July 13, 2015
Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Griffiths (The Crossing Places) launches a new series with this engaging mystery set in Brighton, England, in 1950. The Magic Men, a group of stage magicians who performed special missions during WWII, have since gone their separate ways. Only one, Max Mephisto, is still earning top billing on the variety circuit. Others have become a police officer, a wisecracking comedian, a carpenter. The oldest of the group has drifted lower and lower in the profession, performing to bored audiences in sleazy strip clubs. The gruesome murder of a glamorous magician’s stage assistant draws the former team back together. The portrayal of the backstage life and the onstage performances of illusionists forms a fascinating backdrop to the main action. Brief flashbacks to the Magic Men’s wartime missions provide an equally gripping backstory. As the plot deepens, Griffiths’s tone darkens, leading to a series of surprise twists. Readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of Max and company. Agent: Rebecca Carter, Janklow & Nesbit.
July 1, 2015
Griffiths, acclaimed for her excellent contemporary mysteries featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway (The Ghost Fields), launches a new series set in 1950 Brighton, England. DI Edgar Stephens joined the police force after serving with a unique special ops troop, the Magic Men, that used props and stage tricks to deceive the enemy during World War II. When the body of a woman, cut into three pieces, is found, Edgar is reminded of the Zig Zag Girl magic trick that one of his fellow Magic Men, magician Max Mephisto, performed on stage. Trying to identify the woman and the killer, Edgar seeks Max's help with the investigation. Mysterious notes and a second killing soon make it clear that all of the former Magic Men are in danger, and Edgar and Max need to find the culprit before they're the next victims. VERDICT Griffiths's ability to imbue atmosphere and create fascinating characters continues to make her an author every mystery lover should be reading. Lacking the usual forensics and druids of her previous series, this title may especially appeal to cozy and historical mystery fans. [See Kristi Chadwick's mystery spotlight feature, "Not Your Usual Suspects," LJ 4/15/15.]--Melissa DeWild, BookOps, NYPL
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 15, 2015
A series of bizarre murders in post-World War II England appears to be connected to the Magic Men, magicians who were part of a special ops group during the war, in this whodunit set in the world of tricks and illusion.It's 1950, and Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is settling into his new life with the Brighton police. An Oxford student before the war, Edgar was recruited by MI5 to join the Magic Men because of his aptitude for crosswords and codes. Including magicians Max Mephisto, Stan "The Great Diablo" Parks, Tony Mulholland, and a handful of others who made up the ragtag squad, the men-and one alluring woman-worked to play elaborate tricks on the Germans. Edgar thought his magic days were behind him until two trunks containing a woman's dismembered body turn up in the Brighton train station's left luggage area, the torso conspicuously missing. The next day, another case arrives at the police station, addressed to Edgar, with the missing torso. Edgar is convinced the killer is mimicking an old trick of Max's where the magician pretends to chop his assistant into bits, the titular Zig Zag Girl. Edgar tracks down his old friend, who's still performing, despite the public's waning fascination with variety shows-television is on the horizon, after all. The pair identifies the dead woman as Max's old assistant and, in a somewhat predictable but still engaging game of cat and mouse with the killer, tries to find the rest of the Magic Men before it's too late. Griffiths (The Ghost Fields, 2015, etc.) weaves a compelling tale rich with historical detail and a cast of eccentric characters.
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August 1, 2015
The smell at the Brighton train station led the police to find the head and legs of a woman packed in two separate cases. Shortly thereafter, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens received the torso in a package addressed to him, using his recent WWII rank of captain. The body reminds Stephens of an old magic trick called the Zig Zag Girl, perfected by Max Mephisto, who served together with Edgar in a special army unit called the Magic Men. Another murder attributed to a magic trick amps up the tension and prompts Stephens to draft Mephisto to help with the investigation, especially as it appears that the Magic Men are being targeted by the killer. The setting of the shabby, postwar beach town during the 1950s adds a rich dimension to the novel, both in terms of atmosphere and in giving the story a classic mystery feelcrime in a pre-electronic age, before cell phones and DNA, when crimes were solved by face-to-face investigation and inspired deduction. An original plot and appealingly quirky characters round out the appeal of this thoroughly entertaining tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)