This wonderful book by Tom Mead seems to be the beginning of a new series featuring Joseph Spector who is a retired stage magician and part-time sleuth. This story takes place in pre-WWII England and Spector uses his knowledge of the magic technology available at that time to assist in solving crimes. The crimes in this particular book are a murder and a possibly related art theft.

I have to admit there were a couple things that worried me before I even started to listen to this audiobook. First, from the description this book seemed to be in the style of classic murder-mystery authors of days long ago, like Agatha Christie. This worried me since I had stopped reading Agatha Christie because her great detective, Hercule Poirot, just seemed to pull solutions to mysteries out of thin air without having enough clues to do so. Second, I am the first to admit that I am TERRIBLE at guessing "whodunit". I have given up even trying to guess and just enjoy the book I'm listening to. I was hoping this one wouldn't be frustrating for me.

I was pleasantly surprised in both of these cases. Spector and the detectives from Scotland Yard that he was helping actually investigated and brought clues to the story as they uncovered them. And for a bonus from my perspective, at the end of the book everything was explained thoroughly and clearly enough for dummies like me. Thank you Mr. Mead! I am definitely looking forward to the next installment of this series.

And a big thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Audiobook, Unabridged 6 Hours, 40 Minutes

Delightful! I had absolutely no clue who did it but definitely enjoyed the ride.

Anyone who has ever read and enjoyed the classic mysteries of the past will love this one. I lost track of all the nods to the classic mysteries as I was driving while listening to much of this. They included not just Agatha Christie and her "Murder of Roger Ackroyd", but Poe, Macbeth, and John Dickson Carr's lecture on locked room mysteries in "The Hollow Man". The language flows eloquently, with a vocabulary that borders on melodic at times, and Mead does an excellent job conjuring up the atmosphere. I could almost taste the damp, foggy night as that mysterious dark, cloaked figure lingered ominously in the shadows.

I'm a sucker for a British accent so it's probably a no-brainer that I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. While no attempt was made to generate a particularly female sounding voice for the female characters, Rudder did an excellent job differentiating by changes of tone, inflection, and speed, so to speak. Chapter changes, as well as titles, were announced. Hint: Pay attention. His skill was such that I could feel the tenseness in scenes and even sense the ominousness of that mysterious, dark cloaked figure lingering in the rain and darkness.

I won't detail the plot, which can be found elsewhere, as I don't want to give away even the smallest clue. Let's just say, the clues are all there, as the interlude near the big reveal notes, even if I didn't figure it all out. I am looking forward to illusionist/magician Joseph Spector's next adventure along with Inspector Flint. The emphasis on the psychological aspects of this particular case only added to the mystery of "Dang, how did Spector do that trick?"

Much thanks to #NetGalley and #HighBridgeAudio for inviting me along for this delightfully intriguing trip back to the days of classic mysteries. It was a puzzling but fun read.

Death and the Conjuror
by Tom Mead, narrated by Jake Ruddle

No way I was going to figure this one out! Once we get to the denouement my head was spinning and then doing flips and pretty much just gave up before it was finished. No mere mortal could have thought all of this up. I'd have certainly made a lousy villain back in these olden days.

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.

We have a large cast of characters, including Patient A, Patient B, Patient C, the doctor's daughter and her rake of a boyfriend, an actress, a producer, several maids, the staff of a hotel, and more. Just a whole slew of suspicious people and almost witnesses but there are no answers. It will take magician and sleight of hand man such as Spector to figure this one out.

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.

Thank you to HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.