The Conjurer (A Martha Beale Mystery)
Cordelia Frances Biddle, 2007
St. Martin's Press
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312383381
Summary
Intrigue, passion and murder surround the suspicious disappearance of Philadelphia financier, Lemuel Beale, in the winter of 1842.
A victim of accidental drowning, according to the local constabulary, Beale's legacy is a sinister web of political and financial machinations, and a troubling relationship with his daughter, his only child. Unmarried at twenty-six in an era when women were expected to become brides before turning twenty, Martha Beale's conflicted search for her father eventually emboldens and frees her, bringing her love in the person of Thomas Kelman, an assistant to Philadelphia's mayor—and a man whose business is homicide investigation.
The inquiry into Beale's disappearance uncovers connections between the city's most affluent and its most destitute: an escaped inmate from the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary; the freed African-American prisoner, Ruth; the ritual slayings of several young girl prostitutes; and Eusapio Paladino, a conjurer and necromancer who claims to communicate with the dead. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Other name—Nero Blanc (with her husband Steve Zettler)
—pseudonym for the Crossword Mystery series
• Birth—outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—Miss Porters; Vassar College
• Currently—lives in Philadelphia
Her own words:
I grew up in the nearby suburbs, a member of the branch of the Biddle family that historians refer to as “The Romantics”. The term denotes a predilection for spectacular, if chancy, careers. The other side is known as “The Solids”. Enough said.
The earliest “Romantic” of note was Nicholas, a captain in the fledgling American navy; he was killed when his frigate exploded during an engagement with a British warship. Nicholas was twenty-eight; the battle made him the country’s first naval hero. Until fairly recently, the United States Navy maintained a guided missile destroyer named in his honor. Nicholas’s brother, Charles, served as Vice President of the State of Pennsylvania when his friend, Benjamin Franklin, was President; a nephew, James, became a hero of the War of 1812, and later negotiated the first commercial treaty with the Chinese Empire.
The next “Romantic” Biddle to gain nationwide attention was another Nicholas, a brother of James. He edited The Journals of Lewis and Clark, and later became president of the Second Bank of the United States. The church Nicholas attended and where he’s buried is St. Peter’s Episcopal Church where I serve on the vestry. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.
The other half of my Philadelphia ancestry are Drexels. My great-great grandfather, Anthony Drexel, established Drexel University; his niece, Katharine Drexel, was made a saint in the Roman Catholic Church for her humanitarian efforts in establishing schools for the poorest of the poor. Inspiring models, but difficult to follow
My career path first took me first to New York where I acted on stage and tv, playing a small recurring role in the daytime drama, One Life to Live, and being fortunate to be cast in Gemini, a play directed by award-winning Jerry Zaks.
Drama remains with me in my writing. I inhabit my characters when working; I see the settings I describe in cinematic terms. I hear the sounds of the street, touch the fabrics, smell and taste the food prepared in either spacious or cramped kitchens. Yes, I love existing in the past. My first novel, Beneath the Wind (Simon & Schuster) was inspired by a Drexel “grand tour” aboard a family yacht in 1903. I added an illicit romance and murder to spice things up, and named the heroine after my Biddle grandmother because she hadn’t led the exotic life she wished.
The Conjurer grew out of my love of Philadelphia. Some of the novel was inspired by family lore; the rest was assiduously researched. When I write about poverty during the 1840’s, I’m often envisioning current volunteer work I do with Episcopal Community Services (ECS).
I feel I’m straddling two worlds: one in the twenty-first century section of the city known as Society Hill where I live with my husband and sometime co-author, Steve Zettler, and our curly gray bundle of canine energy named Gabby; the other an era of carriages and gas lamps when Philadelphia was at once intensely crowded with humanity and rimmed with bucolic fields and virgin woods. My title character isn’t the only conjurer of spirits." (From the author's website.)
