A Spark of Death

A Spark of Death by Bernadette Pajer (2011)

Reader's Annotation

In 1901 Seattle, a puzzling electrocution points to murder, and Electrical Engineering Professor Benjamin Bradshaw is the chief suspect.

Summary

In 1901 Seattle, electricity is regarded as new-fangled and dangerous. When University of Washington Professor Benjamin Bradshaw discovers a despised colleague electrocuted inside the Faraday Cage, his knowledge of electrical engineering makes him the prime suspect. Bradshaw knows that the facts don't add up but in the court of public opinion he has already been found guilty. Then when someone tries to send Bradshaw over the waterfall at the Snoqualmie Falls Power Plant, he knows that the electrocution was surely no accident. Could the murder somehow be related to President McKinley's planned visit to the University of Washington for an electrical demonstration? Could anarchists be involved?

Evaluation

This was a fun mystery with good period detail and no obvious errors in the electrical engineering science. Professor Benjamin Bradshaw made for an interesting and appealing amateur sleuth.

If you like the Professor Benjamin Bradshaw mysteries, you may enjoy The Strange Case Files of Fremont Jones about a woman who sets herself up as a professional "type-writer" in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.

Genres: Mystery/Crime, Historical
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