Publisher's Synopsis
"...the author's manipulation of suspense and surprise rarely fails to dazzle." NEW YORK TIMES It is January 1721 and London is reeling from the greatest financial scandal of the age - the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. William Spandrel, a penniless mapmaker, is offered a discharge of his debts by Sir Theodore Janssen, a director of the South Sea Company, if he secretly conveys an important package to Ysbrand de Vries, in Amsterdam. But, after delivering the package, Spandrel finds himself blamed for the murder of de Vries. The package goes missing, and Spandrel realizes that he has become a pawn in several people's games. British Government agents, and others, are on his trail, believing that the package contains explosive secrets of the South Sea scandal...
