One of he strangest books I have ever read. A murder mystery wrapped up in weird philosophies. I listened to it and at some points I laughed out loud. I cannot recommend it because I have no idea who would enjoy it. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads but I can see some would give it 5.

I listened to the audiobook of this story and found it somewhat difficult to follow. I don't know much about William Blake and I think a little knowledge about him would've been helpful. I felt like I skimmed the surface of the novel, but never really understood what was going on. Maybe a physical copy would've been a different experience.

Interesting murder mystery with some funny twists. The funniest part was the naming of the characters

The narrator was really fun and did a great job making a lot of different and unique voices for the many characters. He also managed to keep his tone in the third person narration eager like the main character's desire to solve the mystery. Good narration of the book if it interests you.

If you feel uninspired by trope laden books woth interchangeable characters and aee looking for something different, Who Killed Jerusalem might be for you.

This unique and trippy mystery is a refreshing change from more formulaic or predictable works.

However, it's worth noting that uniqueness alone is not enough to make a novel good. A novel also needs to be well-crafted, engaging, and meaningful in order to resonate with readers. Strong, effective characterization bonds the reader to the plot, and here it is in the incarnation of protagonist, Ded Smith, insurance adjuster. I would say more but the fun is in the blind ride, not unlike Space Mountain.

I've seen it written that "Who Killed Jerusalem" reads like a book Agatha Christie could have written while stoned. There are no words more accurate than that, so I won't even try.

Happy reading!

Who Killed Jerusalem by George Albert Brown…………audio book

Having tried to listen and appreciate this book unsuccessfully……..lots of rewinding……I decided to see what I was missing by visiting other reviewers.
I was happy to see that others had my issues as well. The story bounced around, the characters were unique but I could not follow along to value the humor that others found in it. A knowledge of William Blake, which I did not have, may have helped this listener appreciate the book.
My shortcomings should not stop others from enjoying the book.

“Who Killed Jerusalem” was just not my “ cup of tea.” I wanted to enjoy reading this “clever” this story that would remind me of “A Confederacy of Dunces.” In my senior years I found this book too clever by half. I also found it too crass and profane for my tastes. I will wager that a different audience, perhaps younger and more “woke” than I will enjoy this (very) long read. Still, I am grateful to NetGalley for the chance to try out a new author and look forward to testing other new authors.

But who killed Jerusalem?! This book is awesome adventure and a pleasure to listen to! I will absolutely purchase the hardcopy to re-read. The investigation keeps you on your toes. Strange characters with interesting back stories. If you are looking for. Good mystery thriller this is for you!

I’m very thankful to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook early. Thank you!
That being said, where to start here…
This book was ALL over the place! More specifically, I found the story difficult to follow along to, as it seemed to jump from here to there to back here again. I often found myself pausing and thinking I’d missed something because the story seemed broken up.
The overall premise of the story is interesting, and the narrator did an excellent job. There were many “blocks” of the story that were quite odd but funny, and some parts that were a bit cringy…but I understand that cringe-factor was mostly for building that character.
Respectfully and non-judgmentally, I feel that if you like off-the-wall stories that make you question, “was this author high when this was written?” THEN you’d dig this story. Again, just my opinion (everyone has one) and I did enjoy the small humor bits (like the description of the tattoo) but overall, this book was not for me.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

This story is interesting and very special. It is full twist but sometimes a bit difficult to follow because of the different characters. The tone abs way of writing is fast paced.

My thanks to Net Galley and Galbraith for allowing me this arc audio. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this. Hard to connect with the plot points.

This book reads like Zafron set in San Francisco. I honestly don't think it works as an audiobook. I found myself confused and honestly the narrator's voice didn't engage me that much. He was good at the character voices but not the background narration. I think I might enjoy reading this as a book but I couldn't get into it as an audibook.

