Warmongering royalty, an army plundering its own people, and morality measures pushing the brothels of London to bankruptcy: there was much to talk about in England circa 1642. And the characters in Claire Letemendia’s debut novel talk an awful lot – whether theorizing about the value of victory versus human life or bantering in an effort to bed one another. This overabundance of tête-à-têtes, layered onto a weighty political plot, a weightier page count, and a lengthy cast of characters, bloats what could otherwise have been a compelling read.

A scholar of political theory long fascinated by the English Civil War, Letemendia weaves an intricate plot. Laurence Beaumont returns from war on the continent a haunted man, entertaining suicidal thoughts, and pursued by memories of a love gone awry and a mysterious prophecy. Upon his return to the grand family estate, the war-weary prodigal son finds his country on the cusp of civil war. Though reluctant to relive the horrors of the battlefield, Laurence soon finds himself at the heart of the conflict. Putting to use his skills in intelligence work, he decodes a series of letters stolen from a Dutch brothel – uncovering, to his horror, details of a conspiracy to kill King Charles I.

Despite her meticulous plotting, Letemendia often leaves the period details to the reader’s imagination. Yes, there are muddy battlefields, foam-flecked horses, grimy gaols, and the eternally stinking Thames. But the predominance of expository conversation opens an imaginative gap between writer and reader, in which much potential for romance is lost.

A decade in the making, The Best of Men is an ambitious and scrupulously researched first novel, and the first in a proposed series. Laurence, the 17th-century smart aleck, is a character with enough charm and complexity to warrant a repeat appearance. But while the book has some genuinely exciting moments, there are many more in which it’s hard to shrug off the feeling of attending a rather dry dinner party – the kind with overly loquacious hosts and not nearly enough wine.