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The Edgar Award¨Cwinning novel A Conspiracy of Paper was one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2000. In his richly suspenseful second novel, author David Liss once again travels back in time to a crucial moment in cultural and financial history. His destination: Amsterdam, 1659¡ªa mysterious world of trade populated by schemers and rogues, where deception rules the day.

On the world¡¯s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city¡¯s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city¡¯s most envied merchants, Miguel has lost everything in a sudden shift in the sugar markets. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living on the charity of his petty younger brother, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation.

Miguel enters into a partnership with a seduc-tive Dutchwoman who offers him one last chance at success¡ªa daring plot to corner the market of an astonishing new commodity called ¡°coffee.¡± To succeed, Miguel must risk everything he values and test the limits of his commercial guile, facing not only the chaos of the markets and the greed of his competitors, but also a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to see him ruined. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam¡¯s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.

With humor, imagination, and mystery, David Liss depicts a world of subterfuge, danger, and repressed longing, where religious and cultural traditions clash with the demands of a new and exciting way of doing business. Readers of historical suspense and lovers of coffee (even decaf) will be up all night with this beguiling novel.

From the Hardcover edition.

Strictly a commerce-driven thriller
It seems like everywhere people have just read, are reading, or are planning to read The Coffee Trader. I like historical fiction and love coffee so I picked up a copy. I should have looked more closely. I enjoyed the setting, varied cast of characters and interesting plot setup, but felt the author failed to really leverage any of them. Within fifty pages the book had focused so narrowly on the financial grapplings of the characters and a confusing array of puts, stays and futures that I soon lost interest. I pushed through to the end but was left wishing I had learned more about the atmosphere of 17th century Amsterdam, the factors that led to Dutch tolerance for Jews and Muslims in their midst, the motivations (aside from greed) that drove the characters and the factors that fueled the rise of coffee culture throughout Europe. The book was well-written and the inclusion of Alferonda’s memoirs broke up the narrative, but I would recommend this only to readers with an interest in financial markets and commercial history….more info

Fascinating look at a Fascinating time
This novel was both well conceived and well constructed by the author with interesting characters, double crosses and the subtleties of the plot lines resolve well in the end without any contrivances. The time period helped to make the novel even more entertaining and, for the caffine addicts out there, all the more horrifying (to imagine a time without coffee!). The insights into and the critiqe of the Jewish community of the time was especially informative and leads us to a better understanding of how modern Judaism could emerge from the situation in rennisance Amsterdam….more info