Book Review
The inquiry into Beale's disappearance uncovers connections between the city's most affluent and its most destitute: an escaped inmate from the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary; the freed African-American prisoner, Ruth; the ritual slayings of several young girl prostitutes; and Eusapio Paladino, a conjurer and necromancer who claims to communicate with the dead. Biddle knows her manners and her city, and shows both to great advantage. The reader, as in all good historical mysteries, learns as much about a time and place as about the crime, and Biddle's characters are fresh and believable. I hope she continues the series.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Biddle successfully uses 19th-century Philadelphia, mining the landscape for the kinds of jewels that illuminate a good mystery, and shaping characters that ring true to the elements of their creation. The Conjurer is a worthy inclusion in the genre, and I hope there are many more Martha Beale mysteries to come.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Sordid secrets of the rich and powerful drive the plot of Biddle's unconvincing Philadelphia historical, the first of a new series. One morning in 1842, Main Line financier Lemuel Beale fails to return from a routine hunting trip; his capable but coddled daughter, Martha, and Thomas Kelman, assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia, set out to track him down. At the same time, a brutal serial killer of young prostitutes is stalking the inner-city slums, and traveling mesmerist Eusapio Paladino is chilling aristocratic audiences with performances in which the dead appear to be calling out through his trances. These disparate yet interrelated story threads combine in an intricately orchestrated narrative that implicates the Brahmin class and the corruption that comes with their absolute power. Biddle wonderfully evokes the color and culture of the time, but her overstocked tale ends hastily and unbelievably. Biddle is the coauthor with her husband, Steve Zettel, of Death on the Diagonal and other Nero Blanc crossword puzzle mysteries.
Publishers Weekly
When wealthy financier Lemuel Beale vanishes from his country estate while hunting, his daughter Martha, now exceedingly rich but alone in the world, joins with Thomas Kelman, a special investigator for the mayor of Philadelphia, in probing his disappearance. At the same time, a killer of young girls is prowling the City of Brotherly Love. One possible suspect is Eusapio Paladino, a famous clairvoyant and conjurer. Set in 1842 Philadelphia and juggling multiple plot lines and narrators, this debut entry in a new historical crime series by the coauthor of 11 Nero Blanc crossword puzzle mysteries is a feast for those fans who enjoy engaging characters and historical periods that have not been done to death. This may also attract readers who loved Caleb Carr's attention to detail in The Alienist and Jacqueline Winspeare's appealing sleuth, Maisie Dobbs.
Library Journal
As a serial killer stalks child prostitutes, a wealthy financier vanishes in 1842 Philadelphia. Martha Beale is a cosseted spinster, subservient first to her financier father, and then, when he's presumed drowned, to Owen Simms, his secretary. Beneath her quiet exterior, however, are ripples of defiance ready to break through. Soon enough, she's drawn to Thomas Kelman, an assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia, who's unwilling to write off her father's death as an accident. In his investigations of the Beale disappearance and the child murders, he discovers some disturbing connections to a woman in an insane asylum who was repeatedly raped by the brother who visits her under a false name. Meanwhile, Eusapio Paladino, a conjurer and clairvoyant, has been appearing at private parties delivering scandalous utterances about the crimes. Society beauty Emily Durand, who falls under his spell, is ruined when her husband is shot and Paladino is arrested. Learning that the late Durand was bankrupt, Emily rescues Martha from a drugged stupor brought on by Simms, who wants to marry her but can control her only with opium. Not till the end will defiant Martha and patient Kelman solve the sordid crimes hidden by the wealth and patina of high society. Biddle's debut offers some appealing characters, but a wealth of intriguing period detail ultimately overwhelms the mystery.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Conjurer:
1. Consider the difference between societal codes today vs. the mid-1800's—women, economic class, prostitution.
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? Mystery/ thriller stories create suspense by withholding information (see LitCourse 6) then letting it out at the right time. Along the way, the author usually drops subtle clues so the ending doesn't pop out of nowhere. A skillful writer does this deftly—without a heavy, controlling hand. How does Biddle deal with revelation and suspense?
3. What type of mystery is The Conjurer? Classic mysteries depend on a world in which reason and logic uncover truth. (See LitCourse 2). In this story, when Martha is informed that her father is missing, she utters, "there must be a logical explanation." To what extent does this story stay within the bounds of the rational world? Are there other ways, less rational, of uncovering truth?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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