Fatal Induction: A Professor Bradshaw Mystery (Professor Bradshaw Series) [Paperback]

Bernadette Pajer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2012

Seattle, 1901. The race to win an electrical competition incites Professor of Electrical Engineering Benjamin Bradshaw's obsession for invention in the second entry this exciting historical series. The contest winner's telephonic system will deliver music from the Seattle Grand Theater to homes throughout the city, and Bradshaw is confident he can win.
The contest is in full swing when President McKinley is assassinated, casting Bradshaw and the entire nation into shock. Then Bradshaw uncovers a crime closer to home: a gypsy peddler's cart is suddenly abandoned behind his house. What happened to the father and child who lived in this cart? When Bradshaw discovers the peddler's child may have witnessed a murder, he follows the girl's trail, plunging into a seedy underworld of bars and brothels.
Frustrated by the police department's apathy and caught between power struggles, he doesn't know whom to trust. Each step of his investigation entangles him deeper in crime and corruption until he realizes that to save the child, he must transform his contest entry into a trap to catch a killer and to protect his own household.
Bradshaw's electrical forensic and investigative skills, combined with a keen understanding of human nature, bring the Seattle police—and murder—to his doorstep during the social and scientific turmoil of the early twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Benjamin Bradshaw (A Spark of Death, 2011), professor of electrical engineering in Seattle, is working hard to win a competition to create a remote-access sound system for the Grand Theater. It is 1901, and President McKinley has just been assassinated, leaving the nation shocked and mourning. There is, however, a mystery closer to home that unfolds when Bradshaw discovers an abandoned peddler’s cart behind his house. It appears that a small child and her father were living in the cart. When Bradshaw learns that the child may be a murder witness, he begins searching for her in the seedy bars and brothels of Seattle’s underworld. As he investigates, he uncovers power struggles and corruption in the police department and decides to use his contest entry as a trap to catch the killer and protect his family. Bradshaw’s engineering and forensic skills offer readers a glimpse at life during the early twentieth century, including both the social unrest and the excitement over new scientific and technological discoveries. A fine choice for historical-mystery buffs. --Barbara Bibel --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Bradshaw will win readers over as he puts his own life and his friendship with Det. James O’Brien in jeopardy in pursuit of the truth." —Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159058614X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590586143
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,282,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bernadette Pajer is the author of the Professor Bradshaw Mysteries, fast-paced whodunits in the Golden-Age tradition. The books in the series have earned the Seal of Approval for Science from the Washington Academy of Sciences (established 1898.) She's a graduate of the University of Washington and a proud member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Northwest Science Writers, and the Seattle7Writers.org. Research is Pajer's favorite activity, and she happily delves into Seattle's past and the early days of electrical invention as she plots Professor Bradshaw's investigations. Pajer lives in the Seattle area with her husband and son.

To learn more and read a sample chapter visit her website at bernadettepajer.com.

A SPARK OF DEATH, The First Professor Bradshaw Mystery, July 2011.
FATAL INDUCTION, The Second Professor Bradshaw Mystery, May 2012.
CAPACITY FOR MURDER, The Third Professor Bradshaw Mystery, June 2014

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Bradshaw Does It Again! May 7, 2012

By D. Previte

Format:Paperback

I simply want you to know how extraordinary I have found the Professor Bradshaw books to be. It's always fun to me to find a series of books with a great mystery and a protagonist to enjoy coming back to every year, but it's even more fun when the book holds several dear characters. Especially in an adult book format.

In addition to the obvious you've read above I found the under belly of the book gripping; forensics--early investigation in that area of death and discovery; electronic means of criminal investigations; and even early telltale signs of psychology in criminology. Ms Pajer uses these elements with skill and with a delicacy that flavors her book just enough without overwhelming her story.

"Fatal Induction" also carries with it the characters I fell in love with in "A Spark of Death:"

Mrs. Prouty, the whole "Up-stairs-down-stairs, Downton Abbey staff" in and of herself; (she's bossy and necessary!)

