Death and the Conjuror: A Locked-Room Mystery

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Thus far, Tom Mead has only written two volumes in his Joseph Spector mystery series. Let us all hope that he will produce many, many more. If I weren't aware that this novel is coming out in July 2023, I would be absolutely convinced The Murder Wheel came from the "golden age" of detective fiction. The puzzles are wonderfully puzzling. Joseph Spector, the central character, is a former stage magician who now works informally with Scotland Yard's Inspector George Flint as a consultant on particularly outré cases, the kind of cases that seem as if they could involve magic—though they don't because Spector is as devoted to rationcination as was Holmes. If Golden Age mysteries are your wheelhouse, don't miss this unique series. It's the genuine article. If I didn't know better I'd promise this was written in the era. This is such a stylish and well written historical mystery set in the interwar period in England. Stage magician Joseph Spector joins forces with Scotland Yard inspector Flint to solve several "impossible" crimes. Readers who enjoy figuring out how before the sleuths will find a fiendishly clever puzzle. I gave up trying to beat the mystery about halfway in (impossible crimes upon impossible crimes) and just enjoyed the ride. It's 1930s London and there is a murder. Psychiatrist Anselm Rees has been murdered and the murderer has disappeared under impossible circumstances. What we have here is a closed room mystery but actually there is more than one closed room mystery before the story is over. It's the job of Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint to find the murderer and when confronted with the impossibility of the crime he calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector.

I’m a huge fan of live theatre—everything from experimental drama to musicals. Death and the Conjuror features a fictional West End theatre called the Pomegranate, which gave me the opportunity to delve into the history of London’s famous theatre district. I had great fun basing certain characters on real-life historical figures, and hopefully eagle-eyed readers will be able to work out who’s who. What are you working on now? I enjoyed this story very much and the narrator did an excellent job narrating this book. You do have to really like this kind of old fashioned story telling where, in the end, the explanation for everything is long, detailed, verging on impossible, and requiring numerous contortions and eye squinting to really see how things pull together. But it was fun and I felt like I was right there in the parlor with all the characters while Spector laid out the happenings for us. Such clever fun although too clever for me.It’s true that all the evidence is there, and in plain sight too. If there are any would-be sleuths amongst you, now is the time to make yourselves known.’

Joseph Ibbs, a newly qualified lawyer, is defending Carla Dean, who is accused of murdering her husband on a Ferris wheel. Open and shut, or maybe not as Ibbs investigates and then comes under suspicion himself when a body is found during a magic act at the Pomegranate Theatre. A third body seals the deal in Inspector Flint’s eyes. Fortunately Joseph Spector was at the performance and can help them out. I recently had the pleasure of hearing Tom Mead discuss his Joseph Spector series at Capital Crime and immediately after the panel bought a copy of the first book, Death and the Conjuror. My review for that is coming soon but having read both novels, I am able to confirm that this sequel can easily be enjoyed as a standalone too. I haven’t read Death and the Conjuror, the first book featuring illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector, so waiting for him to appear in this one was like awaiting the start of the main act. Actually I’m being rather unfair to young lawyer and amateur magician. Edmund Ibbs, who carries a good deal of the first part of the book. I found him a really engaging, sympathetic figure although, as the book progresses, you learn that not everyone may be exactly what they seem. What, even Edmund? Well, he does find himself in a rather incriminating situation… Solid 4 stars maybe even 4,5. Thank you netgalley and Penzler Publishers, Mysterious Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest reviewThe case they are tasked with investigating in “Listen to Me” — the bludgeoning of an I.C.U. nurse without a seeming enemy — offers turns and twists that feel earned and organic. Meanwhile, Rizzoli is also preoccupied with constant phone calls from her mother, Angela, who’s convinced that the new couple on her street are up to no good, even though her daughter tells her “there’s nothing criminal about wanting to stay away from the neighborhood sleuth.” I recently finished the second Spector book, a sequel to Death and the Conjuror called The Murder Wheel. the characters' relationships also make no sense. Ex: the detective somehow lets a magician more or less steer the entire case. Ex: the detective and magician talk openly, in public, and even in front of witnesses/suspects, about all the details of the case, including deeply personal information they've uncovered. This somehow never has any bad repercussions. When a customer at the market dies after imbibing one of their bubble tea concoctions, the cousins become suspects, especially since it turns out Celine had added potentially lethal gold flakes to the drink because “it needed more razzle-dazzle, like those cupcakes with those harmless silver balls on them.”

The book opens on Halloween night, as a wealthy law professor named Simon, clutching a burner phone, flees the suburban mansion where a woman has just been murdered. That this scene is not what it seems is a given, and the reader is soon transported into a dizzyingly nonlinear narrative of family secrets, unsolved killings, financial scams, prenuptial agreements, salacious text messages and petty revenge. This book offered a second refreshing aspect in Edmund Ibbs, a young lawyer and amateur magician. Most of the story is narrated from his perspective which means we get to observe Spector from more than one perspective. What’s more, his presence also means that we don’t get to see Spector as uniquely qualified to solve cases since Ibbs manages to solve at least one of the three cases on his own. the characters' behavior only makes sense if you squint and also accept that they all have strange psychological issues. Joseph Spector is a wonderful character, saturnine, a chain smoker of filthy, pungent cigarillos and an absinthe drinker – could there be any one more Mephistopholean? The pacing is slow, with numerous numbing recaps and restatements. No real surprises, very pedestrian drama, and the weakest of murderers.The majority of this book is set in one of two locations, but the characters nor the story feel small. In fact, I'd say the small size of setting adds to the tension and terror and confusion faced by the characters. It creates this fast paced, curious story which is fabulous. It’s perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and all those other legends from the first half of the twentieth century. It’s a kind of umbrella term which covers all manner of impossible crimes—that is, crimes where there appears to be no way the criminal could actually have committed them. I thought it was fitting to set my novel—which pays conscious tribute to the genre—right in the middle of its most productive period. So I suppose you could say that the London I’m writing about is seen through the lens of the golden age.