If Starbucks Coffee was smart, they'd start selling David Liss's
new novel THE COFFEE TRADER right alongside all their other
caffeinated laced beverages. After winning the 2000 Edgar Award for
Best First Novel for A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER, Liss has created
another masterpiece relating to the historical fiction genre.

His second novel takes place in 17th-century Amsterdam in 1659
during the Golden Age. The book's main character is a Portuguese
Jew named Miguel Lienzo, who has recently lost a bundle after the
sugar market crash and is now trying to resurrect himself by
searching for investors who would consider a new product called
"coffee".

Broke and busted, Miguel must take shelter in the basement of his
brother's house. Daniel, who also works at the booming commodities
exchange, tells his brother not to waste his time vying for a
lucrative fortune in the coffee trade. But after learning about the
possible financial windfall from the provocative Dutchwoman
Geertrud Damhuis, Miguel is utterly convinced that coffee will
become a worthwhile investment.

However, being Jewish in Amsterdam during the Golden Age was
extremely difficult for any promising entrepreneur. For instance,
Miguel must be careful not to scorn the Ma'amad, the restrictive
and mysterious governing body of the Jewish community. He must also
be wary not to conduct business with anyone who is not Jewish,
something extremely forbidden during the mid-1650s. Miguel also has
to deal with his bothersome brother Daniel and his mousy wife
Hannah, who seems to be falling in love with Miguel. On top of
that, he has to deal with Hendrick, a man seething with
anti-Semitism and a close associate to his business partner,
Geertrud. Throughout the book, Hendrick refers to Miguel as "Jew
Man."

During the course of close to 400 pages, I couldn't read THE COFFEE
TRADER without either sitting in the kitchen of my apartment and
brewing a pot of the luscious black beverage or venturing out to my
local Starbucks and ordering a grande Sumatra with room for milk.
Even from the opening pages of the novel, Miguel is sitting with
Geertrud and she is introducing him to the wonders of coffee. This
is where Liss's work truly shines. He does a magnificent job
conveying to his audience the allure of coffee and its magical
ability to induce mental awareness and intellectual prowess.

Not only is this wonderful novel chock full of suspense, intrigue
and a touch of romance, it's also extremely funny at times. For
instance, when Daniel's wife, Hannah, who is obviously smitten with
Miguel, raids his stash of coffee beans instead of attempting to
brew them in a conventional fashion, she chomps on the beans and
finds them to be utterly exquisite. Yuck!

Liss also completed exhaustive research before sitting down to
write THE COFFEE TRADER, which took a year and a half to finish. At
the end of the book, after his Historical Note, is a lengthy Works
Consulted section with over 30 books Liss read in order to set the
proper tone for this historical piece of fiction. What's most
fascinating about Liss's work is his incredible ability to
transport the reader back in time. His ability to handle the
nuisances of everyday life in Amsterdam over 344 years ago is
utterly amazing. Liss paints an incredible landscape in detailing
the rising commodities exchange in Amsterdam at that time. He also
does an excellent job describing the seediness of pub life and how
schemers would spread rumors about ships being looted by pirates in
order to decrease the worth of cargo expected to arrive in the
nearby docks.

It gets to the point where Miguel doesn't exactly know who to trust
and, in some ways, THE COFFEE TRADER emulates the risks that
investors take today in dealing with high finance.

If you are a coffee fanatic like myself, then by all means go out
and get yourself a copy of THE COFFEE TRADER, head to your nearest
coffee shop and hunker down with this incredible saga.