Phillip Kerr is better known for his Bernie Gunther detective stories especially his Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem trilogy, but I found Dark Matter to be a thoroughly enjoyable dip into the historical detective genre. Kerr uses Sir Isaac Newton's appointment as Warden of the Royal Mint in 1696 as the takeoff point for a murder mystery that involves the pursuit of counterfeiters and a more serious conspiracy to foment an English Protestant version of the St. Bartholomew's Massacre.

Kerr employs many historical characters and scenes. His narrator is Newton's real-life assistant Christopher Ellis. The seemingly inevitable and overused comparison of any detective duo to Holmes and Watson has some merit here. Newton is the idiosyncratic genius and Ellis is the useful aide de snoop (Although it is hard to imagine Watson doing what Ellis does with Newton's niece.).

The Mint is located at the Tower of London and Kerr gives nice description of the Tower's layout in that day as well as the tensions dividing the Royal Mint and the Royal Armoury. Newton and Ellis traverse London's seedier spots such as Newgate Prison, Bedlam, and assorted knocking shops (complete with opium den). The reader meets a number of fascinating historical characters. To name a few: a slippery Daniel Defoe; Cambridge professor, mathematician, and cryptographer John Wallis; the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, and Titus Oates, fabricator of the historical `Popish plot' and freed by a royal pardon, returns in the novel to gin up more anti-Catholic hysteria.

Kerr also examines Newton's anti-Trinitarian Arian religious views, which nearly land him in very deep water (in the novel as well as in real life). Newton's scientific interest in alchemy assists him in uncovering `coiners' as he pursues his duties during the Great Recoinage (the government's attempt to stabilize and normalize the currency).

Pursuing what appear to be four murders related to the Mint, Newton uses his skill and intense labor as a cryptographer to discover that not one, but rather two criminal enterprises are at work. While both crimes are solved, I particularly appreciated the way Kerr wove actual events into his in depiction of the disparate fates of the well-connected and the ordinary criminal. For example, Titus Oates really did receive an unexplained boost in his royal pension from 5 Pounds per annum to 500 Pounds!

Unlike some historical fiction which use a well-known historical event simply as a jumping off point for a routine detective story, Dark Matter makes good use of both large events and historical details, characters colorful and compelling, and a sense of time and place to create a superior historical detective story. In the end, however, Kerr falls short of a five-star effort because he puts too many objects in motion. Perhaps Kerr's momentum could have been better conserved with a little more focus gravity of his subject.

Readers may also be interested in a 2009 work of nonfiction, Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson. ( )

Author Philip Kerr has turned his hand to a number of genres, but his principal field of literary endeavor remains his series of Bernie Gunther detective novels. In this instance, however, Kerr has turned away from pre-war, wartime, and post-war Germany and Europe to late-17th Century London. And this time rather than create his own detective to insert into historical situations, Kerr has dared to make his lead investigator the renowned scientist Sir Isaac Newton. The plot centers around Newton's recent appointment as Warden of the Royal Mint. To assist him in executing his new responsibilities for protecting the King's coinage (there being no paper money in this period), Newton seeks the assistance of a younger assistant and hires Christopher Ellis - a somewhat hot-blooded young man in need of employment after participating in an outlawed duel that now prevents him from pursuing a career in the law.

With the King in Europe pursuing his war against France, the kingdom is in peril as well from those who would debase the coin of the realm with counterfeits, potentially ruining England's entire economic system. Newton and Ellis doggedly follow the leads linking a series of murders that take place across London and in the Tower of London itself and which may be the work of a dangerous gang of counterfeiters and possibly even enemy agents.

Kerr draws together both history and his storyline to present a dark picture of 17th Century England and Europe. His detective team of Isaac Newton and Christopher Ellis are presented with an obvious nod to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson though I think a debt is equally owed to the almost equally important crime-solving team of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. As Newton and Ellis face off against counterfeiters, political rivals, and potential enemy agents - and various denizens of London's underworld - the story is engaging and well paced. While I found myself wondering at how much of this the real Newton might have actually done, I generally found the history accurate and well-used to support an interesting story (and once again found myself missing my subway stop as I was engrossed in a critical moment in Newton's investigation!). It would be amusing to see what Kerr could do with his team of detectives over several more adventures, but the premise here of Ellis telling the story only because his former employer is now deceased seems to preclude that possibility. Still, Kerr has given us a plausible and readable contribution to the genre of historical detective fiction. ( )

Based on fact ,this is a story of crime and codes set in London of the late 1600's. Isaac Newton is Warden of the Royal Mint and is on the track of counterfeiters who could bring the shaky economy of England to it's knees.
Newton employs an assistant,one Christopher Ellis,to help him in his investigations and also as a much needed bodyguard. Ellis becomes involved with Newton's niece with unfortunate results.
This is an exciting historical story which really grabs the attention and makes you want to continue reading right to the last page. The main reason is because The Tower of London,which is actually the main character in this book,dominates the scene throughout.
Also the portrait of Newton himself seems to rise out of the page in front of the reader. ( )

In Philip Kerr's Dark Matter, you'll find Isaac Newton as you never knew him before. As a Sherlock Holmes-esque figure (with his trusty Watson by his side in the person of his erstwhile assistant Christopher Ellis), Newton undertakes the investigation of several mysterious murders in the Tower Mint, in the course of which he managers to uncover a deep-rooted, nefarious plot which threatens to upend the British government and put an end to Dr. Newton himself.

Though it is generally well written, I found Dark Matter a bit silly. Between the crime-solving Newton and the rather hackneyed side-plot of cryptographic clues to the "lost treasure of the Templars," I had to roll my eyes a few times in order to get through the book. Good diversionary reading, but nothing particularly special.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )

“Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton” starts off quite well with numerous hints of scientific ciphers and dark English societies. However unlike many Philip Kerr novels have in the past, it ends on a rather languid and lethargic note. I liked the play between Mr. Kerr’s main character, Mr. Ellis, and Newton, I enjoyed their journey down the seamy streets and backrooms of London including the Shelocksian discoveries they shared. What I didn’t enjoy was how their journey ended within rather turgid bag of plot lines that seemed to just fizzle out. That it involved yet another, although haphazard, attempt to find the secrets of the Templars’ felt unneeded and disused. Mr. Kerr is a great writer with an incredible grasp of the written word; I’ll accept this as a misstep, of sorts. ( )