I couldn't put it down...(while the first world Jewish heavyweight champ was Daniel Mendoza in 1790's London-he weighed around 160 )Liss creates Benjamin Weaver to live -as I remember in 1730's London to coincide with the beginning's of the stock market(Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and weren't allowed to return til..I think 1650..)..book is full of Dickens like characters...and while we're on the subject of Jews and boxing(and not Jews and the stockmarket/Bernard Madoff...Jackie Mason:"Every Jew I know ALMOST killed somebody...)while the 'Golden Age of Jews and boxing was maybe in the twenties...unknown to most people,we're currently in a mini-version of it-with two Jews set to fight for world titles(Yuri Foreman against Daniel Santos on 11-14 and Dmitriy Salita against Amir Khan12-5...maybe the first world title fight between a Moslem and a Chew)...

An 18th century mystery with 21st century overtones, "A Conspiracy of Paper" follows the narrator, Jewish boxer-turned-detective Benjamin Weaver, as he tries to determine who is responsible for a string of London murders, including that of his own father.

Weaver's investigation unfolds against a backdrop of financial chicanery involving the sometimes elusive but ever-powerful banks, trading houses and stockbrokers of London in the early 1700s. These unscrupulous forces, which value profit above all, provide eerie parallels to the corporate greed and dubious business ethics that plague our own era.

David Liss people's his novel with a fascinating cast of characters, from Weaver to other members of London's Jewish community, master criminal Jonathan Wild, assorted financiers, "gentlemen" and street thugs, and Weaver's sidekick, a Scottish surgeon, writer and bon vivant.

Weaver's first-person narration has an "antique" feel that is suitable to the setting, complete with plenty of idioms and period dialogue that help provide an appropriate sense of time and place. All in all, a very fine look at the amoral world of what Weaver and his contemporaries call "the new finance" of their era.

This is the second book I've read by Davis Liss and I am certain now that I will be reading everything he writes.

I recently read The Whiskey Rebels with my book club and loved it, as did everyone else. I thought that story's male protagonist Ethan Saunders, was charming as well, despite his tendency to over-indulge in drink.

'A Conspiracy of Paper' is narrated by the charming, handsome, capable man of action and former pugilist Ben Weaver who has been estranged from his family for ten years. Ben makes an honest living as a thief-taker, debt-collector and sometimes body guard when a client asks him to investigate his father's apparent suicide. Ben soon discovers that his own father's recent death may not have been accidental and appears to be connected to that of his client's father's.

The mystery was complicated but Liss was able to pull the reader along by recapping the developments in conversations between Ben Weaver and his good friend Elias Gordon.

I loved that Ben Weaver played by his own rules, honest but brutal when necessary. There is a thread of romantic love woven throughout the story which only added to my enjoyment of this character.

He reminds me a bit of Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel, so if you liked this you might like that and vice versa.

I immediately started the sequel to this, which is 'A Spectacle of Corruption', and I think I'm enjoying that book even more than this one.

I so hope this becomes a mystery series. With such a likeable hero and the back drop of London in the eighteenth century I would sign up to read them all!

This book deals with the commencement of the London stock market at the beginning of the 18th century. Benjamin Weaver's successful boxing career has ended as a result of a serious leg injury. Despite being bright and articulate, Weaver finds himself continuing to fight the prejudices of very simple minded, antisemetic Brit's.

Benjamin's father was a stock jobber - our equivalent of a trader. His father was also not a very nice guy, causing Benjamin to run away at a very young age. While in exile the father is run over and killed by a horse drawn carriage.

Sometime later, during a conference with a client - Weaver's new job is debt collector, he discovers his father may have been murdered in some stock scandal. So begins a thorough investigation, perhaps way way too thorough, during which Weaver delves into the sleazy underworld of the London stock market.

This novel could have been great, however, I belive some of the scenarios were too drawn out making the book at times cumbersome, even monotonous. I would have preferred more description of London's alleys, streets, cellars, households, etc. rather than repetitive dialog, that I do not believe was really necessary.

