The Edison effect

University of Washington professor and private investigator Benjamin Bradshaw finds himself confronting Thomas Edison in his new case. Renowned inventor Edison was also a ruthless businessman who thought nothing of crushing rivals like Nikola Tesla to keep his General Electric Company ahead of the competition. Edison wants Bradshaw to find a mysterious invention created by an anarchist who used it to commit murder. Bradshaw refuses to help Edison, prompting the inventor to serve him with a breach-of-patent suit. Things heat up in December 1903, when an electrician working on a Christmas display featuring Edison's new holiday lights is found dead in the window of a department store. Working with a local police detective, Bradshaw tries to find out what is behind the death, but he is distracted by trying to decide if he can give up his Catholic faith to marry the woman he loves. Developments in the case will help him face his fears and bring major changes to his life. Pajer offers readers a fascinating mix of science and history.--Bibel, Barbara Copyright 2014 Booklist

In Pajer's appealing fourth historical (after 2013's Capacity for Murder), Benjamin Bradshaw, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Washington, tangles with Thomas Edison. In September 1903, the celebrated inventor visits Seattle, where he goes to Bradshaw's office to request his help finding a highly dangerous device invented by one of Bradshaw's former students, Oscar Daulton. Bradshaw, who admires the Wizard of Menlo Park but deems him greedy, declines in no uncertain terms. Edison doesn't drop the matter, apparently prepared to sue Daulton for patent infringement. When an electrician is found dead "clutching a string of Edison's Christmas lights" in a show window of Seattle's tony Bon Marche department store, Bradshaw is sure there's a link between the electrician's death and Edison's machinations. Meanwhile, Bradshaw and his true love are at odds over religion. This is homely fare in the best sense-solid, comfortable, welcoming but no less winning for it. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In 1903, Thomas Edison is searching for a mysterious device supposedly lost in Seattle's Elliott Bay. When Edison's new lights are dead center in a murder, Prof. Benjamin Bradshaw's investigation may cost Bradshaw more than he can afford. Pajer's fourth historical mystery (after Capacity for Murder) finds the professor dealing with his own fears and failures. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.