Ickey Jerusalem, the self proclaimed poet laureate of San Francisco, has been found dead on an airplane, in a locked bathroom. Was it suicide? Or did one of the many people traveling with Ickey kill him? That is what Ded Smith must figure out as a life insurance claim adjuster, who also happened to be on that very flight. He has a plethora of suspects, including a blind personal assistant, an overweight lawyer with heart issues, a doctor that isn't what he appears, and a chauffeur that drives a hearse to name a few, but things are made more difficult when someone starts shooting at Ded. 

This book hurt my head. It was so absurd at times that I wasn’t sure what was going on. It had an Agatha Christie feel to it, in terms of everyone being a viable suspect as well as the way in which Ded revealed the truth about Ickey’s death, but it wasn’t executed well. There were some funny parts, but even those moments were overly odd. The reveal of the truth, and all its little working parts, was the best part of the novel, but I had to weed through a lot to get there.

The audiobook saved this story in a tiny way. Lawlor made the tale more enjoyable with his presentation of it, especially in his deliverance of the many jokes, but it was still hard to get through. In many ways I am not a fan of reviewing this audiobook because of my opinions about the narrative.

This is a weird book. At the beginning, it tells you that you don't have to be familiar with the works of William Blake to understand the book, but it is just weird. A decent murder mystery with very memorable characters, Who Killed Jerusalem flows well enough but you have to concentrate on it more than usual on an audiobook. This may be because of the strange characters and their even stranger names. Their ethereal dialog and hints toward what I assume is Blake's work were not side-splitting humor to my ears. I just didn't get it.

I received an audiobook of this novel from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

I wasn't sure where the book was heading when I first started reading. The text begins with Ded on a plane trapped between some jerks, his job has him traveling with no real place to call home. I made the assumption that he was "Death" and his job was going place to place to take the lives of a specific set of people. Then there is a death on the plane, but he was no where near him. Maybe his job was to take the souls of those who die to the afterlife? No, wrong again. The story that ensued was even better. Ded, short for Daedalus, is an investigator for an insurance company and really good at his job. He is called to investigate the death on the plane he was just on.

The deceased is a poet, Icky Jerusalem, (it didn't escape me that Icky is short for Icarus, the son of Daedalus in the ancient story of Icarus flying too close to the sun his father, Daedalus, builds to escape capture). There are only so many people in the plane with Jerusalem. The police have written it off as a self inflicted and Ded has to determine if the death was self inflicted.

I enjoyed the twists and turns. I liked most of the descriptions of the characters but thought the description of Beulah Vala. I get she's hot, but the descriptions were a little much. The other characters descriptions I thought were funny, they included: his chauffeur, Adam Ghostflea; Tharmas Luvah, his business manager; Bacon Urizon, his lawyer; Dr.Bromion Ulro, a physician; Robert N. William, the flight purser. I also appreciated the awe the detective O'Nadir at watching Ded do his thing and find out exactly what happened.

I liked the book and look forward to reading more by the author. I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Certainly a different take on a whodunit book; with a mix of comedy, sarcasm, and a band of eccentric characters like no other. Plus the book switches from satire to deep philosophical discussions (often resulting in comedic conclusions). Basically, the book takes you on a journey to determine who killed Jerusalem, a self-proclaimed poet laureate. Somehow, an insurance adjuster, Ded Smith, becomes the primary investigator on the case, and the rest is twists and turns taken while working and spending time with the group of characters that Jerusalem surrounded himself with while alive.

Although this was a comedic and interesting story there were some over the top, cringe worthy scenes involving too much detail of sexual (bizarre) encounters for me. Additionally, the narrator was very easy to understand, but I had a difficult time listening to some of the voices done for the support characters (again over the top).

Finally, the way this book was written and narrated I could not stop myself from imagining all of the characters and scenes in terms of cartoons... think 'South Park'... not to mention a number of the situations Ded finds himself in, could certainly have been South Park plots.

If you find yourself looking for a book where there is witty commentary, and over the top comedy, while still trying to be a sarcastic whodunit book, then this is for you. I myself am not sure I would choose to listen to this again knowing what I know now, however, that is personal preference.

