Benjamin Franklin Takes the Case: The American Agent Investigates Murder in the Dark Byways of London

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Franklin Makes a Great Detective!
Review: I bought this book at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and I came to amazon.com to buy more books in the series. "Benjamin Franklin Takes the Case" is the first in a series of historical mysteries featuring -- surprise! -- Benjamin Franklin. His side-kick is Nicolas Handy, a young boy-of-work who Franklin rescues from a truly sinister situation in a London printshop. When Franklin arrives at the shop of Eben Inch, Printer, he discovers that the proprietor has been murdered. It turns out that Mr. Inch was the only person in the household who offered young Nick any kindness. Everyone else -- Dora Inch, her daughter Tilda, the apprentice Buck Duffin -- treated him horribly, so Mr. Franklin rescues him. Together, they set out to solve the mystery of Mr. Inch's murder.

I really enjoyed this book. It is extremely well-written, with interesting characters and a plausible mystery. It reminded me a lot of the Bruce Alexander series that features Sir John Fielding. In fact, Fielding is a character in "Benjamin Franklin Takes the Case." I'm anxious to read the next book in the series.