The premise of this book sounded so interesting but I thought the actual writing fell a bit short. The Scotland Yard detective was implausible and the conjuror was underdeveloped, which is how I felt about all the characters. I think the author's short story origins are showing. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book, but I will be skipping further books in this series.

Magician turned would-be detective solves mysteries in 1930s London

Unfortunately this one fell flat for me. It started off strong, but by the time the actual mysteries started I had kind of lost interest.
I will say this book has some very interesting characters. While not for me, I think many people will enjoy this book. Great for Sherlock fans.

If you enjoy classic Golden Age mysteries with a locked room component (here 2!!), you will greatly enjoy this mid-1930s puzzler set in London.. Tons of red herrings and a highly improbable but satisfying solution. Highly recommend!!

In the first of a full-length series of Joseph Spector novels, Tom Mead brings a classic locked-room mystery with Death and the Conjuror. As someone who recently watched all of Jonathan Creek, I was drawn to this novel about a trick designer who is recruited to solve crime. I thought this was a well-written, locked-room crime and would give the novel 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A prominent psychologist receives a mysterious visitor late at night, takes a phone call, and is murdered minutes later. However, his windows and study door are all locked, so how did he die? Scotland Yard is called to the case, but the inspector recognizes his limitations. Joseph Spector, a retired magician, is called to the yard’s aid – he’s worked with them before, and “tricky” cases are, of course, his specialty.

I found Death and the Conjuror to be an enjoyable read and, definitely, a mystery that I couldn’t figure out. It was very Jonathan Creek-esque, which was really fun for me. You could have popped Creek in for Spector or Spector in for Creek and you would have still read the same novel or watched the same show. I really liked trying to follow Spector’s logical mind, but it was so imaginative that I could only go so far. The advantages to being a magician, I suppose!

Spector is no stranger to Mead, who has published several short stories about the magician. This is Spector’s first full-length novel, though, and I think it was a successful attempt. You probably could condense it into a short story with some selective editing, but I didn’t think there were any details that were unnecessary or extraneous. Like other locked-rooms, the focus was more on the who and the how rather than the why, which was totally appropriate. So, it wasn’t a very emotional book – if you’re looking for a conflict of emotions, I would look in another direction – but it was superbly tricky and, as with Creek, had a surprisingly simple explanation for what was a very convoluted mystery.

If you’re looking for a mystery novel that’s more “classic” in style, I think this is for you. I found it very entertaining to follow Spector through his investigative process and enjoyed finding all the pieces with him, yet completely failing to put them together as he did. As far as a locked-room mystery goes, I’d give this four and a half out of five stars as it had an excellent plot, decent characters, and a totally confounding mystery.

To learn more about this author and his work, see here: https://tommeadauthor.com/publications/

When Scotland Yard is baffled by the death of the noted psychiatrist Anselm Rees they call in Joseph Spector to help with the investigation. Spector is a retired magician turned amateur sleuth. Will Spector be able to figure out a mystery that has no clues, no witnesses, no evidence, and no weapon. The murderer simply vanished into thin air.

This whodunnit is on par with any Hercule Poirot (written by Agatha Christie) novel. The clues are presented in such a way that the reader feels like they are on a cat and mouse chase, who will outsmart who.

The author writes well-developed characters that are interesting and relatable. In addition, the author captures the time period with his attention to details. The only drawback a reader might have to the book is that the stage of this mystery is very dark and ominous. It is not the lifestyles of the rich and famous like Poirot novels. Regardless of that I highly recommend this book, especially if you are looking for a break from all of the beach reads this summer.

"Death and the Conjuror" by: Tom Mead tells the story Joseph Spector a magician / inspector. The story can be classified as a "Locked room mystery" and it definitely sticks to that classification. This novel is such a fun and compelling mystery novel. I am a lover of the genre and this novel kept me well and truly entertained throughout my read.

