Name: The Fig Eater
ISBN: 9780316785266

Jody Shields

A "stylish and compelling" (Chicago Tribune) mystery set in late-imperial Vienna, steeped in suspense, history, and hypnotic sensual pleasure. Vienna, 1910. The hunt for a killer beings in the darkness of a hot August night, when an eighteen-year-old girl named Dora (loosely inspired by Freud's famous patient) is found brutally murdered near the Imperial Palace... Hailed as one of the most remarkable literary debuts of recent years, The Fig Eater is at once a page-turning tale of murder, sleuthing, and sexual secrets and a rich, glittering evocation of a city and a culture in fateful transition.

A Novel

The Fig Eater

Antonella Romani

This is a murder mystery, and I may be biased because it's not usually my favorite genre to read, but I thought this book was OK. Would I reccomend it to others? Probably not...
However, this book is very well written and is easy to follow. I really enjoyed the Austrian history and Hungarian/ Gypsy folklore that is incorporated into almost every page.
The 2 main characters, a husband inspector and a superstitious wife, are both investigating the murder of a young woman named Dora, using 2 different methods (scientific vs. intuitive). What irritated me the most is that it got very tedious in the 2nd half to 2nd third of the book because it seemed like neither method was working at all. All the clues had hit a point where they seemed to be completely useless and lead nowhere. Having said that, there were soo many loose ends throughout the book too that I would love to have seen resolved/concluded.
Okay so... the ending... What?? The book took an interesting left turn into the supernatural that I did NOT expect, even with all the folklore throughout the book. Im not really sure how I feel about this ending either.

The Fig Eater A Novel

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