320 pages, Mystery
The Conjurer is set in Philadelphia in 1842 and is the story of how the sheltered life of Martha Beale changes after her father, a wealthy financier, disappears while hunting. Rather than making her own choices, her father's sinister secretary, Owen Simms, manipulates her until he has exerted complete control over her life and her decisions. In spite of the preponderance of evidence to the contrary, Martha believes her father might still be alive, and Thomas Kelman, a skilled investigator who is also assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia, investigates Lemuel Beale's disappearance, along with the ritual murders of several young prostitutes. Concurrently, a conjurer, Eusapio Paladino, enters the picture - complicating matters with his visions of the murders and his affair with a wealthy society woman.
I, surprisingly, really enjoyed this book. It was almost more historical fiction than mystery, but the sinister elements and unknowns made it fit handily into the 'mystery' genre. Martha was a likable enough character - a bit naive for the age she was given in the book, but I suppose that is to be expected in a woman of that time period. I found Emily Durand, the wealthy socialite, to be actually be a more interesting character than Martha - she at least does more than sit around feeling sad about her situation. Additionally, the subtitle 'A Martha Beale Mystery' is really quite misleading. I kept waiting for Martha to do something to solve the mystery, then at least to have a hand in someone else solving the mystery, then to acknowledge that there was actually a mystery occurring. I was disappointed in this regard.
That being said, it was an interesting story with (perhaps more than) its share of compelling characters. I would certainly recommend it as a good introduction to this author, and will probably read other books by her. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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