The Conjurer: A Martha Beale Mystery

Martha Beale Mystery #1

by Cordelia Frances Biddle

Intrigue, passion, and murder surround the suspicious disappearance of famed Philadelphia financier Lemuel Beale in the winter of 1842. As his daughter and only child, Martha searches for her father. She begins to develop a romantic attachment to Thomas Kelman, an assistant to the mayor who's been assigned to the case. Kelman has also been investigating the ritual slayings of several young women; a likely suspect appears to be the renowned conjurer and clairvoyant Eusapio Paladino. Could there be a connection between the two cases?

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical, Suspense, American

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 6, 2007

About the author

Cordelia Frances Biddle is a feminist and historian. Fiction: Listen to Me: The Women of the Bible Speak Out; They Believed They Were Safe; the Martha Beale series set in 1840's Philadelphia, and Beneath the Wind. Nonfiction: Biddle, Jackson and a Nation in Turmoil, and Saint Katharine: the Life of Katharine Drexel.
The River Was Waiting will be published January 2026

With her husband, Steve Zettler, she wrote the Nero Blanc crossword puzzle series.

She would love hearing from you, and would be happy to meet with your book club or reading group.
Please contact her through her website: www.CordeliaFrancesBiddle.net

Reviews

[Mookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enh. I was pretty excited to read this book, as the first couple of chapters really held my attention. Martha Beale was extremely passive, but there were undercurrents that she was really going to define herself by her standards, but instead she was carried along by the plot. The romance was stilted, I understood there was chemistry but I didn't see what motivated it. Kelman's role was too ill-defined, both romantically and in terms of his job role. I feel like the readers really earned a confrontation between Martha and Mr. Simms, whose actions were really no surprise, I'm just surprised that the society they lived in let their interaction play out as long as did. Surely Martha's father had lawyers? When Emily finally came to the rescue, I gave a little fist-pump, but something about the whole situation feels hazily defined.

The conversations were really stilted, a lot of "he looked at her, she looked at him", after every other sentence. I fail to understand the use of Ruth's character, and her young son, as though to idly comment on the african-american context of 19th century Philly without really tackling it. And Daniel, I still fail to understand how he motivated the plot. These random characters seemed too intertwined for their coincidental run-ins to feel particularly real. I felt like this story was built around Martha's father, without really addressing him. If you're really sensitive about child trafficking, this story describes it almost too well.

Mostly I'm disappointed in Martha. I kept chugging along hoping for a burst of strength from her, but she fell flat. Don't get me wrong, her passiveness and timidity were totally time-appropriate, and that's what initially drew me to her. Often readers want strong characters from the get go. I was interested in seeing a realistic character draw their own measure of strength despite the social boundaries of its culture. It's not a terrible book, the author made some really good introspective details and thought-strategies, but plot and characters needed to move a bit more fluidly.

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
DNF @59%

Book source ~ NetGalley

It’s winter in 1842 Philadelphia and Martha Beale’s father has disappeared, presumed dead, while out hunting. No body has been found and yet Martha still hopes he will show up. Since Martha doesn’t believe her father is dead she asks the mayor’s aide, Thomas Kelman, to help her find her him. In the meantime, there are several other storylines running alongside this one and they may or may not all be connected. I have no idea because I gave up at 59%. The writing is awkward and stilted. The separate stories don’t seem to have any connection to the disappearance of Lemuel Beale. And, quite frankly, I think it’s boring as all get out. I skipped to the end to see what happened to Martha’s asshole pops, and I was right in what I suspected. I will not give that away in case others want to give this book a whirl.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 1 out of 5]

First in the Martha Beale historical mystery series and revolving around a newly orphaned woman, Martha. Set in 1842 Philadelphia.

My thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Media for providing this ARC for me to read.

My Take
As the page or percent indicator as to where I am in the book isn't available, all I can say is I stopped at "I will be the mistress of my fate. I'll rule my own house, and demand that Simms leave it."

It starts off interestingly and too quickly descends into a morass of timidity and domination. Biddle takes way too long to turn Martha into a strong character — I'm assuming that Martha becomes a strong person simply because the series is about her as I still haven't read far enough to find out.

She was too annoying to read. Yes, there is an interesting story in here with lots of possibilities and odd subplots, but the primary character, Martha, was the most stupid woman. Her actions, or rather the lack of actions, drove me nuts. I cannot stand the stupid trope, let alone the stupid woman trope. And what's worse is that she doesn't strike me as a stupid woman.

