The Oxford Murders is the English-language title of the 2003 novel Crimenes Imperceptibiles (literally Imperceptible Crimes) by the Argentinian novelist and mathematician Guillermo Martinez. It was subsequently adapted into a 2007 film starring John Hurt, Leonor Watling and Elijah Wood.
It tells of a series of murders at Oxford University that use mathematical symbols as a key, which are solved by a professor of logic, played by Hurt in the film, with the aid of one of his students.
The book delves fairly deeply into mathematical topics, which can be offputting to the general reader. It is written in the Latin American magical realism style, so people’s perception of the book tend to be coloured by their opinions on that tradition.
The film, directed by Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, won several awards in Spain, though it was filmed in English, and changes the nationality of the student protagonist (played by Wood) from Argentinian to American.
The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray, rated 15.
