A Conspiracy of Paper

David Liss is another one of those prolific authors that, until now, has not been reviewed in the blog. He’s an author of more than 30 books, and A Conspiracy of Paper was the historical thriller of the year in 2000. The story is set in London in 1719 and it involves Benjamin Weaver’s attempt to solve the mystery of his father’s murder, a father from whom he has been estranged for 10 years. His father was a stock trader at the time when the stock markets and the use of paper money were just coming into common usage. Weaver, a Jew who changed his name to limit anyone’s knowledge of his connection to his father, Lienzo, a Jewish “stock-jobber.” Not all stock-jobber’s were Jewish, but all stock-jobber’s were mistrusted, but to be a Jewish stock-jobber was sure to elicit hate from all who dealt with them, and Lienzo was widely hated.

The story itself had an excellent cast of characters to fill out the action. I thought the eventual resolution was convoluted, but as interesting as the story, was the historical aspects of this. Liss’ characters ran the gamut from wealthy aristocrats to beggars and whores. Weaver was a retired pugilist, who was not practicing his Judaism. The place was nearly lawless and the judicial system was corrupt. He made a living by finding thieves and stolen goods for various aristocrats. Sometimes he worked as a protector for the wealthy. So, he was a thug who interacted at the edge of aristocracy. At the time in London, Jews could still not own property. If a Jew stepped on the wrong toes with minor misdeeds, their livelihood, if not their lives, were in danger. This novel was not a short read, but it strikes me as having been scholarly accurate in depicting the times about which it was written. I’m definitely willing to read another Liss novel.