The Arts/Books: Follow The Paper A swashbuckling P.I. takes on stock
fraud
Fiction's private investigators now come in so many colors and
flavors that it's easy to overlook their fundamental
similarities. Regardless of gender, race or sexual tilt, the best
of them still fit Raymond Chandler's classic definition: "He will
take no man's money dishonestly and no man's insolence without a
due and dispassionate revenge."
Those stern principles are upheld with conspicuous dignity by
Benjamin Weaver, the swashbuckling shamus in David Liss's
genre-stretching first novel, A Conspiracy of Paper (Random
House; 442 pages; $25).
That's right, swashbuckling. Armed with snubby flintlock and
limber blade, Weaver does his crime busting in London during the
second decade of the 18th century. He is a Sephardic Jew and a
former British boxing champion ("the Lion of Judah") who hires
out his manly skills to those in need of protection or discreet
services--like recovering stolen valuables from brothels. It's a
living, but not a consuming vocation until coincidence pulls
Weaver into a vortex of stock fraud and murder. The victims
include his father, a broker silenced before he could expose a
plot to skin shareholders of the South Sea Co.
Liss, a Columbia University graduate student specializing in the
relationship between capitalism and the early English novel, has
put his researches to imaginative and profitable use. One of his
thoughtful innovations is to modify the period's lapidary
dialogue for contemporary ears. The effect is to sharpen the
thrust and parry of the action and accentuate the pervading
atmosphere of class conflict.
Appreciators of authenticity should be pleased with Liss's
graphic venues. Weaver's investigations are conducted broadly,
from the scuzziest ale houses to the toniest clubs, where the
drink is better and the Jew baiting more refined. True to the
P.I. breed, the Lion of Judah is never intimidated. He handles
his liquor and licks his adversaries with equal confidence.
--By R.Z. Sheppard
Copyright 2000 Time Inc.
R.Z. Sheppard, The Arts/Books: Follow The Paper A swashbuckling P.I. takes on stock fraud. , Time, 02-28-2000, pp
98.
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