The Fatal Equilibrium is a mystery novel published under the pen name Marshall Jevons,[1] which was written by William L. Breit and Kenneth G. Elzinga, both of whom are professors of economics.

The book follows Dennis Gossen, an economist whose career and life are cut short by the Harvard Promotion and Tenure Committee and an apparent suicide.

In a review of Jevons' earlier book, The Wall Street Journal remarked that "if there is a more painless way to learn economic principles, scientists must have recently discovered how to implant them in ice cream."

Over the next twenty years, on top of their academic schedules, Breit and Elzinga co-authored three mystery books featuring Harvard economist-sleuth Henry Spearman.

When, in 1978, after a three-year collaboration, the two economists' first foray into crime fiction was eventually published by Thomas Horton and Daughters, there was no indication on the book cover as to the true identity of the authors.

British traditionals are written as cerebral works of the mind, rather than adrenaline (e.g., Emma Lathen, Ellery Queen, Dorothy Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie).