A Conspiracy of Paper: 1 (Benjamin Weaver) - Softcover

Liss, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804119120 ISBN 13: 9780804119122

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2001

Synopsis

Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family--until he is asked to investigate his father's sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father's footsteps--and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years. . . .

About this title

Review:

"Tremendously smart, assured, and entertaining . . . An intricate mystery, a colorful rogues' gallery and, improbably, a history lesson on the birth of the stock market."
--Newsweek

"THE PLOT DRAWS YOU IN FROM PAGE TO PAGE. . . . An evocation of English history that you can happily get lost in for days."
--CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT
The New York Times

"REMARKABLE . . . ENGAGING . . . The first stock market crash in the English-speaking world is about to burst, and a whole way of life is about to burst with it."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A VORTEX OF STOCK FRAUD AND MURDER . . . [A] GENRE-STRETCHING FIRST NOVEL."
--Time

"HIGHLY ENTERTAINING . . . FIENDISHLY INTRICATE . . . Compares favorably with An Instance of the Fingerpost."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A tale of eighteenth-century finance, murder, and religion that is a remarkable debut and a thoroughly satisfying novel."
--ARTHUR GOLDEN
Author of Memoirs of a Geisha

"An old-fashioned detective story, with London's teeming streets and taverns as its backdrop. . . . An artfully constructed potboiler: the sort of thing that would make a good 'Mystery!' series on PBS."
--The New Yorker

"A Conspiracy of Paper is exciting, intelligent, and witty--a rare combination in historical novels. It is rich in intriguing detail and peopled with fascinating characters. Recommended enthusiastically."
--JOHN JAKES
Author of American Dreams

"A well-researched and highly entertaining historical mystery . . . [A] tale of financial skullduggery and multiple murder . . . Conveyed in vivid extended scenes characterized by crisp dialogue and a keen sense of the ways in which character reveals itself . . . The very model of a modern historical mystery."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Terrific . . . Set in a vividly realized eighteenth-century London . . . Although a financial boom fueled by a new economy or a personal struggle with ethnic identity may seem awfully contemporary, Liss keeps us firmly in another time. . . . The book crackles with period detail, yet the immense research never shows. . . . One can only hope that Liss isn't finished with Benjamin Weaver."
--Booklist

Book Description:

A garrulous prostitute. A Jewish boxer. The mysterious death of a father ... and the origins of the modern stock market.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0804119120
• ISBN 13: 9780804119122
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480