Doctor Criminale A Novel

A headstrong young journalist goes on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling through Europe to find the world’s most enigmatic philosopher

Bazlo Criminale is one of Europe’s most legendary living men. A mysterious novelist and thinker known for his extreme elusiveness, the beloved Criminale is a cultural icon of the highest order. Seeking to find the man behind the myth, a London television-news station hires Francis Jay, an enterprising young reporter, to find Criminale. From Vienna to Budapest to the picturesque lakeshores of Italy, Jay journeys across the continent—and even briefly to Brazil—interviewing the man’s biographer, his publisher, and his former lover, all of whom have their own interests at stake. Through literary award dinners and other examples of “culture as spectacle,” Jay must navigate the chaotic world of post–Cold War Europe as he chases the specter of a literary legend.

Malcolm Bradbury (1932–2000) was a well-known novelist, critic, and academic, as well as founder of the creative writing department at the University of East Anglia. His seven novels include The History Man and Rates of Exchange, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Bradbury was knighted in 2000 for services to literature and died the same year.