What is the book that Mayor Richmond references in The Killing?

I was just thinking of the TV series The Killing that was I watched a while ago and remember Mayor Richmond (while he was running for office, I think in the second season) frequently referring to a book that started with an "o" it was like a Greek or Roman thing. I can't remember what it was called.

Does anyone know?

And in addition to this, I don't understand the significance of the book to the story. I guess because I don't know what the book was about. But does anyone understand why they made such a big deal of that book in the first couple seasons?

Best Answer

I think you mean Orpheus, which is not actually a book, but a character in Greek mythology. (Richmond may have had a book containing the story of Orpheus as a prop, I don't specifically recall.)

Orpheus was the online handle that Richmond used on the Beau Soleil forums (and in person when meeting the prostitutes, IIRC.)

Richmond chose this alias because, according to the myths, Orpheus descended into the underworld to find and rescue his dead wife. He succeeded in doing so, but lost her again when he looked back on the way out (which he had been explicitly forbidden to do.) This story held great personal relevance to him considering:

He blamed himself for his own wife's death, and on the night of Rosie Larsen's murder he had, in fact, tried to commit suicide himself because of the despair he felt for his lost love. He tried to descend into the underworld and, like Orpheus, failed to get anything out of it. He also blamed himself the way he infers Orpheus must have after looking back into the Underworld.