Stephen L. Carter

Professor Talcott (Misha) Garland teaches law in Elm Harbor, Washington D.C., where he lives with his wife, Kimmer, and son, Bentley. His story begins with his father, Judge Oliver Garland’s funeral. The Judge, once a nominee to the prestigious Supreme Court, had a brilliant legal mind, loved to compose chess problems, and was a complete mystery to Misha and his siblings. Conspiracies run rampant throughout the book after the Judge leaves Misha, a cryptic letter entrusting him with ‘the arrangements,’ an unexplained and mysterious inheritance sought after by killers, mobsters, and several of Misha’s constituents. Dealing with his troubled marriage, problematic siblings, and pressure at work, Misha pursues vague and obscure clues slowly dropped by the author while being followed, assaulted, and nearly killed before he realizes the importance of the legacy his father left him. Everybody, from family members to Misha’s colleagues, seems involved and carrying a piece of the puzzle. The Emperor is this author’s first work of fiction, and at 657 pages, it is lengthy for a legal/political thriller. Mr. Carter sometimes meandered with political, historical, and philosophical theories. However, I enjoyed this book and found it intriguing, witty, informative, and worth the time invested.… (more)

In the summer of 1952, twenty prominent men gather at a secret meeting on Martha's Vineyard and devise a plot to manipulate the President of the United States. Soon after, the body of one of these men is found by Eddie Wesley, Harlem's rising literary star. When Eddie's younger sister mysteriously disappears, Eddie and the woman he loves, Aurelia Treene, are pulled into what becomes a twenty-year search for the truth.

This story had an interesting premise and the first half kept me interested. Then a couple pieces of the story didn’t seem plausible to me. Also, there were so many characters with different motivations that it was hard to keep track of how things fit together. I think I would’ve liked this more if the plot was tightened and trimmed down. There were some surprising turns but overall too long.… (more)

This was very similar to 'The Emperor of Ocean Park' which I have just read: someone dies and leaves mysterious clues for the main protagonist to puzzle out while they work at Elm Harbor University. Here Kellen leaves clues for his former girlfriend Julia. The clues were ridiculously obtuse, Julia and the ex-police officer also trying to get to the bottom of things made enormous deductive leaps, and at one point it seemed as if every inhabitant of Julia's small town was implicated in some way.

The writing was as enjoyable as the first novel, but I found the conclusion to this one morally disgusting and I can't decide where the author wanted the reader to stand on the issues.… (more)

This is long and slow moving and occasionally repeats itself, but I loved the writing and the characterisation, especially of the narrator, Misha, who must uncover the 'arrangements' everyone (from hitmen to the FBI) believes his dead father has informed him about. It takes Christianity and racial politics seriously in a way I do not often encounter, without coming to trite conclusions. I sought this out on a recommendation from my local library for legal thrillers, but although most of the characters are lawyers, judges or law professors, none of the scenes take place in a court, so I was mis-sold there, but am nevertheless glad to have discovered this series.

Recommended.… (more)