I'll agree that the customs, styles, and manners of the time period feel very accurate. As for the romantic subplot...talk about long and drawn-out, tediously so.

Again, I did not finish this book, so I have no idea if the various subplots eventually tied back to Martha's initial problem. Some of the other characters did seem to be tied in with her father and his business plans, but the crazy incidents that were occurring did not make me believe they could. It's always possible that Biddle does manage to pull them in, but I'm not interested enough to suffer through this to find out.

The Cover
Banded in red at the top and bottom, the cover is a blue tint with Martha and Thomas on opposite sides of the drive?, road? It's an accurate reflection of society's expectations of a single woman.

The title refers to the "magician" who sets Philadelphian society awry (at least that's my interpretation based on how far I read).

[Christiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the storyline convoluted with unnecessary threads. The crimes against young girls were disturbing and a little too graphic for the rest of the novel. The protagonist does grow from a meek woman to someone confident in her thoughts -and starts to express them (finally as that was getting annoying).


However it's the 1st in a series so I'd likely read book #2 to see where it goes (or just read the summary and decide whether or not to read it from there).

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC read via Open Road Media and Netgalley.

Ah a mystery set in my hometown of Philadelphia. True, it is the 1800s so it is not quite the same city, so what the hell.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I found the mystery in and of it gripping, but the characters as opposed to the plot were simply there. It was hard to feel anything for them. And quite frankly, Martha, the heroine, while not unlikable is hard to feel anything for outside of, perhaps, a vague annoyance. Perhaps this is because she is such an outsider. The idea of an Old Maid (relatively speaking, she is only 26) functioning on her own in the 1800s is interesting. It’s just hard to root for her when one of the bad guys is so blatantly obvious and so set up from the beginning to be the bad guy. This doesn’t make the story, in terms of the mystery itself, any less interesting, but it does make you want to smack Martha Beale at some points. Then you feel guilty because you want to smack her.

Beale’s character is problematic not because she is a modern woman in 1800s Philadelphia, but because she is a woman of her time who has led a somewhat sheltered existence. She is believable for the time period. She fits. And strangely this problem because while she fits, the modern woman has a slight problem with her passiveness. Her father kept her well educated but too sheltered. There are hints that he either didn’t want to force her into a loveless marriage or didn’t want to be alone – an intelligent analysis of the relationship. But while Martha is sheltered, she is well read. This conflicts with her lack of knowledge in some places. This might be excused by a lack of friends, but then why does she care about society if she isn’t a member of it and doesn’t want to belong? It’s a little conflict, and while we as humans are walking examples of conflict and hypocrisy, it is hard to get a feeling of Martha when she feels like two separate characters all the time.

The supporting female characters actually fare a bit better. One does want to know the outcome of Ruth’s story and the sequence involving Eastern State Penn is a stand out in this book. The conflict of class and society are interesting and there is evidence of influence of Austen and Dickens. There is a strong sense of place and the book is at times gorgeously descriptive. It is worth reading simply for the supporting characters if nothing else.


Crossposted on Booklikes.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Publication Date: Available Now from Open Road Media.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the review copy via netgalley

An heiress breaks free of social conventions and attempts to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance in 1842 Philadelphia in Cordelia Frances Biddle’s first Martha Beale mystery.
When her father fails to appear for lunch at their country estate, Martha Beale knows something is wrong. The family’s faithful dogs discover Lemuel Beale’s hunting rifle by the river, but there is no sign of the millionaire financier. Refusing to believe he is dead, his daughter—and sole heir—begins a discreet investigation with the help of the mayor’s aide, Thomas Kelman.

This was a fairly intriguing historical crime mystery, to be honest however I was a bit up and down with it. Certain parts of the story had me hooked – the sense of time and place, a womans’s role in that place and Martha’s attempts to break that and track down her father are all well done and the ambience surrounding the society of the time is authentic. However, I wasnt really fond of Martha as a character – I found her annoying a lot of the time – although to be fair, as we reached the end of the story she did come into her own a little bit more, the journey she took often had me shaking my head.

The mystery element IS well done for sure – although the heart of the book can be found more in the society portions of the novel – and I was compelled to find out what was what. As this is the first book in a series I will be very interested to see what is next for Martha. If the author can keep her character moving forward, I can see this developing into an interesting series and one which I would like to keep up with.

