A prophet performs miracles of fire. A governor is assassinated. And a conspiracy threatens to burn Virginia to the ground.
April 1764. Twenty-one-year-old Thomas Jefferson is drawn into his most perplexing case yet. A charismatic preacher named Josiah Whitfield is touring Tidewater Virginia, and at his revivals, he appears to summon divine fire?flames that ignite from nothing, change colors on command, and erupt from the very earth.
The crowds are mesmerized. But the message they hear is one of dangerous submission to the Crown, a message that worries Virginia's political leaders.
At the request of a respected Burgess?his friend Arabella Finch's father?Jefferson begins a scientific investigation to debunk what must be a chemical fraud. But what starts as an intellectual puzzle soon becomes a race to stop a deadly plot. The "divine fire" is a distraction, a spectacle designed to conceal a conspiracy of terrifying ambition.
When a shocking assassination occurs in the midst of a revival, Jefferson realizes the preacher is not a simple fraud, but a pawn in a much larger game. Powerful forces are manipulating the colony's faith to tear it apart. And they are just getting started.
As the violence escalates and another influential voice is silenced, the investigation becomes deeply personal. Jefferson must unmask an enemy who has learned from past defeats?an enemy who works through proxies and hides behind layers of deception. An old foe has returned, more patient and more ruthless than ever.
To expose the truth, Jefferson must risk becoming a target himself. He must unravel a plot that uses faith as a weapon and fire as its signature?a plot that will not only determine the fate of Virginia, but will also ignite in him the first sparks of revolution.
The Philosopher's Fire is a story of political intrigue, scientific discovery, and personal loss. It's a gripping mystery that shows how a young man's belief in reason is forged into a revolutionary's resolve.
Book 4 in the Thomas Jefferson: Paranormal Investigator series
Before he lit the flame of revolution, Thomas Jefferson had to survive the fire of conspiracy.