I found Tom Mead's characters compelling and believable, the setting was well described and really transported me as the reader back in time to 1930s London.As stated previously I have read several mysteries but Mr. Mead told a wonderful mystery that had me guessing right up to the final pages of the novel. This pays homage to the great mysteries and is able to hold its own right along with the others.

I personally could not put down this book once I started it; I need to know who did what and how and would not stop reading until I found my answers. This is a must read for mystery fans!

If you’re a fan of murder mysteries who’s put off by too much gore, but still loves the mental challenge of trying to figure out who did it before the denouement—the point where the author reveals all—this week’s historic MBR No. 500 . . . Death and the Conjuror, (Mysterious Press, $25.95, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-61316-318-4), by Tom Mead . . . is everything you’ve been looking for and more. Written in the Golden Age style, it begins September 1936, when a seemingly impossible murder takes place within the locked confines of a London, England office.

Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint is stumped when prominent Austrian psychiatrist Anselm Rees is found dead in his study. With the door locked from the inside and the window to the outside, the Doctor is found with his throat slit. The impossibility of the crime causes the Detective to call on his friend and world-class magician Joseph Spector for help. Inspector Flint hopes that the master illusionist will be able to somehow determine how this fiendishly clever crime was carried out in a locked room, and most importantly . . . by whom. One theory is that the killing was revenge by allies of a former patient in Austria whose throat was cut in a similar fashion. But just as the pair are honing their theories, a potential witness is hung in a locked elevator cab and at the same time, the impossible theft of a priceless and rare painting takes place under all of their noses. Naturally, the intrepid pair of sleuths are personally compelled to solve those associated crimes along the way in this atmospheric and suspenseful—as well as complex—locked room mystery that’s a homage to the Golden Age of pulps from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Flint and Spector are an entertaining and riotous pair that all fans of puzzle mysteries will root for and hope to see more of soon!

An intriguing blend of amateur sleuth, a locked room mystery and a retired magician set in 1930's London. I felt this book held a smattering of other books that I have read that are similar. However, the unique twist on a sleight of hand expert assisting Scotland Yard is charming enough that this could be akin to Sherlock Holmes and Lestrade, although the magician in question is friendly with the police.

A fun, topsy turvy, twisted mystery that left me guessing until the end.

4.5 stars

I love a good locked room mystery, and Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead is that in spades! An impossible murder. A handful of people who couldn’t possibly be the murderer … except that at least one of them has to be. An art theft and a second murder – all impossible. Impossible suspects. Impossible crimes. Impossible to solve…

Enter an “old magician”, Joseph Spector, who is called upon by a Scotland Yard detective to deduce how the murder could have happened & who did it. Spector is just as illusive as his name and occupation imply, and readers will find him equal parts fascinating and curious. While he makes several observations and asks more than a few questions, you’ll have to be sharp to catch enough clues to solve the ‘murder puzzle’ before he does. I loved the intentional nods to Christie’s Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Carr’s The Hollow Man, as well as the ‘breaking of the fourth wall’ where the reader is directly addressed. It felt like I was reading a contemporary of the above-mentioned authors, instead of a newly written novel, perfect to cozy up with on a dark and stormy night.

Bottom Line: Fans of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr will be positively delighted to dive into Tom Mead’s debut novel! Death and the Conjuror is a classic Golden Age locked room whodunnit with a cocktail of eccentric characters and delicious twists and turns. The fact that the author opens the story behind the scenes of a production called Miss Death and then structures the pace of the novel to parallel the acts of a play is just another example of the attention to detail that makes this book so unique. The clues are all there for you to find, dear reader, but can you find them? And if you do indeed find them, can you connect the dots before the Conjuror does? I myself was not successful but I had a blast trying – and I think you will too!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

It’s September 1936, London. A famous psychiatrist, Anselm Rees, is found dead in his locked study. Several people visit him late that evening around the time of the murder, and his housekeeper is there. But no one could possibly have killed him given all the circumstances.

Scotland Yard inspector George Flint and sergeant Jerome Hook investigate what seems to be an impossible situation. Flint asks retired magician Joseph Spector to help him in this unusual case with his amateur sleuthing talents.

