Critique du Publishers Weekly

Du Brul's dizzying latest Isaac Bell swashbuckler (after The Chase) finds the intrepid detective under fire from a barrage of potentially connected crises. The year is 1914, and Bell is attending a meeting of the newly minted Federal Reserve onboard a yacht with his father, Ebenezer, and President Woodrow Wilson. Shortly after Wilson is called away on an emergency, a mysterious aircraft attempts to bomb the boat. Bell shoots at the bomber until it flees and plans to begin an investigation into the incident. But first, he's pulled into two seemingly unrelated cases. Socialite Jackson Pickett--a friend of Bell's boss, Joseph Van Dorn--has been arrested for the murder of his wife, heiress Fedora Scarsworth-Pickett. Then the Federal Bureau of Engraving is robbed to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. Finding the money and ferreting out the cause of Fedora's death takes plenty of first-class sleuthing, and Bell begins to suspect that the bombing, murder, and robbery are the work of a master criminal hoping to bring America to its knees. This entry provides a welcome contrast to Bell's often cartoonish and predictable antics, indicating that the long-running hero may be evolving into a more sophisticated protagonist. Here's hoping the series has more adventures like this one in store. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (May)