I found this book really, really difficult to review but I’m going to try my best here. This book is strange, intelligent, and often very confusing but I really did enjoy it. I’ll start by saying that this book is highly philosophical, and if that doesn’t interest you, you may not like this.

Honestly, I struggled with the beginning of this book. It is quite long (even though I listened to it at 2x speed), and the first quarter was a little hard to get to as I was introduced to the more abstract concepts the book explores. Be prepared for some really weird descriptions and events.

In saying this, once I passed this point I found myself really enjoying and finding an interest in the psychological and philosophical concepts and discussions, as well as following on with the murder mystery. I think this book serves well in both of these instances, as I genuinely had no clue who was responsible until the very last pages.

This was a strange, interesting read that did drag on a bit. I’d recommend it to lovers of philosophy and literature. Make sure to check trigger warnings, I gave it 3/5 stars.

I really enjoyed the characters and humor of this book, which had me laughing out loud. If you are a fan of "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole then I highly recommend "Who Killed Jerusalem?"

I love reading books set in the Bay Area, where I live, and Brown's depictions of 1977 San Francisco paint a picture of an unhinged and libertine era here that is certainly bygone, and I'm intrigued to investigate the local history more.

This is an amazing mix of high and low-brow -- with wild, wacky characters who surrounded a poet that may or may not have been on to a mystical reality. When he winds up dead in an airplane bathroom (a locked room within a locked room!), our narrator, and insurance adjuster, investigates the supposed suicide with such skill and aplomb that the actual police detective is basically his research assistant.

We meet the various eccentric hangers-on surrounding the poet, many of whom had motive and potential opportunity (being on the plane) -- and in fact 1 may have beaten multiple to the punch in doing the deed. These include his assistant/lover, who met him after being blinded by staring at one of his works in a park; his doctor, who is mainly a plastic surgeon and is himself a hack job of various attempts at looking perfect (capped teeth that come loose, bad fake tan, etc.); his lawyer, a massive giant; and others. Many of these also have ridiculous pun names that adds to the farcical tone.

This is an interesting romp about the web of interconnected relationships that develop around any charismatic person, but some of the repetition of the high/low plane of existence and objectifying descriptions can be a bit much.

A novel evoking the "side-splitting humor of John Kennedy Toole"? Set in the San Francisco of the 70's? Layered with the poetry and art of Willam Blake? Color me intrigued.

What Toole accomplished in A Confederacy of Dunces, one of my all-time favorite novels, was art. Profoundly funny, obscure, ridiculous. Ignatius was a character like no other. In Who Killed Jerusalem, the opening paragraph of the opening chapter has a dead Ickey Jerusalem sitting on the toilet in the first class bathroom, while protagonist Ded, an insurance claims adjuster, is stuck on the same flight with drunk salesmen back in steerage. This had promise, it was over the top and had me invested in Ded. Tragically, the absurdity kept multiplying, with no release valve, nothing relatable, just crazily named characters in increasingly zany situations. Unsurprisingly, Brown is no Toole. He is on his way, however, towards Rocky Flintstone heights [my notes: Is this My Dad Wrote a Porno?]. Each sentence felt forced, like it was designed to elicit that promised side-splitting humor and instead achieved much eye-rolling and head shakes and "oh brothers".

I bounced back and forth between reading and listening to the audiobook. The narrator read the story in a newsman-like fashion, just the facts ma'am, and saved his voice artistry for the myriad of characters. The only reason I could think of for the doctor's annoyingly high pitched nasal wheeze was that he'd run out of vocal expressions.

I have to admit, I struggled with this one. Giving it a final push at 2x speed, stuck on an airplane with nothing else to distract me, with almost 20 hours and 576 pages behind me I was able to reach The End.

Pro-tips for the intrepid: speed up the audiobook, and do look up the Blake imagery. It might have something to do with the story (if you squint) and is disturbingly beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley, Galbraith Literary Publishers for the ARC and the Audiobook.