The Oxford Murders

Martin, a US student, travels to Oxford to study under Arthur Seldom and idolizes him. He lodges with Mrs. Eagleton, where her daughter Beth resents her caregiver duties. The stage is set for a tense mentor-student dynamic that will soon be tested by a series of dark events.

In a public lecture, Seldom quotes Wittgenstein to deny absolute truth. Martin challenges him, declaring his belief in the absolute truth of mathematics, saying he believes in pi. Seldom humiliates Martin, undercutting his confidence and exposing the fragility of his position before the audience.

Disillusioned, Martin decides to abandon his studies and collects his belongings from his office. There he encounters Podorov, a bitter mathematician who also failed to join Seldom's circle. The exchange underscores Martin's sense of exclusion from Seldom's world.

Back at Mrs. Eagleton's house, Martin and Seldom discover the landlady murdered. Seldom tells the police that he received a note with his friend's address marked as the first of a series, hinting at a serial killer testing his intellect.

Martin and Seldom discuss the idea of imperceptible murders — victims who are dying anyway, making foul play easy to miss. They speculate that such murders might escape routine police suspicion and frame Seldom's theory as a dangerous intellectual game.

Martin visits the hospital to see his girlfriend Lorna, who works there. He encounters Seldom visiting Kalman, a former student with cancer. A patient sharing Kalman's room dies from a suspicious injection, and the authorities receive a second symbol: two interlocking arcs.

Martin's relationship with Lorna strains as his obsession with Seldom and the murders grows. He learns that Lorna was once Seldom's lover, a revelation that complicates loyalties and trust.

During a Guy Fawkes Night concert, Podorov acts suspiciously and is chased by police, though his intent is merely to hang an insulting banner. A musician collapses and dies from respiratory failure, and a triangle is drawn on his music stand, reinforcing the killing pattern’s symbolism.

Seldom recounts a nineteenth-century tale about a diary listing ways to kill his wife, and a later twist reveals the diary's forged origin. He uses the tale to argue that the perfect crime is not one that remains unsolved, but one solved incorrectly, foreshadowing how misdirection can shape events.

The Oxford mathematics community buzzes when a local researcher claims to have solved Fermat's Last Theorem. Martin, Seldom, and other mathematicians board a bus to attend the conference, drawn by intellectual excitement and prestige. Martin hesitates to leave Lorna behind but eventually reconciles with her on the street.

Martin reconciles with Lorna and, after making love, realizes that the killer's sequence consists of Pythagorean symbols with the tetractys (ten points) as the next target. The couple decide to take a long holiday away from Oxford, mathematics, and Seldom.

In a dramatic twist, the bus is bombed by a bus driver for a school for developmentally challenged children who wants organ donors for his daughter, killing the children and himself. The police later infer that the bomber staged other murders to deflect blame from himself.

With the bus tragedy behind them, Martin confronts Seldom and reveals his conclusions. Beth had murdered the landlady to escape caregiver duties, and Seldom aided the cover-up by fabricating the first-of-a-series note and misdirection. The hospital death and other events were similarly manipulated.