The two interview Rees’ daughter, herself a new psychiatrist; her fiancé, a wealthy playboy; the housekeeper; Rees’ three patients, and anyone else who could have seen or known anything at all. Various people have motives, but none seems to have had opportunity.

Then as they go to one suspect’s apartment building, a young elevator operator is found dead. Again, no one seemingly could have done it given the place and timing.

Death and the Conjuror is a fun homage to the classic whodunit, with the locked-room type of mystery. It borrows plenty from earlier writers and winks at doing so. I was charmed by Spector and delighted to have the opportunity to stylistically revisit my long-ago days of devouring any Agatha Christie book I could find. This is a worthy addition to the genre and I’ll look forward to the next one featuring this amateur sleuth. The bonus: the book is clean reading.

DEATH AND THE CONJUROR (Joseph Spector Book #1) by Tom Mead is an entertaining throwback historical locked-door mystery set in 1930’s London and featuring a retired stage magician turned amateur sleuth.

Joseph Spector has retired from his job of mystifying audiences with his magical illusions, but still is available for consultation to his friend, Inspector George Flint from Scotland yard for assistance when the scene of a murder seems impossible. Psychiatrist Anselm Rees in found murdered in his home office by his daughter and one of his patients. The door and windows were locked and there was nowhere for escape, so Flint takes this impossible case to Spector for his assistance.

There are many suspects and a lot of misdirection in this locked-room mystery. When a second murder occurs, Spector must sort the truths from illusions for this murderer to be brought to justice.

This was an enjoyable read which reminded me of my love of the old style of murder mysteries especially Christies’ Poirot series. Spector was a wonderful character with his past profession being the perfect set-up to be of use to Inspector Flint. I also enjoyed when Spector explained how some of his illusions and slight-of-hand tricks were accomplished. All the suspects and secondary characters were well drawn to keep me guessing all the way to the end. The plot was well paced and full of red herrings and twists.

This is the first book in new this historical mystery series and I will be looking out for more stories featuring Spector in the future.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. First of all, I did not know that Joseph Spector was a character that appeared in Ellery Queen magazine. I seem to recall copies of that at my grandparents’ house. The book has not one, but two, mysteries in it. A locked door mystery and a stolen painting mystery. The plot is great and the characters are likable. There isn’t a lot of character development but that may be because Spector has appeared in other works and this author, Tim Mead, expects you to have the back story. Nothing is exceptionally complicated and you will be guessing, which is great.

This was a good locked room mystery. I don't think they're quite my thing, but I can appreciate this was written well. You meet all the suspects and those involved, the murder occurs, and then we follow the case as it proceeds. I didn't even try to guess who the murderer was, but had I tried, I don't think I would have figured it out. I did like that there was kind of a guide to what actually constitutes a 'locked room mystery'. And once the killer is revealed, it explains in great detail not only how it occurred, but how Spector came to that process. Didn't leave a single unanswered question.

Interesting and gripping story! The magic thrown in was a fun touch that wasn’t something you read about often. The characters were interesting and overall a good read!

Death and the Conjuror is a locked room murder mystery. There were many twits in this first book in a new series. Joseph Spector is an illusionist that assists Inspector Flint in trying to solve murders and robberies in 1930's London. I enjoyed the story and it keeps you turning the pages to try and put the pieces together.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The publishers summary says this book has a “baffling plot.” And that’s true, though the feeling the reader takes away from it is something different than what they surely meant to convey.

The setup for this mystery is a fine one, an homage to John Dickson Carr and the Locked Room Mystery. Accompanying that is a solid set of suspects and an amateur sleuth who plays the archetypal role well enough.

But the positives end there. First, there’s the aforementioned “baffling plot.” Which might have been fun had it led to a logical conclusion. Alas, the solve for this was incredibly convoluted in a way that just renders it poorly done. And contrary to the through-the-fourth-wall moment that the author half-jokingly inserts into the narrative to mimic genre structure, you actually do NOT have all the information you need to solve this. Or anything close to it.

