Product Description

The myth of St. George-and-the-Dragon comes to new and provocative life in this mystery-thriller set in Milwaukee.

This is the story of James Ireton, a gifted young Shakespeare scholar haunted by a tragic past and recurring nightmares of a Knight, a Lady, and a vicious Dragon. James thinks they're just dreams, but when two people close to him fall victim in a seemingly motive-less series of brutal murders, James discovers there may be a very real Dragon preying in the shadows of his life. Worse, if he doesn't find a bit of St. George in himself, the woman he loves may prove the Dragon's ultimate victim.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1216292 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 476 pages

Review
"...a well-written, page-turning, mystery/thriller....An impressive achievement on many levels and a book that bears rereading." -- John Moorhouse, CATHOLIC MEN'S QUARTERLY

"...it is a great achievement. I literally could hardly put it down. A true metaphysical thriller." -- Léonie Caldecott, co-editor SECOND SPRING: A JOURNAL OF FAITH AND CULTURE, and author of WOMEN OF OUR CENTURY

"...provocative intellectual reading that hangs you in suspense until the last page." -- Pogo's Bookshelf, THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

"On the surface a mystery...and so much more, looking into the very heart of what makes us human." -- Matt Winslow, INFUZE Magazine

From the Publisher
THE MYSTERY OF THINGS is a contemporary mystery-thriller with Catholic and literary (especially Shakespearean) themes. It is the first book in Debra Murphy's planned five-book ASHLAND GRAIL CYCLE, a series of thrillers built around a mysterious myrtlewood cup, the so-called "Ashland Grail". The second book in the series, ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE, will be set in Ashland, Oregon, home of the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It will be published in 2008.

From the Author
Some people have asked me why I chose to tackle some pretty serious themes in the form of a mystery/thriller, rather than a more mainstream literary novel. I can only answer by saying that I wrote the kind of novel I like to read, and took my cue from G.K. Chesterton, who said:

"The essence of a mystery tale is that we are suddenly confronted with a truth which we have never suspected and yet can see to be true. There is no reason, in logic, why this truth should not be a profound and convincing one as much as a shallow and conventional one." (From Chesterton's essay, "The Ideal Detective Story")

Like Chesterton, I love both detective stories and exploring inklings of deeper truths and mysteries. To go for a bit of both in one story is my way of trying to come up with a story that's both entertaining on a superficial level and satisfying on a deeper one.

Customer Reviews

Hard to put down
Reviewed by Rebecka Vigus for Reader Views (6/06)

Debra Murphy takes you to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan to begin her tale "The Mystery of Things." James Ireton, transplanted Englishman, is beginning the final semester of his Doctorate Degree at the prestigious Heisler Institute. He starts the semester under the tutelage of his mentor Fr. Arthur Bricusse, who teams him up with freshman, Guadalupe Cruz for the term assignment.

It is from then on that things go wrong and James and Lupe suffer the worst three months of their lives. Lupe is constantly confronted with James' past loves and his love life. James vows to keep his promise to Fr. Bricusse and not seduce Lupe.

The first day of class James receives a Bible verse he believes comes from his former roommate Richard Krato. James and Richard had a falling out over Krato's father's religious crusade that turned their former house into a cult. Then the nightmare begins, Fr. Bricusse is thrown from the balcony of the Institute.

One by one people who have passed through James' life begin to die horrible deaths. Lupe is in danger. James is at first a suspect and then the victim.

All the while James is fighting his own demons of childhood, and religion. Can he withstand all the trials confronting him? Will he and Lupe survive to be married or will they be victims of the killer who has come to be known as Drop Dead Fred?

Ms. Murphy pulls you in early on and it is hard to put down this book. I highly recommend you add it to your summer reading list. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, `All the World's a Stage.'

A sign of the renaissance in Catholic letters: and a danged good mystery novel!
Lenny Swiatko, murmuring his last sentences in Latin, does a swan dive off a balcony and winds up the first body the police discover fallen from a great height in Milwaukee one summer. He will not be the last.

I discovered Debra Murphy's novel THE MYSTERY OF THINGS after I read a terrific article by Murphy on art and faith in Godspy, a popular online e-zine. The book is a murder mystery and so much more. It may be the first fictional
inquiry into Pope John Paul II's groundbreaking theology of the body.

Set in an elite Catholic graduate studies program on the shores of Lake Michigan, THE MYSTERY OF THINGS tells the story of James Ireton, a brilliant and promising Shakespeare scholar, and the seven other doctoral students enrolled in Fr. Arthur Bricusse's rigorous but acclaimed Shakespeare seminar. Class meetings are tense, chock full of academic rivalries and personal jealousies worthy of the Bard himself.

And then the mayhem starts.

Why do I like this book? It is literate and it thumbs its nose at the prevailing postmodern prose style of "less is more", glorying in adjectives and descriptive language in a way that would curl the hair of most contemporary editors.
Each chapter begins with a quotation from Shakespeare or Spenser, which should have clued me in that Murphy is dizzyingly in love with language. It takes some getting used to for anyone who has bought into the idea that prose should be sparse.

More to the point, the book portrays one of the basic realities about people who come into intimate contact with the Catholic Church, whether as cradle Catholics, converts, or what we used to call "fallen away Catholics". Love it or hate it, practice it or aggressively sin against it, the characters in Murphy's novel orbit around the Catholic Church, pulled by bonds from which they cannot get free. James Ireton, Lupe Cruz, Fr. Bricusse, Bel Gunderson, Jack Sigur, Richard Crato, and the rest of the faculty and students of the Heisler Institute for the Study of Western Civilization manifest every possible attitude towards the Church but one - indifference. And isn't that true of everyone who has been singed by the fire of Catholicism?

The book is based loosely on the legend of the Grail quest, with echoes of
St. George and the dragon. It is the first of what Murphy intends to be her Ashland Grail Cycle.

I finished the last page, and turned right around and started reading it
again. Now I am recommending it to one and all. I am not at all reluctant to put Murphy in the same category as Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and Walker Percy. I predict we will hear much more from her.

Triumph over Dragons
Debra Murphy has created a unique blending of classical literature, mythology, theology, mystery, and romance, in this novel. Within the first few chapters she skillfully introduced the characters, who in turn carry the plot of the story.

Obviously well versed in classical literature Murphy uses dialogue to establish and introduce into the text various interpretations of well known works of literature. The story revolves around the members of a graduate seminar course in Western Literature. Murphy's characters, steeped in class literature and drama, often use familiar quotes conversationally to bring home a point. Excerpts from these quotes become clues as the multileveled plot unravels.

Murphy has an uncanny ability to understand human nature. She opens up the mind of her characters making them vulnerable, and believable. I found myself experiencing a roller coaster of emotions as I was bonded to some. In others she elicited empathy, disgust, respect, and loathing.

I found myself joining forces with detective Masefield, James Ireton, and Lupe Cruz as they tried to get to the bottom of a complicated case of mafia connections, theft, and murder as I tried to solve the puzzle of the intricate and expanding wave of crime and intrigue. Page after page of conflict, action, and mystery will keep you racing through the narrative to the fast paced, action packed, graphic conclusion.

In the final chapter Murphy hints of more to come in this complex mystery of Things. Lupe and James plan for the future rebuilding of their life. Be sure to watch for the second in the Ashland Grail Series, "All the World's a Stage".