Death and the Compass |This article does not cite any references
or sources. (October 2011)| |"Death and the Compass"|
|Author||Jorge Luis Borges| |Original title||"La muerte y la
brújula"| |Genre(s)||Fantasy, short story| |Publication
date||May 1942| |Published in English||1954| "Death and the
Compass" (original Spanish title: "La muerte y la brújula") is a
short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges.
Published in Sur in May 1942, it was included in the 1944
collection Ficciones. It was first translated into English in
the New Mexico Quarterly (Autumn 1954). A detective, Erik
Lönnrot, attempts to solve a mysterious series of murders which
seem to follow a kabbalistic pattern. Plot summary  Lönnrot is a
famous detective in an unnamed city based upon Buenos Aires.
When a rabbi is killed in his hotel room on the third of
December, Lönnrot is assigned to the case. Based on a cryptic
message left on the rabbi's typewriter--"The first letter of the
name has been uttered"—the detective determines tha