Margaret Doody

Margaret Anne Doody

The greatest philosophical mastermind turns detective in this witty and dramatic whodunit which takes place in Athens, 332BC, an unhappy city under the rule of the Macedonian 'barbarian' Alexander the Great. In the midst of this unrest, Boutades, an eminent citizen, is found brutally murdered. Suspicion falls heavily on young Philemon, and, by Athenian law, his cousin Stephanos is elected to defend his name in court. In desperation, Stephanos seeks assistance from Aristotle, his former mentor -- and Aristotle turns Detective. The young, inexperienced boy and the great philosopher form a classically uneven partnership. Their efforts culminate in the gripping trial scene when Stephanos uses all the powers of rhetoric and oratory instilled in him by Aristotle to clear his family's name of this bloody murder.

Aristotle Detective

B. Benvenuto

R. Coci

Aristotele detective

Aristotele e i veleni di Atene

Aristotele e il giavellotto fatale

I culti esoterici di Demetra e Kore, tra Atene ed Eleusi, sullo sfondo di una serie di delitti. Aristotele vi legge la trama di una cospirazione ma anche lo smarrimento del suo mondo classico.

Aristotele e i Misteri di Eleusi

Senza Aristotele niente Sherlock Holmes. É questa, verosimilmente, l'idea alla base di questo giallo investigativo. Il metodo del tipo di detective alla Sherlock Holmes - di enumerare indizi, trarne ipotesi, dedurne nuovi particolari, sino alla spiegazione del delitto e la scoperta conseguente del colpevole - non sarebbe stato possibile se non applicando il metodo dimostrativo della logica aristotelica al crimine. Stefanos, un simpatico giovanetto dell'Atene del IV secolo, dunque, guidato dallo Stagirita che non si muove di casa come Nero Wolfe, indaga sull'assassinio di un ricco oligarca, di cui è accusato ingiustamente il cugino, esule per un precedente errore.

The great philosopher and his student face pirates, political intrigue, and more in this dark, suspenseful mystery set in ancient Athens. Tensions between the Athenians and the Makedonians—whose leader, Alexander the Great, is one of Aristotle’s former students—draw the philosopher across the Aegean Sea, accompanied by the devoted Stephanos. Both will have much to learn about survival as they find themselves beset by pirates, uncovering conspiracy, and facing the horrors of war. It will be up to Aristotle to try to shed light on the darkness they are about to encounter—in this novel in the historical series praised as “unusually authentic” (Kirkus Reviews) and “eminently enjoyable” (Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse Mysteries). Also published as Aristotle and the Mystery of Life

An Aristotle Detective Novel

Aristotle and the Secrets of Life

In ancient Athens, the great philosopher applies logic to a lethal crime—in the “eminently enjoyable” first novel in a historical mystery series (Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse Mysteries). Young Stephanos is desperate to save his family’s honor by proving in the Athenian court that his exiled cousin is not guilty of shooting an arrow into a prominent patrician. For help, he turns to his old teacher—the cunning and clever thinker known as Aristotle. It will all lead up to a tense public trial in which Stephanos must draw on the rhetorical skills he’s learned from his eccentric, brilliant mentor, in this novel filled with suspense, humor, and historical detail—the first in a series of “witty, elegant whodunits” (Times Literary Supplement). “[An] unusually authentic Ancient-Greece murder tale.”—Kirkus Reviews “Doody brings the Athens of 322 BC to life with skill and verve…wonderfully plotted.”—Publishers Weekly

C’è la carestia ad Atene. Stefanos, il Watson di Aristotele detective, inviato in Egitto per un carico di grano, è invischiato in un intrigo internazionale che rovinerà la città. Ma Aristotele vigila.

Aristotele e i delitti d'Egitto

330BC: it is the year that Alexander the Great sacked Persepolis and won the greatest fortune the world had ever known. The night of the Silent Dinner when Athens placates the spirits of the dead passes with a creeping mist accompanied by eerie portents and a strange disappearance. Stephanos, son of Nikiarkhos and his teacher, the philosopher Aristotle, are drawn into solving the perplexing abduction case of Anthia, the heiress of a prominent silver merchant. Someone has snatched her from her home, but what is the motive: rape, a forced marriage or murder? All that is known is that the abductor and the heiress are on the road to Delphi and its ancient oracle. Stephanos and Aristotle pursue them but along the way there are plenty of distractions: it's spring time and the country is full of reborn life, the thought of romance and marriage is never far from young Stephanos' mind, and rumours of mysterious strangers passing in the night abound, of disguises and swapping of identity. Then the actuality of murder shatters the idyll. It seems that there is a psychopath on the road pursuing abductor and heiress. But who the abductor is and who the murderer is are mysteries that only Aristotle with the aid of the Delphian oracle will be able to solve.

Murder and Mystery in Ancient Athens

Aristotle and Poetic Justice

Jane Austen took a particular delight in the resonance of names, and in her novels she used the names of people and places as a potential source of meaning, satirical or historical. Margaret Doody's book is a learned and enjoyable investigation of this aspect of Austen's art. Doody tells us that Austen preferred first names in common and traditional English use, though these sometimes acquire a subtly new flavor in her works. Austen also favored the names of saints and of royalty, but she did use some classically derived pagan” names, always with a purpose. And Austen would signal political loyalties and allegiances in her novels through the use of names, both first names and last names, as well as place names. In exploring Austen's names and their connotations, Doody has a larger point to make. By uncovering the riddling and punning in Austen's names, as well as Austen's interest in history, Doody casts Austen as a decidedly earthy” writer steeped in the particulars of place and time, rather than a timeless novelist writing in an abstemious style. From this attention to names in her work emerges a picture of Austen that is both fuller than we've had before, and controversial.

Riddles, Persons, Places

Jane Austen's Names

In this journey through the work of artists and the writings of travelers who have been both smitten and repelled by the influence of Venice, Margaret Doody explores ways in which this is a city profoundly unlike any other on earth—and one that simultaneously unsettles and reveals many of our most deeply rooted cultural values.

Margaret Doody

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