≫ [PDF] A Conspiracy of Paper David Liss 9780349114200 Books

A Conspiracy of Paper David Liss 9780349114200 Books

Download As PDF : A Conspiracy of Paper David Liss 9780349114200 Books

A Conspiracy of Paper David Liss 9780349114200 Books

I loved this book. A mystery set in the Jewish slums of London with an intriguing lead character, a former bareknuckle boxer and a Sephardic Jew of Portuguese ancestry he is held in double contempt by the men he works for as a thief-taker (he might be the first private I, LOL). The subplot of his integration into the Jewish community in London after rejecting it years before and the background of the first financial bubble when stocks were something brand new were really well done. The historical references and the glimpses into a London that is long gone were great and the mystery at the heart of the story was almost as good, but this is a character driven book and I loved the lead. A great read and a high recommendation from me for both history lovers and mystery lovers and those, like me, who love a helping of both.


Tags : A Conspiracy of Paper [David Liss] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Benjamin Weaver is an outsider in eighteenth-century London: a Jew among Christians; a ruffian among aristocrats; a retired pugilist who,David Liss,A Conspiracy of Paper,Time Warner Books Uk,034911420X,Crime & mystery,MysterySuspense

A Conspiracy of Paper David Liss 9780349114200 Books Reviews

3.5 Stars Review originally appeared on LibraryThing

Liss has created a niche for himself with his series of books centered on struggles with economic and financial incidents and initiations. Here we meet the most alienated protagonist of my recent memory who bears all the hallmarks of the serial hero. He's a Jew among Christians; he's a former professional boxer among gentlemen; he's without financial ambition or significant riches in an era of greed; and he's possessed of a strong moral compass in a city filled with corrupt financiers.

All those characteristics make for a period private eye who while just setting out on this hobby-career, shows doggedness, an ability to learn deductive reasoning; and an orientation to Good. If that's not the personality of a blooming detective, I need to re-read Christie.

Historical accuracy combined with insights into the world of investment chicanery, and the promise of an investigator whose skills will increase with experience lead to a satisfying, though not stellar, read and a tasty dip into the beginnings of the London Exchange, the cultural prejudices of 18th C. English peoples, and the conflicts of outsiders in a closed and tightly controlled society. In sum, I enjoyed an entertaining yarn perfectly balanced with historical instruction.
The author has a tremendous gift for language, not only in a current context but writing in the manner and language common to 17th century London. While it is by no means a "Sherlock Holmes" mystery (although there are parallels in terms of deductive behavior on the part of the lead character, Benjamin Weaver), when reading it I was enjoying the sheer pleasure of the more mannered conversations, the lower class idioms, descriptions of London's seamier neighborhoods, and the interactions of the various characters. It was a definite page-turner both from the plot twists and turns and also from just the sheer enjoyment of an excellent writer and linguist at work. The plot is confusing, but then again it was confusing to Benjamin Weaver as well as he chased many false leads - so no complaints about that. Benjamin is dogged in his pursuit of those behind the murder of his Father, and as other reviewers have noted the answer lies somewhere in the financial world whose primary players are the Bank of England and the South Seas Company. There is really no need to have knowledge of stock trading, although that terminology is used throughout, but there are parallels to current financial markets in terms of how the value of stocks are driven as much by public perception as they are by financial fundamentals. Bottom line it's a great mystery and a great read. I will definitely read more books by this author. Highly recommend
Take a wild ride to early 18th-century England. You'll meet a famous Jewish boxer, the men behind the South Sea Bubble, and the world's first modern crime lord. Welcome to David Liss' carefully constructed account of A Conspiracy of Paper. The book won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Rampant financial skulduggery the South Sea Bubble
The opening decades of the 18th century in England were an era of rapid change, like our own time. Although paper money had been invented centuries earlier in China, its use did not become widespread in Europe until after the middle of the 17th century. The Bank of England issued the first banknotes only in 1695. Within two decades, when A Conspiracy of Paper is set, speculation had begun to swirl around the new paper financial instruments, especially shares in the early joint-stock companies. Most of the "stock-jobbers" (today's stockbrokers) who peddled these shares were an unscrupulous lot. Fraud was rampant. And nowhere was the speculation wilder than in the shares of the South Sea Company. The turmoil on the Exchange culminated in 1720 in the world's first stock market crash. This was the event that came to be known as the South Sea Bubble.

A crime-ridden city without police
A Conspiracy of Paper is set in 1719, when the population of London was approximately 600,000. (There were only a handful of larger cities in the world, and only in Asia.) Most of the city's residents lived in squalor. Crime was rampant, murder common. There were no police other than the thugs who roamed the city to grab citizens and haul them off to jail for generous awards, usually for not paying their bills. Anyone who lives today in a modern city would find the sights and smells—especially the smells—of London in that era to be insufferable. And all these conditions enter the picture in abundant detail in this skillfully written historical novel.

A famous Jewish boxer
Ben Weaver was born and raised the son of a wealthy stock-jobber named Samuel Lienzo. The family are what today we know as Sephardic Jews (although the term used then was Iberian). He left home as a teenager, changed his name, and turned to a life as a boxer, becoming known as the Lion of Judah. When injury ended his boxing career, Ben turned to crime. Years later, reformed, he has earned a living as a "thief-taker," capturing thieves and delivering them to the constables for a reward. But, unlike Jonathan Wild, a competitor who dominates the city, Ben is honest and reliable. However, he is constantly forced to prove himself because of rampant anti-Semitism and the terrible reputation of Jewish stock-jobbers like his father.

A fateful coincidence
Writing thirty-five years after the fact, Ben relates how he was approached by a prosperous gentleman named William Balfour and asked to investigate the death of his father. The elder Balfour was determined to have committed suicide. And, in what is surely no coincidence, Ben's own father had died not a day earlier when run over in the street by a carriage. Lienzo and Balfour's father had done business together. The assignment sets Ben off on a fraught investigation that carries him to all corners of the city—and threatens to upend the fortunes of the South Sea Company and the Bank of England.

The first modern crime lord
Although most of the characters in A Conspiracy of Paper are entirely fictitious, both Ben Weaver and Jonathan wild are based on historical figures. Ben is modeled on a Jewish boxer of the period named Daniel Mendoza, and Liss notes that Jonathan Wild, who controlled many of London's criminals early in the 18th century, "is generally acknowledged as the first modern crime lord."

About the author
David Liss is the author of eleven novels, most of them historical fiction. He wrote A Conspiracy of Paper while pursuing a Ph.D. in English literature at Columbia. Apparently, the book did so well that he turned to full-time writing and never finished his dissertation.
I loved this book. A mystery set in the Jewish slums of London with an intriguing lead character, a former bareknuckle boxer and a Sephardic Jew of Portuguese ancestry he is held in double contempt by the men he works for as a thief-taker (he might be the first private I, LOL). The subplot of his integration into the Jewish community in London after rejecting it years before and the background of the first financial bubble when stocks were something brand new were really well done. The historical references and the glimpses into a London that is long gone were great and the mystery at the heart of the story was almost as good, but this is a character driven book and I loved the lead. A great read and a high recommendation from me for both history lovers and mystery lovers and those, like me, who love a helping of both.