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Penzler Pick, May 2000: It is 1910 Vienna, and a woman's body has been found in the Volksgarten. She is Dora--Freud's famous patient. The Inspector (whose name we never learn) is painstakingly trying to put together the circumstances of her death with the help of the principles outlined in the 1901 book System der Kriminalistik, the first tome to attempt a psychological approach to understanding crime. The Inspector's wife, Erszébet, meanwhile, is drawn to this murder for reasons she doesn't understand and decides to investigate using her own methodology, derived from the Gypsy folklore she grew up with in Hungary.
What separates The Fig Eater from ordinary mystery fiction is the look it offers at detective work in the early 20th century, as the methods used moved from folklore and ignorance to the scientific. Photography of the era often resulted in the loss of fingers. Forensic methods so familiar to us now were unheard of, and the use of psychological profiling to capture killers was a young science unknown by most of the general populace.
Shields introduces the reader to Dora's family and acquaintances, giving depth to the characters only briefly discussed in Freud's case study of Dora. She takes liberties with the historical record (this is, after all, a novel) but creates a plausible scenario of what might have happened while depicting a brooding turn-of-the-century Vienna replete with gorgeous details of food, fashion, botany, and manners. The film rights have been optioned by Miramax, and if the author had her way, she says, it would star Liam Neeson and Judi Dench. --Otto Penzler
From Publishers Weekly
Fashion writer Shields (All That Glitters; A Stylish History) achieves atmospheric suspense in her compelling first novel, set in 1910 in Freud's Vienna. It opens on the discovery of the grisly murder of a young woman, Dora (whose name recalls Freud's famous patient), found strangled in a disreputable part of town. Two separate investigations are launched, only one official. The unnamed Inspector, with his assistant, Franz, begins with the physical evidence at the scene, and later watches for telltale signals from his initial crop of suspects: Dora's mother and father, her lover and his wife. He interprets their reactions by means of his growing familiarity with psychoanalysis, a pioneering work of which is excerpted throughout the novel. Meanwhile, his wife, Ersz?bet, an amateur painter and Hungarian mystic, begins her own clandestine inquiries with the help of a young English governess, Wally. Their first substantial piece of evidence is the undigested fig removed from Dora's stomach. They become convinced that this is the key to solving the case, as figs cannot grow in Vienna's cold winters and are apparently not imported fresh from warmer climes. Ersz?bet also believes that Gypsy spells and superstitions might divine knowledge about the crime, while the Inspector searches more or less by the book. These two very different styles of inquiry lead to discoveries that keep the competing sleuths neck-and-neck until the final pages. Though the plot is intricate and the mystery promising, Shields's language can be uneven. Often lushly descriptive, at times the prose is restrained to the point of detachment, somewhat distancing the reader from the characters. A sprinkling of Hungarian legend and Gypsy lore adds another layer of color to Shields's evocation of the era, while literary references, contemporary art, medical theories, occult practices, botanical information and the engaging details of Viennese life build a picture of a city in the throes of turbulent intellectual and social change. 5-city author tour; U.K. rights sold to Doubleday/Black Swan; film rights sold to Miramax. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In 1910 Vienna, a police inspector and his Hungarian wife pursue independent investigations of the mysterious murder of a young woman, whose "last meal" consisted of a single fig. Using scientific and forensic techniques actually detailed from a period handbook of criminology, the inspector mines clues from all available sources. Unbeknownst to him, his wife, Erszebet, of gypsy origins, brings to bear otherworldly techniques to achieve the same end. Along the way, Shields, a former editor and author of fashion books (All That Glitters; Hats: A Stylish History and Collector's Guide) demonstrates substantial talent in the literary mystery milieu. While delivering a unique and engrossing story, Shields imparts a wealth of Eastern European gypsy folklore as well as seductive period detail on photography, arcane medical procedures, and prevailing sexual psychology. This is a masterpiece for all suspense collections.---Margaret A. Smith, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, MI Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Judith Shulevitz
[T]he first half is sharp enough to create the suspicion that next time, if Shields picks a less overworked subject, she could leaven her formula with original thinking and carry the whole thing through to the end.
Wall Street Journal, 3/13/00
"THE FIG EATER, a first novel by Jody Shields, takes readers, with mesmerizing clarity, to Vienna in 1911...through overlapping perspectives, Ms. Shields flashes dazzling stereopticon slides of a city floating between opposites...Ms. Shields has a powerful gift for poetic and painterly imagery. Her startling scenes, rich in metaphor, linger long in memory."
From Booklist
Combining the literary thriller with the historical mystery can produce special novels (Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost, for example). Shields' ambitious first novel clearly aims to play in this league. The story takes place in Vienna in 1910 and concerns the murder of 18-year-old Dora (Freud's famous patient). The nameless policeman who investigates the case--known only as the Inspector--is a great believer in rational explanations, but they don't help him here. Meanwhile, his wife, Erzebet, and her friend, an English governess, launch their own investigation, drawing heavily on gypsy folklore. Shields is a former design editor at the New York Times, and her prose is awash in lush descriptions of the look of things: Vienna in the snow, food on a plate. After a while, however, the visual ripeness of the imagery gets in the way, and the portent-heavy plot seems less compelling than self-consciously literary. Still, Shields is an intelligent writer unafraid to take chances, and this is a promising debut; her handling of setting alone justifies purchase. Bill Ott
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