Mysteries that rely on an info dump at the end to solve the case are almost always terrible unless they have some other element to recommend the reading experience, like strong atmosphere or excellent characters. Both of those things can at least partially save a book for me even if the solve is a mess. Unfortunately, this book has very little atmosphere and the characters, while satisfactory enough, are not uniquely intriguing.

Audiobook readers: Obviously I’m not recommending this book in any format, but it certainly doesn’t lose anything in audio format if you’re still interested in it. The story works fine for the medium and the narrator is excellent.

It’s a locked room mystery! I like them as they’re fun puzzles that hinge on who was where and when.

The murdered is a psychiatrist with a number of clients he saw in his study, located on the first floor of his home. He had an unexpected visitor (one his housekeeper had never seen before) the evening he was killed. His daughter was out to dinner with a male friend, and the doctor had had two other clients that day: one earlier in the day, and the second who arrived a few minutes before his housekeeper found him dead in his locked study.

Inspector Flint gets a retired magician to help him, precisely because of the locked study and apparent impossibility that anyone could have killed the man in between two visitors.


This is a fairly light story, with a relatively small suspect list, and much hinging on the dead psychiatrist’s patients. (There is some dodgy psychology spouted by the characters, based on the limited understanding people had of the field in 1936.)

Spector seemed both fascinating, and a little too fascinating, easily overshadowing Flint. Spector’s past as a magician and his eclectic knowledge came in handy during the investigation. Amusingly, author Tom Mead has Spector refer to a John Dickson Carr, the writer who made the “Locked Room Mystery” famous, in the course of the investigation, making the Golden Age mystery writer a character in this mystery.

Regarding the case in this book, yhe murderer wasn't hard to deduce, and I knew who it was very early on in the book. And, I thought the reveal of the overly convoluted methods used in the murders was the author being a little too clever, for which the book loses a star.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Penzler Publishers for this ARC in exchange for my review.

{3.5 stars}

When a psychiatrist is killed in his locked office late one evening, inspector Joseph Spector is called in to investigate. Spector is a magician and super sleuth akin to Holmes or Poirot; he sees the scene like no one else. Quickly we are down to a few suspects: his three famous patients, his daughter and her boyfriend. We spend quite a bit of time running in verbal circles as Spector hops from obvious, mundane explanations to complex, fantastical ones. I was fully immersed in the journey for the first half and then it felt a bit to me like we kept treading the same ground. Then when we finally got the explanation, it was over too quickly.

I wanted a little more detail on the actual culprit, we got the basics but some more flesh on those bones would have been appreciated. I had a solution concocted in my own head that I felt was better, which is not my job as the reader I know. I did enjoy this one but not as much as I hoped for based on the premise. I did like that during the explanation section, the author gave us references to the actual clues back on their original pages, more authors should do this!

Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.

I’ll admit; the cover is what drew me to this book. It’s so interesting and lovely. And when the synopsis claimed it to be reminiscent of Golden Era mysteries, I was sold.

I loved the setting, the thirties being one of my favorite eras. That period in time is portrayed well in the book and harkens back to the beloved Agatha Christie. I also liked the magician theme, adding to the mystique of the book.

However, I found it hard to connect with the characters. None of them seemed very well described to me and it made the book difficult to follow. This was disappointing because I wanted so badly to love this book.

While elements of this book weren’t for me, if you love Golden Era mysteries, then you might want to try Death and the Conjuror.

I received a complimentary copy from Mysterious Press through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Joseph Spector, magician and amateur sleuth, aids Scotland Yard in solving this classic locked room mystery set in between-the-wars London. The victim is a psychiatrist, and the suspects are his patients and the members of his household. There are multiple crimes at work, and soon, multiple murders.

The novel is a "fair play" mystery, and the author takes pains during the denouement to point out where the crucial clues were dropped. Even though the clues were evident, I was completely unable to put them together for a solution.

I look forward to more from this author and series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.