An Experiment in Treason

An Experiment in Treason (2002) Bruce Alexander

Mister Donnelly takes Jeremy out to Portsmouth to see Benjamin Franklin perform an experiment. Although his politics is reviled by many, others are fascinated by his scientific experiments, and may have some sympathy for his politics. While Jeremy is gone, there is a brutal murder during the course of a burglary, and Clarissa briefly takes Jeremy’s place as Sir John’s eyes.

In addition to the murder and theft, there is a thread running through this book that concludes the story begun in Smuggler’s Moon–namely, what happens to Lady Grenville, and continues the thread of what happens to Molly Sarton.

I think this must have been a somewhat difficult story to write, in that not only must he recreate Sir John Fielding, but he must also place words in the mouth of Benjamin Franklin, and manipulate actual historic events.

I was very interested in the view that Londoners had of Benjamin Franklin and the events occurring in the colonies–mobs outside Franklin’s door and the like. It was also interesting to read Benjamin Franklin declare himself a local Englishman. I thought I had a biography of Benjamin Franklin around here somewhere–now I want to read it.

Although the story and the writing were good, I just didn’t get sucked into the story the way I did some other of the other books in this series. Part of the problem may have been that there were several independent story lines going on at once, and so just as I became interested in one, the story shifted to another. So this made it easier than usual to put the book down.

If you have not read a Sir John Fielding book, this is probably not the best place to start. There are multiple threads from previous books that make far more sense if you’ve read the previous books.
rating: 6/10

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