This is a marvelous book on one level--the characters are imaginatively wrought, the historical detail is exemplary, the writing is excellent. However, the story bogged down with endless asides recapping what has happened, to the point where I had to make myself sit down and stick with it since I had invested so much time reading it. Near the end, I really wished he would have just got on with it and the whole thing left me feeling like some editor didn't do their job. Probably a hundred pages could have been omitted and nothing lost. It probably then would have pulled me through the story with that 'can't put it down' feel. Whiskey Rebels is much better.

Think of a time where men and women, desperate to make money, buy and sell shares in companies, driving the value up; often borrowing money to further their ambitions, but where a single mishap can lead them into bankruptcy or worse. Think of a corrupt society, where marriage is mostly a sham, where affairs and adultery are winked at. Think of a culture where minorities, whether in race or religion or national origin, are careful to not draw too much attention to themselves lest there be a punishing backlash. The very wealthy spend their time in near idleness, politicians are hopelessly corrupt, and the vast majority spend their lives in trying to hold things together.

America, the 2000's?

Think rather, of England in the 1720's, and life is hovering on the edge of either glory or ruin, depending on luck. David Liss' novel, A Conspiracy of Paper takes the reader back to a time when speculation was everywhere, whether it was at a gaming table, in marriage or making money. Told in first person, we get to know the world of Benjamin Weaver very well.

He is a Jew, but somewhat accepted by the British majority around him. Until an injury brought an end to his boxing career, he was known as 'The Lion of Judah;' now his life isn't quite as public, but the violence hasn't diminished much. Benjamin brings in various criminals to the court, or better yet, handles private, discreet inquiries. It provides him with a modest income, and as long as he doesn't have many extravagances, he does well.

But when he is approached by Sir Owen, Ben Weaver finds himself entangled in a larger plot that he can begin to imagine. At first the assignment is simple enough -- retrieve a packet of letters from a woman named Kate Cole, letters that would prove to be very indiscreet if Sir Owen's intended, a young woman of wealth and sensibilities were to discover. A second commission, that of Mr. Balfour, is a bit more perilous -- discover who caused the death of his father, who hung himself after loosing an immense sum of money in stock investments.

And here the tale makes a very personal twist. For it seems that to uncover it all, Benjamin must return to his family, from whom he has been long estranged, for his father also was murdered, and the crime remains unsolved. Back among his family, Benjamin meets the beautiful Miriam, his cousin's widow, and the more he discovers the more treacherous and dangerous the story turns, for at the center of it all lays the new creation of the stock market, where money can be made and lost in days...

I have to say, this was a cracking good read. Author David Liss creates a very believable world here, and catches the uncertainty and menace beautifully. Much of the story is told through conversations, and the language of the time simply resonates, a time when being able to speak well, and elegantly was the sign of a gentleman.

With the secondary characters, Liss does just as well as he does with Weaver. Elias, Ben's best friend, and aspiring playwright and mathematician is a delight to read about, and I couldn't help but chuckle over his obsession with letting blood. There's also his flirtatious landlady, forever trying to get some sort of gossipy story out of Benjamin. And the touches of Jewish lore and custom was spot on for the times, it was handled very well, and didn't have the mistakes that I usually come across when I read historical fiction, and someone decides to have a Jewish character or two in there.

To balance out the higher end of society, there are also the dregs of London's underbelly. Jonathan Wild, an actual historical figure, is prominent in the story, and if his tale seems fantastical, it all really happened. Not only did he run gangs of theives and cutthroats, he had quite a stable of doxies as well -- and woe betide anyone who wasn't useful, as we see in the story.

At the very center is the story of the South Seas Company, and the beginings of what we know as the stock market today. Every now and then, Liss shows us how the system worked, and I was both enthralled and chilled by the similarities to our own world today. I won't reveal here just what happened to the South Seas Company, but it was quite a shocker at the time.

There is an author's note at the end, explaining some of the more obscure points of the story, and an interview between himself and author Sheri Holman that is fascinating to read. There are also a selection of questions for readers groups to try out. Finishing it all up is an excerpt from David Liss' followup to this, called A Spectacle of Corruption, which continues the story of Benjamin Weaver.

This was a great, thoughtful as well as exciting read. Fans of historical fiction that is based in fact should enjoy this one, and mixed in with the talk of money and philosophy, there are scenes of housebreaking, swordplay, the horrors of prison and a seldom seen view of a society not so far away from out own.

Five solid stars. I intend to find more of this novelist's work, it's worth it.