A solid 3* read with the potential to become much more.

Happy Reading Folks!

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. I tried so, so many times. The writing was awful, pedantic and slow. The main character was someone with whom I could not connect, so I didn't care what happened to her. I hate giving up on a book, but this one, well.... life's too short to force myself to finish it.

[Merand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting mystery but the nature of the crimes were highly disturbing.

[William Dornan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sensational novel. I mean this two ways. First this is really a good read; it was very much a page turner for me. This is a sensational novel also because it is in the grand tradition of the sensational fiction of Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. One could almost call it gothic.

The novel takes place in Philadelphia in the 1840's. Cordelia Biddle's sense of time and place in the novel is extraordinary. It is very obvious that she knows about great deal about Philadelphia at that time. By the way I am a native Philadelphian. The atmosphere is very authentic. She also mentioned events that I was never aware of (The Lombard Street Race Riot for instance).

The characters were drawn very carefully and ring true. My complaint with historic fiction is that often it is just a mere costume drama. The characters are modern dressed up for the time period it takes place. Not in this case. The characters were all very believable for time and place. I read some of the other reviews here on Good Reads and some of the reviewers stated that Martha Beale (the main character) was not strong or independent enough. She indeed was a strong person but one has to realize when the novel takes place. Martha Beale led a sheltered upper class life up until her father disappears. She was torn between her upbringing and sense of independence. She was a very believable character.

A brief bit about the plot. The book centers on the disappearance of Lemuel Beale, a prominent Philadelphia financier, in 1842. Part of the mystery is whether or not he really is dead. His daughter wants to get to the truth. There are a number of sub plots also including a tailor who is jailed in and escapes from The Eastern State Penitentiary. A mulatto woman with an epilectic son. This is not a light Victorian era read. It graphically and effectively shows the underside of Philadelphia at the time.

All in all I really did enjoy this book and can recommend it highly.

[Ursula S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery set in Philadelphia in 1842. Fascinatingly detailed. The first few chapters were frustrating and slow in that they painted the disconnected pictures of scenes that would eventually come together and be resolved in the end. I'm glad I kept reading, as I wanted to know what would become of Martha Beale.

While the ending was satisfying, there was a bit of a gap between the resolution of the murder and the ending of the book. I would have liked to have seen more of the relationship development between Beale and Kelman. But, this was not labeled a romance, now was it?

Engrossing read.

[Pat Schager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disjointed

I started out a little confused. The story line was only marginal and at times scattered. Just when I thought it might get interesting, it was the end! The author tied up all the loose ends and...... I'm not sure if I can be interested in the other books of the series.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF!!!
I was struggling with this book from the very beginning. All of the jumping around from character to character without any semblance of connection to each other was annoying but I think it was graphic child rape scene that put me over the edge. Repulsive.

[Eileen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story had great potential. It grabbed my interest early in, but then alot of characters were introduced, and by the end of the story, it just didn't come together. It was so anti-climatic. There weren't even any surprises. Blah!

[Julie]

I liked the very beginning, but couldn't click with it after that.

[terese_utan_h]

DNF at 8 %

[Janice McMillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting for me, since I live in Philly.

[Brianna Parr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Period piece that surprised me by being the first in a series. It reeled me in good. It had the occasional gross graphic content, but it adds to the sinisterness, I loved it.

[Chuck Barksdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lemuel Beale’s daughter ignores the interruption. “Mr. Kleman suggested that Father might have met with some…some malicious intent.” She glances up at Kelman in appeal. “And he does have jurisdiction, do you not sire? You can order a search in those other parts of Philadelphia, as well as in the nearer forests, can you not?”
“Oh, Martha, let us be reasonable,” Simms interjects. “Your father isn’t hidden in some hermit’s cave. Nor has he been deliberately dispatched, as your visitor may have attempted to imply. Believe me when I tell you that I know far more about your father’s worldly affairs than you. He has no mortal enemies; his methods have always been above reproach. Painful as it is, we must accept the obvious evidence we have: the falls in terrible torrent, a stumble upon the rocks…We can only pray that his end was quick.”
But Martha doesn’t heed this plea. “Will you help me find my father, Mr. Kelman…? Living or not, as may be?”

When Open Road Media offered me the chance to read and review The Conjurer through NetGalley, I ultimately decided to read it since the book was based in Philadelphia. I had heard of the author, but not the series, all of which are making their ebook debut. The Conjurer, the first in the series, is set in 1842 Philadelphia.

