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The Mystery of the Invisible Hand: A Henry Spearman Mystery
Economics professor and amateur detective Henry Spearman tackles a mystery where the price of art is murder
In The Mystery of the Invisible Hand , Henry Spearman, an economics professor with a knack for solving crimes, is pulled into a case that mixes campus intrigue, stolen art, and murder. Arriving at San Antonio’s Monte Vista University to teach a course on art and economics, he is confronted with a puzzling art theft and the suspicious suicide of the school’s artist-in-residence. From Texas to New York, Spearman traces the connections between economics and the art world, finding his clues in monopolies, auction theory, and Adam Smith. How is a company’s capital like an art museum’s collection? What does the market say about art’s authenticity versus its availability? What is the mysterious “death effect”―and does it lie at the heart of the case? Spearman must rely on his savviest economic thinking to answer these questions―and pin down a killer.
In The Mystery of the Invisible Hand , Henry Spearman, an economics professor with a knack for solving crimes, is pulled into a case that mixes campus intrigue, stolen art, and murder. Arriving at San Antonio’s Monte Vista University to teach a course on art and economics, he is confronted with a puzzling art theft and the suspicious suicide of the school’s artist-in-residence. From Texas to New York, Spearman traces the connections between economics and the art world, finding his clues in monopolies, auction theory, and Adam Smith. How is a company’s capital like an art museum’s collection? What does the market say about art’s authenticity versus its availability? What is the mysterious “death effect”―and does it lie at the heart of the case? Spearman must rely on his savviest economic thinking to answer these questions―and pin down a killer.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2014
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407 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 14, 2019
This mystery, written by an economics professor, is an excellent way for novices to understand a little about economic theory. The trouble is, the murderer is pretty clear from the beginning, so the mystery part of the title isn't mysterious at all. Putting that aside, the character of Henry Spearman, Nobel laureate, is a very good narrator and teacher. While serving as a visiting professor at fictional Monte Vista University in San Antonio, Spearman offers a course called "Art and Economics." As fate would have it, the most famous artist in town is found dead the first day Spearman and his wife are on campus and, of course, the dollar value of his work immediately rises. His paintings are, therefore, a perfect case study for Spearman's students. How is art different from a pizza? Is it simple supply and demand that frequently makes a dead artist's work worth more than a live one's? How does "the Veblen effect" impact demand?
All of the class discussion and conversations with Spearman's wife and neighbors were really interesting, and I enjoyed this glimpse at how economists interpret the data they collect. The glimpse into campus politics is fun also. But the murder mystery seemed like a pretty thin set up for the discussion. I don't feel that I know much more about San Antonio - and I like a book with a clear and realistic setting - than I did before, either. As economics, though, this novel was enjoyable and informative.
All of the class discussion and conversations with Spearman's wife and neighbors were really interesting, and I enjoyed this glimpse at how economists interpret the data they collect. The glimpse into campus politics is fun also. But the murder mystery seemed like a pretty thin set up for the discussion. I don't feel that I know much more about San Antonio - and I like a book with a clear and realistic setting - than I did before, either. As economics, though, this novel was enjoyable and informative.
June 21, 2015
Fun book to read and a gift from my friend Lucy. Although I did guess early on who was guilty, it was fun to read and relearn all those econ terms and theories. And the author is the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at UVA.
February 18, 2015
Spearman sleuths again
Loved it! I've enjoyed all of these economic-principles-based mysteries by "Marshall Jevons," but I think I'd put this at the top of the list. It's a shame that Econ classes, back in the distant past when I took them, didn't have books like this to make the subject come alive in its applicability to everyday life. Read it for pleasure, and learn in spite of yourself.
Loved it! I've enjoyed all of these economic-principles-based mysteries by "Marshall Jevons," but I think I'd put this at the top of the list. It's a shame that Econ classes, back in the distant past when I took them, didn't have books like this to make the subject come alive in its applicability to everyday life. Read it for pleasure, and learn in spite of yourself.
February 13, 2018
The Mystery of the Invisible Hand by Marshall Jevons is without a doubt the worst mystery novel I have ever read.
It’s all about a boring and irritating prick of an Economics professor named Henry Spearman, who feels the need to interject “educational” economics witticisms into everything he says. He is a dull-witted socially inept asshole. He’s not written with that intent – Jevons writes him as a great hero – but Jevons is a bad enough writer to not be able to pull that off in the least. Spearman is a stupid and annoying protagonist who is only comical because of how pathetic he is.