Justin, Bradshaw's adorable son; (he's only in trouble because of that Paul next door)

Missouri, the lovely "non-niece" of the professor's whom he finds himself "not" thinking of sometimes while she "doesn't" think of him, either; :]

and Detective James O'Brien, the Professor's friend--the other investigative man on the "team" who helps solve the mysterious happenings Bradshaw encounters.

These are unforgettable and lovable characters, richly developed and singularly interesting. I can't wait to find chapters or paragraphs involving Missouri, for instance. Obviously, she's a favorite of mine. Why can't I have more of her, Bernadette!!???(I wail... So dramatic..)

Generally, I'm not a "gagety" person when it comes to electronics and such. I do love my pink, girly hammer and screwdriver things for fix-it projects, and my tiny tools for needlework frames and fixing my unfixable eyeglasses. But, I've not been very involved in large pieces of electrical equipment and inventions, per se.

However, Bernadette Pajer and Professor Bradshaw have dragged me in on them! The antique ones, I mean. I even visited the Edison Museum and enjoyed myself very much last year. I'm interested now in several antique inventions. The historical aspects of Pajer's books are an additional bonus I've enjoyed very much. My husband was particularly interested in this book's inclusion of the early police detection invention.

This is a good book with lovable characters. It's an oddity amongst mystery novels because of its subjects and inventions. That makes it the sort of book and series that may develop a cult following. I'm on that bandwagon.

I would urge you to try the books. Start with "A Spark of Death," then read "Fatal Induction." And give yourself a chapter before you decide... Ms Pajer's next book in the series is soon to be released.

I'm rating this book in the series 5 stars.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I hope there are several more Professor Bradshaw books July 14, 2012

By Jack98110

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thouroughly enjoyed reading 'Fatal Induction'. As soon as I'd finished 'Spark of Death' I bought this book and now can't wait for the third book in the series. Professor Bradshaw is a well-developed character and I loved following his process for uncovering each mystery. I'm just a casual reader who enjoys a good story along with picking up some history of early Seattle.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Second In A Series May 18, 2012

By A Reader in Washington

Format:Paperback

When I reviewed Bernadette Pajer's debut novel, A SPARK OF DEATH, I said that the best single descriptive word for it would be "intelligent." That holds for Pajer's just-published second book in her Professor Benjamin Bradshaw series, FATAL INDUCTION. The plotting is exceedingly clever, the characters are believable and sympathetic, and the background - both the 1901 Seattle setting and the scientific escapades of the protagonist - support the story line admirably.

As FATAL INDUCTION begins, Professor Bradshaw has settled more comfortably into his life in Seattle. True, he's not really happy that Missouri Fremont, the attractive-in-her-own-way niece of his friend, has moved into her own quarters as she prepares to enter the University of Washington as a student, but she does come around to visit frequently. There are still possibilities.

The professor is preparing to enter a contest for the best-designed apparatus for transmission of theatrical performances to homes via telephone lines, but his work is impeded by the discovery of an abandoned patent-medicine salesman's wagon behind his house. It troubles Bradshaw that there apparently had been a young girl in the wagon, and when the patent-medicine salesman is found murdered, Bradshaw feels compelled to find the missing child, the only witness to the crime.

Teaching duties conflict with inventing, and amateur detective work conflicts with both. Bradshaw puts his own life into danger by going down to Seattle's dangerous Tenderloin area, and his activities strain his relationship with his friend, Police Detective O'Brien. In a complex plot involving smart and sly uses of the new power of electricity, the dangers of patent medicines of a century ago, and theatrical dynamics of the time, the professor struggles to solve a murder and save the life of a young child, while he pursues an invention that could bring him money and fame.

The author is deft at integrating her knowledge of science and society of more than a century ago into her story, but never stops progress to explain or expound. The characters are as complex as the plot, and it's enjoyable to watch Justin, Bradshaw's eight-year-old son, demonstrate both his father's sense of humanity and his scientific acumen. And the idea of having a police detective as a sidekick to an amateur sleuth works amazingly well. I recommend the book highly, and expect this series to have a long and very interesting life span.