The Invisible Hand, Jevons - B

                                            The invisible hand, of course, refers to Adam Smith in this interesting novel written about an economist, by two economists. This book is the fourth in a series, the first of which was published in the 70's. One writer is a Professor at U.Va. and the other at Trinity University in Texas. Their protagonist is Prof. Henry Spearman at Harvard who occasionally solves mysteries by applying economic logic to the case.  The second book, published  in the 80's, holds the distinction of being the first mystery novel published by a University Press (MIT).  The books are apparently so good that they are sometimes used as assigned supplementary reading in college econ courses.  In this one (the first in twenty years) Spearman wins the Nobel and winds up as a visiting Nobel Professor for a semester at a fictitious school in San Antonio. He decides to teach a course on Art and Economics just as the University's rising star artist-in-residence is murdered a few weeks after 5 of his paintings were stolen.  The solution is not that complicated or even interesting, but the lectures, theories and enthusiasm for the 'dismal science' is fun and I'll likely track down the first three.