Henry Spearman walked around dropping these little economics 101 truth bombs and everybody in this Mary Sue novel ate it up. People worshipped him for this wannabe Freakonomics crap. In real life, Henry Spearman would have no friends because people don’t put up with this kind of shit. He’s the worst kind of annoying person.
So, we have a terrible main character in this mystery novel. What else makes it the worst? The mystery also really sucks. There’s no real mystery here at all. The last person who saw him killed him. It’s the only person with a clear motive. It’s the person who had the obvious opportunity. From the beginning – it’s obvious. Then the book just beats it around the whole time.
Like come on, we get it.
At the end, it’s revealed he has an accomplice. Unnamed. Just as an afterthought. No big deal. Not like it’s integral to the plot or anything. But it’s mentioned in passing in the last few pages, and that’s it. Terrible.
The best/worst part is the big revelation, though. Oh my god. This is just embarrassing. I’m cringing to myself just thinking about it again; I couldn’t even imagine how Jevons actually wrote this. How editors and publishers let it go. So…
It was an artist who got murdered. The murderer did it because he owned a bunch of the art and wanted it to go up in value. To try and hide suspicion from himself, the murderer pretended the art was “mysteriously stolen” before the murder, and then after the murder, it “mysteriously reappeared”. Somehow the police have a hard time with this. Actually, an impossible time.
But Spearman is giving a lecture and suddenly realizes that this incredibly obvious and strange sequence of events gives the murderer motive. Because, duh. Because, like… duh. But he has an Economics Epiphany and actually has to run to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He’s hyperventilating. He’s in shock. He figured it out, he cracked the case. It’s worked up as a huge moment.
Just because he realized that the mysterious guy with the motive, opportunity, and the most to gain, probably is the murderer.
Yikes.
I’m not saying this was the worst book of all time that I’ve ever read, but... well, actually I can’t think of any worse. It was certainly the worst mystery and calling it a mystery is exceedingly generous. This is a book for pretentious arrogant circlejerking economics professors to fantasize about being in as they wish they were as relevant and desired as they are in this mockery of a mystery.
I threw this book away.
It’s all about a boring and irritating prick of an Economics professor named Henry Spearman, who feels the need to interject “educational” economics witticisms into everything he says. He is a dull-witted socially inept asshole. He’s not written with that intent – Jevons writes him as a great hero – but Jevons is a bad enough writer to not be able to pull that off in the least. Spearman is a stupid and annoying protagonist who is only comical because of how pathetic he is.
Henry Spearman walked around dropping these little economics 101 truth bombs and everybody in this Mary Sue novel ate it up. People worshipped him for this wannabe Freakonomics crap. In real life, Henry Spearman would have no friends because people don’t put up with this kind of shit. He’s the worst kind of annoying person.
So, we have a terrible main character in this mystery novel. What else makes it the worst? The mystery also really sucks. There’s no real mystery here at all. The last person who saw him killed him. It’s the only person with a clear motive. It’s the person who had the obvious opportunity. From the beginning – it’s obvious. Then the book just beats it around the whole time.
Like come on, we get it.
At the end, it’s revealed he has an accomplice. Unnamed. Just as an afterthought. No big deal. Not like it’s integral to the plot or anything. But it’s mentioned in passing in the last few pages, and that’s it. Terrible.
The best/worst part is the big revelation, though. Oh my god. This is just embarrassing. I’m cringing to myself just thinking about it again; I couldn’t even imagine how Jevons actually wrote this. How editors and publishers let it go. So…
It was an artist who got murdered. The murderer did it because he owned a bunch of the art and wanted it to go up in value. To try and hide suspicion from himself, the murderer pretended the art was “mysteriously stolen” before the murder, and then after the murder, it “mysteriously reappeared”. Somehow the police have a hard time with this. Actually, an impossible time.
But Spearman is giving a lecture and suddenly realizes that this incredibly obvious and strange sequence of events gives the murderer motive. Because, duh. Because, like… duh. But he has an Economics Epiphany and actually has to run to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He’s hyperventilating. He’s in shock. He figured it out, he cracked the case. It’s worked up as a huge moment.
Just because he realized that the mysterious guy with the motive, opportunity, and the most to gain, probably is the murderer.
Yikes.
I’m not saying this was the worst book of all time that I’ve ever read, but... well, actually I can’t think of any worse. It was certainly the worst mystery and calling it a mystery is exceedingly generous. This is a book for pretentious arrogant circlejerking economics professors to fantasize about being in as they wish they were as relevant and desired as they are in this mockery of a mystery.
I threw this book away.
