Who Killed Jerusalem?

A Rollicking Literary Murder Mystery Based On William Blake's Characters & Ideas Updated To 1970s San Francisco

by George Brown

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Pub Date Feb 06 2023 | Archive Date Aug 02 2023

Galbraith Literary Publishers

General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

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Description

A budding cult classic that dramatically splits the reviewers. Which side will you be on?

A seamless melding of the intricate plotting of Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose; the side-splitting humor of John Kennedy Toole in A Confederacy of Dunces; and the fabulous world of William Blake.

In 1977, Ickey Jerusalem, San Francisco’s golden-boy poet laureate, is found dead in a locked first-class toilet on an arriving red-eye flight.

Ded Smith, a desperately unhappy, intelligent philistine with a highly developed philosophy to match, is called in to investigate the poet’s death. Thus begins a series of hilarious encounters with the members of Jerusalem’s coterie.

Ded soon realizes that to find out what happened, he must not only collect his usual detective’s clues but also, despite his own poetically challenged outlook, get into the dead poet’s mind. Fighting his way through blasphemous funerals, drug-induced dreams, poetry-charged lovemaking, offbeat philosophical discussions, and much, much more, he begins to piece together Jerusalem’s seductive, all-encompassing metaphysics.

But by then, the attempts to kill Ded and the others have begun.

Before Ded’s death-dodging luck runs out, will he be able to solve the case and perhaps, in the process, develop a new way of looking at the world that might allow him to replace his unhappiness with joy?

Advance Praise

"The protagonist’s sleuthing keeps the pages turning, and his intense personality contributes to the narrative’s frenetic, free-falling tone. Overall, it makes for an entertaining and fascinating reading experience, as Ded is alluring, smart, funny, and has a mind full of colorful notions.

Brown, a self-admitted “lifelong devotee of William Blake,” considers his novel a contemporary “riff” on that seminal poet’s oeuvre. Readers who enjoy ruminative mysteries that are as ornately embellished as museum tapestries will enjoy this creative amalgam of art, San Francisco history, and deep suspicion.

A zany, inventive, and multilayered fever dream of murder and mayhem."

--KIRKUS REVIEWS

"Graphic and comedic, the novel indulges in reflective, sometimes nonsensical, streams of thought. Still, the narrative’s primary problematiques—the state of beauty, the creation of the universe, and the nature of reality—are ably revealed through the artistry of Jerusalem’s life and Ded’s surreal experiences.

In the surrealistic mystery novel Who Killed Jerusalem?, an investigator seeks out the truth about a man’s death—and about ultimate reality.

--FOREWORD REVIEWS

"This novel is built on the premise that Blake, a radical non-conformist, would have fit in well with the flower children of San Francisco. The poet’s intense interest in metaphysics and his compelling artwork figure prominently in Who Killed Jerusalem?.... a clever conceit, with many humorous episodes."

--BLUE INK REVIEW