Martha Beale, at 26, has been kept fairly sheltered by her fifty-one year old millionaire father Lemuel Beale. When he goes missing while hunting along the Schuylkill River near their country estate, she must either follow the guidance of her father’s aide Oliver Simms, or take some actions of her own. Of course, this is 1842, when women were definitely second class citizens. This was even truer for the wealthy such as the Beales. But when Thomas Kelman, the assistant to the mayor of Philadelphia offers his services, she encourages him to keep looking for her father.

This book has lots of characters from many different social classes that are critical to the story and certainly add to the feel of the times. Reading about all of these characters does lead to some possible confusion and I really wasn’t sure how important many of the characters were until later in the book. The book is advertised as a Martha Beale book and she is not in it for much of the book. The book is titled The Conjurer, and Euspaio Paladino, an Italian conjurer, does add some interest to the story, but I was really not sure how important he was when he is first introduced. He does utter something that appears to be unrelated. Everyone there says it’s unimportant. They all believe he is a fake (although apparently conjurers were much more common during these times). But maybe he really is a conjurer, or maybe the author is just trying to add confusion and doubt.

Nonetheless, the real story is about how Martha Beale deals with the loss of her father – who she can trust, what risks she can take. I much preferred the book when it was about her. I also really enjoyed how some of the history of Philadelphia was woven into the story, especially since many of the buildings or neighborhoods are still present. (Philadelphia has lots of obvious historical locations and some less well known. The Eastern State Penitentiary, which is mentioned in this book, is one that should not be missed when visiting the city.)

Overall, I enjoyed The Conjurer much more than I thought I would. I was distracted at times when other characters were introduced, but Ms. Biddle does a good job in keeping the characters and story interesting. Over time, I hope to read more in this interesting historical mystery series.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was about halfway through this book i found myself thinking two things: 1. when is Martha going to start using her brain and standing up for herself? and 2. how can all these plot threads ever come together into a sensible denouement? I was frustrated but so intrigued I read through to the ending and am glad I did. Martha, along with others, began to stand up-- something I realize would have been very difficult for someone raised and oppressed as she had been in 1842. But, the women stood strong and tried working together, albeit because they were in the wealthy, privileged class and so had at least the backing of that wealth and privilege. And, the threads came together nicely, even though we may have to allow for just a little planned coincidence. I will definitely try another Martha Beale mystery.

[Barbara Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before you ask, yes this author is from "that" Biddle family in Philadelphia. The family may be known mainly for finances and the Main Line, but Cordelia Biddle is an admirable historian and writer. Even if The Conjurer wasn't such a great story, it would be worth reading for its setting in Philadelphia in 1842.

From the very beginning the reader is in the middle of a mysterious disappearance. Two dogs wait faithfully beside the flooding Schuylkill River as it roars past carrying debris as large as trees. It is cold and the dogs shiver but refuse to leave the point where they last saw their master, Lemuel Beale. At the Beale mansion his 26 year old daughter Martha and his private secretary Owen Simms await his arrival for a meal.

The most interesting part of the book, and the most maddening to modern women, is the restricted life of the upper class woman contrasted with the hopeless life of the poor and/or black woman. You will be shocked at the fact of 11 year old prostitutes, many of whom had been sold by their fathers, and equally shocked at the way wealthy women lived, or rather existed. They had no say whatsoever in any aspect of their lives and had to obey strict rules of conduct and dress.

I was fascinated also by such historical tidbits as the story of Eastern State Penitentiary which is open to tourists now. Absolute silence was the rule. The men had an indoor cell and an outdoor one, but women only had indoor cells because they were thought to need protection from fresh air and weather. The stench in the place was terrible, partly due to sewage back-up during floods.

There is also the story of The Association for the Care of Colored Orphans created by some of the wealthy women of Philadelphia. They took in 60 orphans at a time and gave them clean quarters, basic education, and good food, but no toys.

The one objection I have to the book is that the solution to the several mysteries comes a little too abruptly as does transformation in major characters. This is a minor quibble though in an otherwise excellent novel.

Highly recommended ebook
Source: Open Road Media/Netgalley

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Conjuror

Set in 1842 Philadelphia, the novel features Martha Beale, twenty-six, unmarried. She has been dominated by her wealthy father her entire life, and when Lemuel Beale suddenly disappears, she finds that Owen Simms, her father's secretary, takes over that role. She is treated as a child and denied any sense of autonomy.

