Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend.

Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest ( Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State. Witty and stimulating, albeit demanding, entertainment. Reading Liss is almost as much of a task as a pleasure, but it is a pleasure, and for those who hang in there, the rewards are quite considerable. So much specific historical, cultural, industrial and commercial information is crammed into this otherwise streamlined narrative that the reader’s brain seizes up in self-defense, hoping to avert overload in the process, alas, it’s easy to get lost from chapter to chapter. The signature flaw in the author’s impressively erudite series is his passion to educate us. As the plots thicken, blood is spilled, beautiful women are compromised the powerful East India Company is victimized by commercial espionage and almost everybody’s trusted servant seems to be working for a minimum of two masters.

For example, Benjamin’s beloved uncle Miguel Lienzo, a prosperous importer who himself played detective most engagingly in The Coffee Trader (2003), has seen a costly cargo of wine “lost” while being shipped from Europe to England. Some of Benjamin’s best friends and dearest relations, it turns out, have made the unstable Cobb’s ever-lengthening enemies list. As Benjamin plies his unauthorized trade, gentlemanly and socially insignificant bad guys pop up everywhere, sorely testing his brains and brawn (he’s also an expert pugilist). Someone has provoked the vengeful ire of wealthy Jerome Cobb, who engages Benjamin, a burly thieftaker and constable for hire (think Dog the Bounty Hunter with a more elevated habit of speech and a courtlier demeanor), to look into the suspicious death of one Absalom Pepper-whose sole known characteristic, apparently, is his ridiculous name. The Edgar Award winner’s serial protagonist Benjamin Weaver ( The Whiskey Rebels, 2008, etc.) grapples with financial chicanery and diversified villains in 18th-century London.

The Peculiarities by David Liss