The Ways of the World

March 9, 2015
The Paris peace talks of 1919 provide the backdrop for Edgar-winner Goddard’s enjoyable first in a trilogy featuring James “Max” Maxted, “late of the Royal Flying Corps.” When Max’s father, aging diplomat Henry Maxted, is found dead outside his mistress’s Montparnasse apartment building, the police and some members of the British delegation maintain Henry simply fell from the roof or jumped. Yet the doggedly curious Max and his sidekick—former plane mechanic Sam Twentyman—spot a pattern of suspicious circumstances indicating otherwise. Of particular note is the series of strange deaths of other diplomats that follows in the coming days. Goddard (Fault Line) evokes time and place with an expert hand. The plot, however, drifts lazily at times, lacking urgency, and is burdened with a confusingly large cast of characters. Max, however, is a likable hero, and fans of period mysteries set in times of historical transition will be satisfied. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

Starred review from May 1, 2015
Only a few pages into this wildly entertaining historical thriller, it becomes apparent that the reader is witnessing the birth of a seriesand not just any series. Goddard has long been one of the genre's cleverest plotters and most accomplished prose stylists, but he has typically written stand-alones. The prospect of a series starring a suave yet gutsy WWI vet cavorting about the international espionage stage (imagine Cary Grant in the role) is, well, more than a little intoxicating. James Max Maxted is a veteran of the Royal Flying Corps, looking to open a flying school with his trusted mechanic, Sam Twentyman. Those plans are put on hold when Max learns that his father, Sir Henry, a career diplomat, has died after a suspicious fall from an apartment building in Paris, where he was serving with the British delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Max's brother is all too ready to accept the official explanation of an unfortunate accident, but Max smells a rat. He stays in Paris to investigate and soon enough learns that Sir Henry was trying to peddle information about the whereabouts of a notorious German spymaster to all comers (from Japan, the U.S., France, and Britain). In fact, Goddard assembles around Max as savvy, as well spoken, and as treacherous a band of double-dealing con artists as we've seen since Caspar Gutman, Joel Cairo, and Brigid Shaughnessy joined forces to hunt a black bird. Max holds his own with all of them, including the lethal German, and by the end, he's ready to join up with British intelligence. We can almost hear him as he walks off with his avuncular handler-to-be, intoning, This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)