Although Martha occasionally tries to assert herself, she is only rarely successful. When mayoral assistant Thomas Kelman is assigned to the case, she senses a support she is not getting elsewhere, and the two develop a low key attraction for each other.

The search for Lemuel Beale takes a bit of a sideline when Kelman finds himself assigned the gruesome murder of a child prostitute.

In the meantime, upper class society is fascinated by an Italian conjurer. At a seance held for some of the Philadelphia elite, the conjurer goes into a trance and mentions details about the murder of the first child.

What I liked: Rich detail about the period and social customs; I wasn't certain who "Mr. Roby" (the murderer was).

What I didn't like: Martha's passivity; the distasteful episodes concerning the child prostitutes; the almost incidental episodes with the conjurer--since he really did seem to be channeling certain events, his role was pitifully small; Martha doesn't really make any attempt to solve the mystery, that role is Kelman's.

Actually, the parts that drove me almost to distraction were the conversations between Martha and Owen Simms. Each time the two had any contact, I would realize I was gritting my teeth. Patronizing doesn't even cover his behavior.

The Conjurer was originally published in 2007, and was the first in the series featuring Martha Beale. Two more followed. I wouldn't mind reading the next one to see if Martha's character develops.

read in June

NetGalley/Open Road Media

Historic Mystery. 2007; 2014. Print length: 319 pages.

[Val Sanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC! I loved this book (which I read as a book, not an e-book) from the first sentence. The writing is dense and rich with dramatic scenes that jump to life in my mind. Biddle brings a keen eye and a curiosity to the early 19th Century when spiritualism and ill-gotten wealth ran smack into abolition and abject poverty. I loved reading this book Having visited Philadelphia this past summer, I could see the places she was writing about, including the famous prison where inmates were kept in isolation for years as a way of curing them; many went insane.

The story opens with two loyal hunting dogs standing above a raging, flooded Schuylkill river north of Philadelphia. One of the richest men in America has presumably fallen into the river. His 26 year old daughter begins a search that night, amassing servants, household members, and local constablary. She also begins here near-fatal search for her own voice and the ability to stand on her own. In the backdrop of this crisis, children are wrenched from their mothers, and Irish mobs trigger race riots in the black tenements. And young girls are being brutally murdered and a spiritualist sees the murders and the future in his visions.

I can't wait to read the next two books in the series. Biddle is a powerful writer and like Winspear and Perry, she delves deep into the society her characters live in and exposes the social horrors of the period.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the first in the Martha Beale mysteries based in Philadelphia in the year 1842. Biddle does a nice job in giving the reader a feel for the US at this time before the Civil War.

Philadelphia is the still the largest port and industrial center in the US but is slowly losing ground to New York City. People are for or against slavery and there is no in between opinion. Blacks are treated as the lowest of the low as if they were slaves even if they are freemen. During the story there is a race riot and parts of the black neighborhood is burnt down.

All that is good. What’s wrong with this story is that there are too many characters who float around the story. There are four or five woman characters and some other peripheral woman who with some five or six main males clog up the story. Starting with the story of one and then interconnecting them is a time honored style, but too many stories begin to overlap and the reader is left perplexed much of the time. It’s like reading a Russian novel with a cast of thousands in a three hundred page book.

On Amazon I found eleven reviews (since it was published in 2007) of the book divided between ‘I hated it’ to ‘I hated it’. Truly this is a harlequin style story. It should be presented as an historical romance so that the ‘right’ reader can find it.

Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com

[Olivermagnus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This historical mystery is set in Philadelphia in 1842. Martha Beale is the unmarried daughter of Lemuel Beale, a wealthy financier who went out hunting with his dogs and mysteriously disappeared. When mayoral aide, Thomas Kelman, is sent to look into is disappearance, Martha teams up wih him to help discover what happened to her father. Before they can find anything, Kelman asked to investigate a series of murders of young prostitutes. Eusapio Paladino is an Italian who has become the toast of Philadelphia society, by fascinating them with his feats of mesmerism, somnambulism, and conjuring. During a seance, he describes the death of the first child which brings him to the attention of investigators. Soon the two stories start to interweave.

