Athens, 1929. Stefanos Kantartzis is found murdered, and Michael Igerinos, his best friend of 30 years, is being questioned by the police as the last person to see him alive.
While looking at his dead friend's body, Michael is immediately taken back to the late summer of 1900 when he and Stefanos first met in the crammed Sorbonne University lecture hall. The story of their friendship begins during the Second International Congress of Mathematics--an event that was to become a landmark for 20th century mathematical research.
At the root of this historically based work of fiction lies the question as to whether the solution to a mathematical problem could inspire such passion, so intense and perilous, as to drive someone to murder.
The story takes the reader behind the scenes of academia, into the world of Bertrand Russell, Hilbert, Poincare, and Godel, and through the streets of Bohemian Paris at the heyday of Montmartre, the Moulin Rouge, and the "Zut"--the infamous hangout of Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Max Jacob, and many other colorful characters.
Pythagorean Crimes follows in the tradition of popular mathematical fiction like Doxiadis' Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture and Martinez' Oxford Murders. Yet brings with it old-world charm and the cultural richness of the social, political, scientific and intellectual circles of early 20th century France, Germany, and Greece.
About the Author: Tefcros Michaelides holds a PhD from Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris, and was awarded "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques" by the French Government. He is a Professor of Mathematics at Athens College, Greece. His published works include Mathimatika Epikera(A Mathematician's View of Everyday Events), and numerous original studies on the role of mathematics in literature from antiquity to the modern era, and from Chinese texts to the newest science-fiction works. He has also translated many books into Greek, including A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, the widely acclaimed and successful The Parrot's Theorem by Denis Guedj, Timescape by Gregory Benford, and D'Alembert's Principle and Mobius Dick by Andrew Crumey.
