A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

You're a jewish boxer in 18th century London. You can't fight anymore because you broke your leg in the ring. You've turned to more unsavory pursuits to make ends meet. One of these is retrieving stolen items.
On the one hand it's a mystery book, who killed Benjamin Weaver's father? Benjamin Weaver is on a mission to find out. It's a historical portrait of the financial markets in the 18th century which oddly mirrors our own financial problems including an imminent stock crisis and a big discussion of what is money. Finally it's a sociologic look at the place of jews in London turning this time. It was a big mishmash of a book and it works. The characters were all well drawn. I learned things about England I didn't know and will probably only help out when I get on Jeopardy(What is the South Sea Bubble, Alex) Best of all, there are bunch of books in the series!! Always a good thing. But it's no Parker.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Liss may be the father of a new sub-Genre: Economic Historical Mysteries. The Coffee Trader was decent, too, mainly for the history. Conspiracy of Paper was a better book, overall.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The Coffee Traded didn't have as much punching and it really needed it. The big mystery was who was screwing who at the stock exchange. It was interesting to watch the birth of stock exchanges but it needed a little more twist.

I did however move on to "A Spectacle of Corruption" This book returns us to London and Benjamin Weaver. Benjamin Weaver has been sentenced to hang for killing a porter. He escapes from jail and tries to clear his name.

We've moved from Business corruption to political corruption and union organizing. Weaver goes undercover as rich coffee merchant from Jamaica. He gets involved in the election for the parliamentary seat for Westminster.

This book seems to be much tighter than either Paper or Trader. It's also full of Liss's attention to detail. We learn about the Jacobite plots for the thrown. I got some background about Tories and Whig and their births. I also again learned it sucks to be a working man without union representation. I wonder if Lehane knows Liss?
I think the major reason to read these books is the historical background because they are full of it. There is even a nice for further reading section at the back of the book.