This big, meaty historical thriller about dodgy dealings that threaten a widespread financial crisis was a bit of a revelation. Liss manages to evoke an eighteenth-century voice and mind-set while rendering both utterly readable. Dextrous plotting, devious characters, witty lessons in philosophy and finance, and controlled bursts of violence and action power this novel along to its conclusion.

Benjamin Weaver, ex-boxer turned thief-taker, is the proto-Marlowe on these mean London streets, drawn into the new-fledged world of the proto-stock market when hired to look into an apparent suicide. What compels Weaver to reluctantly take the case is the suicide's connection to his father, run down by a carriage at around the same time. Not only is he drawn into the web of dealing and double-dealing at the Exchange, he also finds himself making contact with his family, members of London's close-knit Jewish community, and the web of corruption and conspiracy is wide enough to cover both.

Yes, well, entirely apart from the resonances the book will have for the modern reader, set as it is on the cusp of the South Sea Bubble, this brilliantly imagined and vividly rendered is thoroughly interesting and entertaining from start to finish.