wake of a puzzling art heist with plans to teach a course on art and economics--only to be faced with the alleged suicide of womanizing artist-in-residence Tristan Wheeler. When it becomes clear that Wheeler had serious enemies and a murderer is in their midst, Henry Spearman is on the case. Was Wheeler killed by a jilted lover, a cuckolded husband, or a beleaguered assistant? Could there have been a connection between Wheeler's marketability and his death? From the Monte Vista campus in San Antonio to the halls of Sotheby's in New York, Spearman traces the connections between economics and the art world, finding his clues in monopolies and the Coase conjecture, auction theory, and the work of Adam Smith. What are the parallels between a firm's capital and an art museum's collection? What does the market say about art's authenticity versus its availability? And what is the mysterious death effect that lies at the heart of the case? Spearman must rely on his savviest economic insights to clear up this artful mystery and pin down a killer.

Synopsis

Henry Spearman, the balding economics professor with a knack for solving crimes, returns in The Mystery of the Invisible Hand--a clever whodunit of campus intrigue, stolen art, and murder. Having just won the Nobel Prize, Spearman accepts an invitation to lecture at Monte Vista University. He arrives in the wake of a puzzling art heist with plans to teach a course on art and economics--only to be faced with the alleged suicide of womanizing artist-in-residence Tristan Wheeler. When it becomes clear that Wheeler had serious enemies and a murderer is in their midst, Henry Spearman is on the case. Was Wheeler killed by a jilted lover, a cuckolded husband, or a beleaguered assistant? Could there have been a connection between Wheeler's marketability and his death? From the Monte Vista campus in San Antonio to the halls of Sotheby's in New York, Spearman traces the connections between economics and the art world, finding his clues in monopolies and the Coase conjecture, auction theory, and the work of Adam Smith. What are the parallels between a firm's capital and an art museum's collection? What does the market say about art's authenticity versus its availability? And what is the mysterious death effect that lies at the heart of the case? Spearman must rely on his savviest economic insights to clear up this artful mystery and pin down a killer.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 07 Sep 2014
ISBN 10: 0691163138
ISBN 13: 9780691163130

Media Reviews

The twists and turns of the plat make for great fun as well as for an enjoyable way to learn economics... The Mystery of the Invisible Hand reveals clearly that, while economics can only sometimes help to piece together clues to an unsolved murder, it is utterly indispensable for making sense of the world. --Donald Boudreaux, Wall Street Journal Jevons combines entertaining economic lessons with a crafty whodunit in his excellent fourth Henry Spearman mystery. --Publishers Weekly, starred review [F]or anyone wanting to nail down some basic principles of economics, and have fun doing it, it's a 'rational solution.' It would make superb supplementary reading for an introductory econ course. --Brenda Jubin, Investing.com The way that Spearman uses economics as a lens through which to view the ambitions and rivalries of academics is absolutely riveting. Like Freakonomics, this proves that the much-dreaded 'econ' can provide useful entertainment. --Booklist, starred review [I]t's a very enjoyable romp--campus novel meets detective novel meets economics primer... As a way to bring some basic economic concepts to life for students, this is an excellent series. --Enlightened Economist It's hard to imagine how a short, balding Nobel Prize winner from Harvard could use economic theories to help solve mysteries, but Jevons manages it, with a sense of humor and a whole lot of economics. --HowMysterious.com This is an old-style academic mystery such as we have not seen in this country since the days of Michael Innes... [C]ompletely unlike any other crime fiction being published at present. I loved it. --Jessica Mann, Literary Review Ingenious... For a whodunit, this is heady stuff... [I]n The Invisible Hand, Marshall Jevons comes of age not only as a crime writer, but as one of a kind. The detective fiction is top-drawer, but the combination with economics is seamless. No one else has done this, and now Jevons has done it again. Rejoice! --Fred S. McChesney, Southern Economic Journal

Author Bio

Marshall Jevons is the pen name of Kenneth G. Elzinga, professor of economics at the University of Virginia. Elzinga, along with William Breit of Trinity University (1933-2011), has written three other Henry Spearman mystery novels under the Jevons pseudonym: The Fatal Equilibrium, Murder at the Margin, and A Deadly Indifference.