Marshall Jevons is a fictitious
crime writerA crime writer is an author of crime fiction.Crime writers are often, but not exclusively, authors of detective fiction, which may form part or all of their work.A true-crime author writes about a real crime....
invented and used by William Breit and
Kenneth G. ElzingaKenneth G. Elzinga is an economics professor at the University of Virginia. His two major claims to fame are his antitrust expertise and his co-authorship of a highly successful trio of murder mystery novels in which the sleuth, dubbed Henry Spearman, solves the murder using principles of...
, professors of
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at
Trinity UniversityTrinity University is a private, independent, primarily undergraduate, university in San Antonio, Texas.-History:Trinity was founded in 1869 by Cumberland Presbyterians in Tehuacana, Texas. The school was formed from the remnants of three small Cumberland Presbyterian colleges that had failed...
,
San AntonioSan Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States. The city is characteristic of other Southwest urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city. It was the fourth-fastest growing...
and the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, respectively.
It was Breit's notion to write a mystery novel in which an amateur detective uses economic theory to solve crimes. Elzinga was enthusiastic about his colleague's idea and not only encouraged him to proceed but also decided to take an active role in writing the book.
Marshall Jevons is a fictitious
crime writerA crime writer is an author of crime fiction.Crime writers are often, but not exclusively, authors of detective fiction, which may form part or all of their work.A true-crime author writes about a real crime....
invented and used by William Breit and
Kenneth G. ElzingaKenneth G. Elzinga is an economics professor at the University of Virginia. His two major claims to fame are his antitrust expertise and his co-authorship of a highly successful trio of murder mystery novels in which the sleuth, dubbed Henry Spearman, solves the murder using principles of...
, professors of
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at
Trinity UniversityTrinity University is a private, independent, primarily undergraduate, university in San Antonio, Texas.-History:Trinity was founded in 1869 by Cumberland Presbyterians in Tehuacana, Texas. The school was formed from the remnants of three small Cumberland Presbyterian colleges that had failed...
,
San AntonioSan Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States. The city is characteristic of other Southwest urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city. It was the fourth-fastest growing...
and the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, respectively.
It was Breit's notion to write a mystery novel in which an amateur detective uses economic theory to solve crimes. Elzinga was enthusiastic about his colleague's idea and not only encouraged him to proceed but also decided to take an active role in writing the book. Over the next twenty years, on top of their academic schedules, Breit and Elzinga co-authored three mystery books featuring
HarvardHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
economist-sleuth Henry Spearman. The first Henry Spearman Mystery,
Murder at the MarginMurder at the Margin is a whodunnit written by U.S. economists William Breit and Kenneth G. Elzinga using the joint pseudonym Marshall Jevons...
, came out in
1978The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
, and was followed by
The Fatal EquilibriumThe Fatal Equilibrium is a crime novel written by the pseudonymous author Marshall Jevons. The hero, Professor Henry Spearman, applies economic theory to determine who committed a murder...
(
1985The year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire*Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale*Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters*Iain Banks - Walking on Glass...
) and
A Deadly Indifference (
1995The year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....
).
When, in 1978, after a three-year collaboration, the two economists' first foray into
crime fictionCrime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
was eventually published by Thomas Horton and Daughters, there was no indication on the book cover as to the true identity of the authors. Rather, Elzinga had concocted a fanciful biography of
Marshall Jevons which read:
Marshall Jevons is the President of UtilMax, Inc., an international consulting firmManagement consulting refers to both the industry of, and the practice of, helping organizations improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement....
headquartered in New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. A former Rhodes ScholarThe Rhodes Scholarship named after Cecil Rhodes is an international award for study at the University of Oxford and was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships...
, he holds advanced degrees in economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, biochemistryBiochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
, and oceanographyOceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
. Mr. Jevons is an Olympic medal holder in kayakingKayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking is generally differentiated from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is defined by the International Canoe Federation as a boat where the paddler faces forward, legs in...
whose hobbies now include rocketA rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of a jet of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine. Chemical rockets create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant...
ry and the futures marketA futures exchange or derivatives exchange is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts; that is, a contract to buy specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price with delivery set at a specified time in the future.-History...
in cocoa beansCocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree, from which chocolate is made. "Cocoa" can often also refer to the drink commonly known as hot chocolate; to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the dark, bitter cocoa...
. He is a native of VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
but prefers to call 'home' the Queen Elizabeth 2RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as the 'QE2', is a retired Cunard ocean liner, now owned by Nakheel, a division of Dubai World. She was named after the earlier Cunard liner , and served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by in 2004...
. This is Marshall Jevons' first novel.
However, in subsequent editions of the book, Breit and Elzinga's authorship was recognized.
Murder at the Margin has since been used as supplementary reading in many introductory courses in economics. In commercial terms the novel was a success, and
MIT PressThe MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
approached the authors to suggest they write another Henry Spearman Mystery which they would publish. Thus, in 1985,
The Fatal Equilibrium became the first mystery novel to be published by a
university pressA university press is an academic, nonprofit publishing house that is typically affiliated with a large research university, and publishes work that has been reviewed by scholars in the field. It produces mainly scholarly works...
. One year later, a mass market paperback was issued, prompting Marshall Jevons to comment that “there are few pleasures more satisfying than seeing one's own paperback in a book rack at an airport newsstand”.
The name
Marshall Jevons derives from the surnames of two 19th century English economists,
Alfred MarshallAlfred Marshall was an English economist and one of the most influential economists of his time, being one of the founders of neoclassical economics...
and
William Stanley JevonsWilliam Stanley Jevons was an English economist and logician. His book The Theory of Political Economy expounded upon the "final" utility theory of value...
.
A blog about economics called "The Bayesian Heresy" has also adopted the pseudonym.