The Paradox Club

A lightning-paced mystery about a brilliant yet troubled young woman and her connection to a secret society where knowledge is power—and her father’s research is the key to its most dangerous secret.

Tess Maxwell grew up fascinated by the stars and her father Harry’s stories and his scientific lessons. But ever since Harry’s death ten years ago, Tess has felt out of sync with the world and suspects that there’s more to her father’s work—and death—than anyone has let on.

When she discovers a cryptic puzzle he left behind, she’s thrust into the hidden world of the Paradox Club, a covert organization operating out of an unremarkable Manhattan brownstone where scholars guard knowledge with the power to reshape human history. But the club is fracturing, a rogue member is moving to exploit its most dangerous secrets, and Tess’s family is at the center of it all. As she races to uncover the truth about her father’s work, Tess becomes a pawn in a battle for control of the society and the world‑altering information it protects. Can she confront the paradox at the heart of her father’s work and her difficult past to solve the mysteries of her identity, Harry’s death, and the universe?

The Paradox Club blends scientific intrigue, buried histories, and escalating danger into a propulsive mystery perfect for readers who love secret societies, intellectual puzzles, and revelations that upend everything we think we know.Charlie Lovett is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and playwright whose award-winning plays have been seen in over 5,000 productions worldwide. His five previous novels have included an Indie Next pick and a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection; have been praised in outlets including Parade, People, and Washington Post; and have been translated into several languages. He hosted the podcast Inside the Writer’s Studio and is a scholar of Lewis Carroll and collector of his works and related materials (including Carroll’s 1888 typewriter). Charlie and his wife, Janice, live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and in Kingham, Oxfordshire.