Farthing is an alternate history novel Welsh-Canadian writer Jo Walton and published by Tor Books. It was first published on 8 August 2006. A sequel, Ha'penny, was released in October 2007 by Tor Books. A third novel in the series, Half a Crown, was released in September 2008, also from Tor, and a short story, "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction", was published on Tor.com in February 2009. Background The novel is an alternate history set in 1949. Though the divergence point from actual history seems to be Rudolf Hess's flight to Scotland in May 1941, Ha'penny details that the critical difference is actually the failure of the United States to provide aid to Britain in 1940. With Britain lacking American support, Hess's entreaties for peace negotiations were accepted and have led to a peace between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany, against Winston Churchill's wishes, and to the British withdrawal from World War II, which continues mainly as a stalemate between Germany and the Soviet Union. Charles Lindbergh is the president of the United States, a peaceful country that never became involved in the conflict and is seeking closer economic ties to the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The novel was inspired by Walton's analysis of the setting of Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar. Plot Introduction The book begins as a "cozy" or "country house" mystery involving the murder of Sir James Thirkie, a member of the "Farthing Set" and the architect of the "Farthing Peace" between the United Kingdom and Germany. The Farthing Set, so named for their association with the country house of that name (and analogous to the real-life Cliveden set) prominently supportered prewar appeasement, a policy vindicated by the war's outcome. The narrative alternates between the first-person account of Lucy Kahn, daughter of the proprietors of the Farthing estate, and a third-person narrative that focuses on Scotland Yard Inspector Peter Carmichael, the lead investigator assigned to the case. Summary At a weekend party at Farthing House, a large country house in Hampshire, Sir James Thirkie, a prominent politician who is considered likely to become a leading minister in an upcoming cabinet shuffle, is found murdered in his room, with a yellow Star of David pinned to his chest. Though suspicion immediately falls upon David Kahn, the only Jew invited to the party, the lead investigator, Inspector Peter Carmichael, is unconvinced. Carmichael, who was sent with