The year is 1758. Sent from America to England to battle with the Crown, Benjamin Franklin, with his keen mind and scientific skills, has also found himself called upon to solve a series of mysteries - cases of murder, blackmail, forgery, and jewel theft - but his latest mystery is perhaps his most baffling and challenging. He is invited to the city of Bath, site of England's famous spa, where rakes and lechers and gamesters abound. He rides there in a coach with a beautiful, seemingly innocent young girl who comes to sit ...
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The year is 1758. Sent from America to England to battle with the Crown, Benjamin Franklin, with his keen mind and scientific skills, has also found himself called upon to solve a series of mysteries - cases of murder, blackmail, forgery, and jewel theft - but his latest mystery is perhaps his most baffling and challenging. He is invited to the city of Bath, site of England's famous spa, where rakes and lechers and gamesters abound. He rides there in a coach with a beautiful, seemingly innocent young girl who comes to sit at the heart of a plot to gain control of a fabulous fortune. Thieves steal letters, highwaymen attack, bludgeoners attempt murder, and shots ring out in the House of God. Despite all this, the Bath social round progresses, at secret gaming parties, grand balls, and the famous waters, where a man is later found murdered. Benjamin Franklin must winnow his way through this intrigue, to the truth of a mystery which may be masterminded by his great enemy, the enigmatic Quimp, who governs much of England's crime. Ben is ably aided by his natural son, Nick Handy. Once again his acute intellect and unerring heart prove him to be the archetypal detective.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. Review Copy 1st edition with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, with protective mylar cover. Publisher's review slip laid in. "A scruffy highwayman, a damsel in distress and a handsome nobleman join in a 1758 scenario involving a coach full of travelers to Bath, England. But one of the passengers-American diplomat, scientist and, now, sleuth Benjamin Franklin-suspects the episode may have been staged. After the heroic rescue of winsome, impudent Emma Morland, Franklin applies his talents to unravel what could be a dangerous scam. The chronicler for this beguiling tale is Ben's natural son, Nick, an articulate, mature 13-year-old who fears that the relentlessly nosy Franklin might place himself in serious danger. Wonderfully rendered, the historic town of Bath teems with lords and ladies, rakes and doxies, churlish, wealthy tradesmen and sinister lurkers-and some suspicious deaths. Does someone have designs on Emma and her fortune? Is charming Edmund Darly, Fourth Earl of Hendon, who saved Emma from the highwayman, exactly what he seems to be? ..."--PW.