This book did a great job of depicting the differences between the rich and the poor of Victorian Philadelphia. The author also did a great job of giving the reader a look at how Victorian women were treated. Many parts of the book were disturbing, especially those related to the lives and deaths of the child prostitutes. I think the flow of the story was a bit slow but the series has so much potential I will definitely read another one in the future.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the history in this mystery - while it's not 'The Alienist', it is a compelling story. The characters of Martha and Kelman are fleshed out nicely. While I thought it was pretty obvious who the 'bad guys' were (at least one of them), the suspense lied in how they got to that point. There were really two plots here that didn't intertwine as much as I thought, and that was kind of the surprise! This is the first in a series of three, and I plan to check out the other two, as much to see what Martha is up to as to solve more mysteries.

One thing I didn't like is that the author is very into her own prominent Philadelphian family. For example, to show how important an event is, one of her ancestors is mentioned as being there. I'm not that into family trees, and I don't really care how old or monied her family is. I'd prefer her to just focus on the writing and maybe making the plot a little less opaque. On the upside, I guess that her family prominence makes the historical detail easier for her.

Anyway, if you're a fan of historical fiction this may be worth checking out for the great detail and the interesting characters.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in and around old Philadelphia, this book doesn't hesitate to explore the poverty and misery of the day. Cloth mills and the Derringer factory are big employers, and some people scheme to make fortunes by supplying piped water and gas to these workers' homes. The prison flushes out sewers every two weeks so the stench is unbearable.

This is a crime tale, however, and I did find it hard to focus on the disappearance of a wealthy landowner or the murder of a young prostitute, when we constantly get other strays and waifs taking up the story and then disappearing. Martha Beale who is the daughter of the missing man, has been gently raised but decides to start doing good works in order that the police and authorities will keep up the search for her father, who is presumed drowned. Appropriately she begins her works at the orphan home. This starts her involvement with the city's poor and those who prey on them.

I find the present tense awkward and can only suppose that the author has used it in order to bring the past to life in front of us. Some of the characters are based on her own past family members, she tells us, and so far there are three books in the series.

[KV Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, this book is so excellently written that it was really hard to put down-- contrasting the dark and gritty underbelly of 1840s Philadelphia with the American Aristocracy the city's so famous for. It's also a perfect example of the power of a properly utilized present tense narrative. The careful research that went into it was obvious, but seamlessly interwoven. Great characters too, both in the forefront and the background. So, yeah, extremely cool.

My only real issue with it was that it relied too much on one of my least favorite tricks: the suspense was false, relying almost entirely on the author withholding information that in a normal setting/narrative would naturally have been revealed at the time-- such as names, places, faces, etc. Which is a bit like cheating. Also, I felt the eponymous conjurer didn't really come to enough.

But it was a really fun read, and I'll definitely be picking up more.

[4cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Philadelphia financier Lemuel Beale disappears under suspicious circumstances, his daughter Martha attempts to find out what has happened to him. However, as a 26 year old unmarried woman in a society where women are invisible and do not have any status, this proves difficult. However, help comes from the mayor's aide, Thomas Kelman who not only has to search for the missing financier but is also hunting a brutal killer of young girls. As the investigation moves along so does their relationship.

The Conjurer is a highly detailed historical novel, which also has a mystery running through it. However, it is not primarily a 'crime' novel, it is a look at Philadelphia Society in 1842, it's poverty and wealth, and the absolute division of the sexes. At times it can be slightly frustrating as you want Martha to shed her bonds but Biddle cleverly keeps her within the constraints the society places upon her.

[JennyFur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mystery book set in Philadelphia during the mid-1800s. It was an easy enjoyable read that kept me wondering what would happen next, but it seemed a little far-fetched at times. The ending seemed to wrap up a little too tidily for my liking, and just seemed unrealistic. That said, though, it was well written and is the first in a series surrounding one of the main characters (side note: after this one, I find it hard to see how the main character could possibly have another story, and I am not likely to pick up the sequel so if you read it let me know). I’d give this 3 out of 5 stars or so…fun to read, but a little dark for my tastes and as I mentioned earlier somewhat coincidental.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is meant to be the beginning of a mystery series set in ante-bellum Philadelphia. It's an interesting attempt, while trying to be historically accurate, of also describing how a young woman, who is meant to be one of the protagonists (Martha Beale) comes to be in a position that would allow her to do mystery-solving given her circumstances. It got a bit too distracted though, too wide-ranging with too many characters. She seemed to decide that she wanted to convey every single facet of life in Philadelphia, and ended up over-doing it.