February 15, 2015
I was very intrigued by the premise - a Nobel prize laureate in economics, who stumbles upon crimes in Agatha Christie-like fashion, and uses his knowledge of economic principles to unravel the mystery. On the positive side, the book is competently written, and the on-the-fly lessons in basic economic principles are an interesting bonus.
On the negative, strip away the novelty of the concept, and the perpetrator was fairly obvious. The main character often comes across as patronizing. The economic lessons, rather than being seamlessly woven into the narrative, often feel forced.
All in all, great idea, adequately executed.
On the negative, strip away the novelty of the concept, and the perpetrator was fairly obvious. The main character often comes across as patronizing. The economic lessons, rather than being seamlessly woven into the narrative, often feel forced.
All in all, great idea, adequately executed.
December 17, 2016
The fourth entry in the Henry Spearman series. The main difference from the previous books is that, in this one, there is more undergraduate level economics without it being intrusive because much of it is discussed within the setting of a college course.
This is another enjoyable read if you like both mysteries and economics, but it is not my favorite of the four books in the series. "The Fatal Equilibrium" is my favorite.
This is another enjoyable read if you like both mysteries and economics, but it is not my favorite of the four books in the series. "The Fatal Equilibrium" is my favorite.
February 4, 2016
Loved this interesting and original take on a mystery. Loved Professor Spearman, an unlikely but interesting sleuth.
December 28, 2022
This book was chill. The mystery was kind of predictable, but I enjoyed the economics-related parts.
December 6, 2018
Another great one from Jevon's
A great read for both lovers of Economics and for those with a passing knowledge of the subject. Just wish these guys would write more of theses delightful books!
A great read for both lovers of Economics and for those with a passing knowledge of the subject. Just wish these guys would write more of theses delightful books!
January 23, 2023
I picked up this book expecting pure murder mystery. Instead, I was presently surprised to read about a murder against the backdrop of academic economics and art. This was a fun, well-written novel that piqued my interest in subjects I haven't touched before.
March 20, 2022
The prolog to THE MYSTERY OF THE INVISIBLE HAND is one of the best written prologs I've ever read. It gave me great hope for a fantastic story. I was deceived.
Economist Henry Spearman also solves mysteries. Shorting after winning the Nobel Prize agrees to teach a semester at Monte Vista University in San Antonio, Texas, a very different place than his usual place at Harvard. He's told he can teach whatever he wants and decides to teach Art and Economics. Before he leaves, he sees an article in the paper about an art theft from a private residence in San Antonio. He clips the article thinking he may use it in his class.
Once he and his wife arrive in Texas, they are put up in a house next door to the one that was burgled. And as can only happen in a mystery, the artist of the stolen paintings lives two doors down on the other side of their house.
Spearman noodles over the crimes and eventually uses economic theory to solve both the burglary and murder.
But don't be fooled. The Mystery of the Invisible Hand is not really a mystery. It's actually an economics text disguised as a mystery. The author is actually an economist himself. This book is his effort to bring economics to the masses.
In the book, Spearman babbles economic theory in EVERY interaction he has. He lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps economics. It's way too much. I became bored...and frustrated by this. I pictured my college economics professor, Fred Duersch, speaking to me in class. My ex-father-in-law was an economist and he never once spewed economic theory in any conversation I had with him. But then, maybe that's why Larry never won the Nobel Prize. I stopped reading once the mysteries were solved even though the denouement went another two chapters. I just couldn't read anymore economics.
Unless you're itching to dive into economic theory, don't bother with this book. If you are, it's better than a college economics text.
Economist Henry Spearman also solves mysteries. Shorting after winning the Nobel Prize agrees to teach a semester at Monte Vista University in San Antonio, Texas, a very different place than his usual place at Harvard. He's told he can teach whatever he wants and decides to teach Art and Economics. Before he leaves, he sees an article in the paper about an art theft from a private residence in San Antonio. He clips the article thinking he may use it in his class.
Once he and his wife arrive in Texas, they are put up in a house next door to the one that was burgled. And as can only happen in a mystery, the artist of the stolen paintings lives two doors down on the other side of their house.
Spearman noodles over the crimes and eventually uses economic theory to solve both the burglary and murder.
But don't be fooled. The Mystery of the Invisible Hand is not really a mystery. It's actually an economics text disguised as a mystery. The author is actually an economist himself. This book is his effort to bring economics to the masses.
In the book, Spearman babbles economic theory in EVERY interaction he has. He lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps economics. It's way too much. I became bored...and frustrated by this. I pictured my college economics professor, Fred Duersch, speaking to me in class. My ex-father-in-law was an economist and he never once spewed economic theory in any conversation I had with him. But then, maybe that's why Larry never won the Nobel Prize. I stopped reading once the mysteries were solved even though the denouement went another two chapters. I just couldn't read anymore economics.
Unless you're itching to dive into economic theory, don't bother with this book. If you are, it's better than a college economics text.
August 17, 2017
Clever series in which a professor of economics solves murders using economic theory. This particular one is set in San Antonio where he is a visiting professor and correlates art and economics. Fun reads.
October 30, 2017
A fun cozy mystery about an economics professor who also solves crimes. The author is actually an economics professor at my alma mater, University of Virginia. This book introduces principles of economics in real life practical settings that are much more interesting than a dry text book setting.
July 21, 2023
If you want to read about economics and an annoying know-it-all professor, this is for you. The mystery part was minimal and hardly enjoyable. However, it did refresh some economics vocabulary for me.
January 14, 2018
Not the best mystery in the world, but I loved the use of economic reasoning. FUN book!
April 30, 2019
I cannot recommend this enough to students of Econ. I will read all the books in this series!
November 4, 2019
Did not finish. Terrible
November 8, 2023
It is so clear the Elzinga wrote this book. I love it. It is so nerdy, and I love it.
February 28, 2025
So for someone who has real difficulty understanding economics, I found myself intrigued both by the story and by what I was learning. I felt a little smarter by the end.
December 17, 2025
Finished this a while ago it was good
July 22, 2015
Supposedly a murder mystery, but it was obvious almost from the beginning who the murderer was; plus, this was more like an economics textbook.
The crime solver is an economics professor who "was known for finding hidden economic logic in every corner of human behavior."
If you are interested in learning about economics, but have been afraid or thought it was boring, this book could be useful to you.
Note: the author has not kept up with the latest technology. At one point there was an objection to free art, "where's the printer that can print in three dimensions?" Response: "It doesn't exist--yet." Well, it does: 3D printers exist and have been doing 3D art for several years now.
[Iowa mention]
The crime solver is an economics professor who "was known for finding hidden economic logic in every corner of human behavior."
If you are interested in learning about economics, but have been afraid or thought it was boring, this book could be useful to you.
Note: the author has not kept up with the latest technology. At one point there was an objection to free art, "where's the printer that can print in three dimensions?" Response: "It doesn't exist--yet." Well, it does: 3D printers exist and have been doing 3D art for several years now.
[Iowa mention]
October 29, 2014
Fascinating peek into the world of economics as a professor unravels the mystery of an artist's death. I confess I had my doubts about the author's ability to introduce what most might think a dry subject into the tale, but he's made it work beautifully. Readers might stumble over a sentence or two here and there, but overall it holds together well. The solution comes through economic insight. Readers may be surprised, but will realize all the necessary clues were on display. Nice job!
I received this book for free through Goodreads.
I received this book for free through Goodreads.
February 16, 2015
Nobelprisvinnende økonomiprofessor er gjesteforeleser et halvt år på universitet i Texas og løser et mord ved hjelp av økonomisk teori underveis. Interessant nok utgangspunkt, men kjedelig skrvet, med pappersoner i hovedrollene, lange doser forelesninger om popularisert økonomisk teori og en mordløsning de fleste gjetter seg raskt frem til uten noe økonomisk teori.
October 23, 2014
Very interesting mystery with an unlikely detective (an economist). Manages to make economics interesting and the plot plausible. I look forward to reading the others in this series.
June 16, 2015
Don't know if I've become a more critical reader or if Marshall Jevons has become a less interesting writer. Fun to read, but I did not enjoy it as much as the earlier Spearman mysteries.
March 9, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun little mystery and the economics lessons added a fun dimension. I was terrible at econ in college (too esoteric for me) but some of this made sense.
January 20, 2016
It wasn't that great a read, but I'll add a star for combining economics and the mystery novel
December 15, 2016
Enjoyed reading the economic analyses to solve the mystery. Read it for class.
December 24, 2018
If you have read Murder at the Margin or other more ancient of Jevons' novels, you might begin like me: disappointed at first, but then get into the story and actually start enjoying it a lot. Yet, contrarily to the other books, this one seemed to try too hard. The crime was easy to solve, and you feel like you're getting shoved economics concepts down the throat (luckily for me, as an econ science student, I kind of enjoyed).
October 15, 2018
Had to read this for microecon with Elzinga...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews