“No matter how large or small an illusion, there is one thing to remember: your audience is in front of you. Keep them there.”


I enjoyed the first Joseph Spector Mystery— Death and the Conjuror— and this one was similar.

Like the first book, it’s a good locked room mystery with a couple other ‘impossible’ crimes/situations on the side. As it is a series, the setting is the same— London in the 1930s— and the main character is the same— Joseph Spector, magician/detective.



The Murder Wheel introduces us to a new prominent character: Edmund Ibbs. A magician/lawyer. (Let’s just say it was a good era for magic.)

Spector doesn’t enter the scene right away. Ibbs is the focus as he is defending the accused in an impossible murder:

A husband and wife are at the top of a Ferris wheel when her husband is shot and she finds herself holding the gun. She claims she had nothing to do with it and doesn’t know what happened. A mysterious bystander with a limp was sighted by multiple people and throws suspicion on the case.

The Daily Chronicle posts a story asking readers to help solve “The Ferris Wheel Murder.”

Ibbs, being a magic enthusiast, is trying desperately to solve the crime. In all his efforts, he finds himself in the middle of more than one crime.

The second murder occurs on the stage of a magic show he attends. A trick gone wrong exposes a corpse (the Ferris Wheel operator) to the audience.

Spector and Flint (the police officer from the first book) arrive at the theater to put their expertise to work and solve the mysteries.

And then, Ibbs gets himself in a pickle:

“I don’t know what to make of all this. But we found you locked in a room with a corpse, with a smoking revolver in your hand.”



One comment I made with the first book was that it didn’t feel like we really got to know Spector’s character very well. I thought his character would develop as the series went on, but that didn’t really happen.

Spector was actually even less part of this book than the previous one.

It seems like Mead is more interested in the ‘tricks’ part of the books than the characters. Which is fine. I enjoy a locked-room mystery and learning about magic tricks. You just have to know going in that it’s not a series to really connect you with the characters. It’s more about the plot.


Another comment I made in the first book was that the mystery was revealed in monologue format. This time Mead did things a little differently. There was a bit of monologue. It’s written in third person POV so dialogue is our main media for getting information. But it wasn’t quite like the Agatha Christie style: get everyone in a room and expose the murderer. It was more spread out and the last few things we find out in the epilogue.

I was glad for that because I didn’t find the original explanation satisfying or believable so I was happy to find out there was more to it!


I don’t remember this being in the first book, perhaps it was, but this one had some footnotes during the reveals that tells you which page to go back to to see the original clue in the story. I’m not sure if the reader could actually solve these puzzles on their own, but it’s a nice touch to send the reader on their own clue hunt if they want to see what they missed!


The writing style is reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel. It did have some lines that made me chuckle:

“His eyebrows were notable in that he had three of them; two over the eyes and another on his upper lip.”



If you’re looking for a low-key mystery to give you a break from the high octane thrillers, this may be a good palate cleanser.

If you’re a fan of the Christie, you should definitely give Tom Mead’s books a try.

But if you’re looking for a thrill ride with a lot of action or a series with characters you get to know really well, then this may not be for you.

Also, if you are interested in murders in Fleet Street then definitely read Charles Finch’s book The Fleet Street Murders (which is currently on my TBR).


Learning Corner

If you follow my reviews, you know that I enjoy learning new words or information. Here is a list of words (mostly) related to magic or illusions:

acetabularri: history’s first recorded illusionists

copropraxia: Ibbs is thrust into his position as the defense because the primary lawyer on the case came down with copropraxia and was prescribed bed rest. It is the “complex motor tic involving obscene gestures. And I can imagine this would be a problem in the court room.

legerdemain: skillful use of hands in deception while performing tricks

prestidigitator: another name for a magician

perspicacity: perceptiveness

Chubb lock: the unpickable lock designed in 1818; had a security mechanism that when someone attempted to pick the lock it would ‘re-lock’ and jam and would alert the owner that the lock was tampered with.

insalubrious: unsavory

Black Maria: another name for the black police vehicles during this time period

pareidolia: the tendency to see or look for patterns in random images when there really is none

Wicked Bible: an edition of the Bible published in 1631 that had two errors, one was the omission of the word ‘not’ in the commandment ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ Most copies were destroyed so the very few copies left are considered highly valuable.

Jenny Haniver: a common old hoax; the carcass of a ray that is manipulated and molded to look like freaky monster things and passed off as evidence of dragons and other fanciful creatures.

verisimilitude: the appearance of being true or real



[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content]


**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

The Murder Wheel is the second Joseph Spector locked room historical mystery by Tom Mead. Released 11th July 2023 by Penzler, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out second quarter 2024 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

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.

The writing is top shelf; engaging and smooth. The characters are believably rendered and the plotting is well engineered and sophisticated. The whole is redolent of the time period without being clunky or archaic.

Four stars. A good addition to a well written classic-style historical series. For fans of Golden Age classic mysteries, this is a good one. The classic great authors of the period aren't producing any more stories, and it manages to evoke the time period without being derivative or precious. The third volume (The Cabaret Macabre) is due out from Penzler in July 2024.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

In this follow-up to Death and the Conjuror, former stage magician Joseph Spector is back to help Scotland Yard with yet another hopelessly baffling case. This continues the adventures of Joseph in a fascinating new case. If you’re a fan of historical mysteries or books from the golden age of mysteries, this is the series for you. Highly recommend!

This reads a lot like Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes. Lots of deductions and who done its! This is an easy, quick murder mystery!

Fun quick follow up. This is a fun little series in old timey England and the audiobooks are very fun

I've previously Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead, and quite enjoyed the read, There's something really nice about reading a book by someone who takes mysteries so so seriously. And what I can say is - if you enjoyed that story, you will enjoy this one too. That is to say, if the most important element of a mystery is the puzzle - and particularly the physical clues, the timeline, all the paraphernalia associated with putting together the solution - you will love this book.
Mead sets up a Very Intriguing mystery - perhaps a bit too intriguing, as I found the actual solution to the mystery to be a bit of a letdown. In this and his prior entry, it sometimes felt like he was so absorbed as an author in the technical precision of the mystery - where he left small detailed clues, etc. - that he diminished the interpersonal intrigue of it. This is a shame especially with a magician detective, who you'd expect to use both elements to solve ay case in front of him.
Still, there are not enough books like this - modern fair play mysteries, intricately clued - and I will happily read any more Tom Mead puts out. I just hope that thy grow to balance more.

As much as I enjoyed the first book in the series, the second one didn't quite work for me. It still had the lovely blend of magic and classic mystery and still featured magicians and magic, which I love, but it just didn't have the same crisp freshness of the original. Instead it rather dragged.
The writing was still good, the murder mystery within the pages clever enough, but the convolutions of solving it were simply too much.
The entire novel is spent going "it's this person and here's why" or "no, it's this person and here's why." Basically it just tried to oversmart itself, which made it kinda annoying at times.
A relatively quick read and does have magic in it, but that's about it. Thanks Netgalley.

🎡 I love locked room mysteries and this book has more than one! There are three murders, clues galore, tons of possible suspects, red herrings, seemingly impossible situations, and more. It is very Sherlockian, and I loved it.

🎡 If you told me this book was written in the early 20th century, I would have totally believed it. The writing style is very appropriate for the period (1930s) and it took me back to the Golden Age of detective stories instantly.

🎡 I loved the footnotes! As the murders are solved, footnotes take the reader back to the page where a pertinent clue was revealed. It was a cool exercise to see if I caught the clue the first time around – and I usually didn’t!

🎡 This book is the 2nd in a series. I have not read the first book (yet!), but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this one. This read perfectly as a standalone.

🎡 This is an old school whodunnit and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You really must read this book if you love locked room mysteries, historical fiction, or Sherlockian-style stories. I’m off to get a copy of the first book (Death and the Conjuror) right now!

Thank you @NetGalley and @penzlerpub for an eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Solicitor Edmund Ibbs has just taken on the brief of a lifetime. After his superior at work falls ill, he’s put in charge of gathering information in the sensational case of the Crown versus Carla Dean. Mrs Dean has been accused of killing her husband but staunchly proclaims she had nothing to do with his murder, despite the overwhelming evidence against her.

As a defense attorney who also happens to be a fan of magic shows, Ibbs knows that perhaps his most important duty is to build a compelling narrative that will persuade the jury of his client’s innocence:

QUOTE
Much like a magic trick, the facts in a court case are of less significance than what an audience can be made to believe. If there was any way, any way at all, that somebody other than Mrs Carla Dean could have killed her husband on top of that Ferris wheel, then it was Ibbs’s duty to pursue every possible angle. Anything whatsoever that might exonerate this young woman.
END QUOTE

The facts of the case are seemingly open and shut. Carla and her banker husband Dominic had gone to the fair for a nice evening out. While they were at the top of the Ferris wheel, Dominic was shot in the stomach. Carla screamed for them to be let off, but to little avail: her husband died shortly after reaching the ground. The gun belonged to Dominic, and the only fingerprints on it were Carla’s. She swears that her prints are there only because she picked the gun up from the Ferris wheel compartment’s floor in a panic.

Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard was put in charge of the case, and swiftly had Carla arrested and charged with murder. She’s adamant in her story however, and Ibbs, being no small aficionado of the puzzling and bizarre, is inclined to believe her. But who then could have murdered Dominic, and how?

Ibbs’ investigations lead him to the fairgrounds to interview a witness, and later to Scotland Yard itself. No closer to the truth after a full day of work, he heads to the Pomegranate Theatre to relax with a long-anticipated magic show. Famed illusionist “Professor” Paolini is staging a highly publicized comeback, featuring his signature creative variations on several already fiendishly clever tricks. Ibbs is looking forward to taking his mind off the case for a few hours with a night of entertaining magic.

To Ibbs’ and the rest of the audience’s delight, Paolini is as spectacular as expected, introducing each illusion with patter that is both scholarly and entertaining. It’s as he’s describing the lethal history of the famed Bullet Catch trick, though, that a strange feeling comes over Ibbs:

QUOTE
The list of conjurers shot dead onstage was well-populated, and seemed to be growing longer all the time. Ibbs began to sweat. If you had asked him at that moment, he would have told you it was the sheer anticipation and anxiety in watching a magician handed a loaded revolver. But if you asked him afterward, when it was all over, he would have told you that he had experienced a premonition. That he knew something was going to happen that night.
END QUOTE

And indeed, during an illusion involving a crate and an animated suit of armor, instead of an ancient knight brought back to life emerging from the box, one of the witnesses Ibbs had interviewed earlier in the day falls out from it, stone dead. The theatre erupts in chaos, but Ibbs keeps his head and quickly moves to secure the stage. He cannot believe that this death is a coincidence, and suspects that the witness was silenced to stop him from testifying for Carla Dean.

Inspector Flint is called in, but an even more intelligent mind is closer at hand. Like many of his peers in magic, Joseph Spector came to the show to see what new tricks Paolini had up his sleeve. Though retired, the old music hall conjuror has used his keen wit to help Flint solve at least one previous murder, and is not averse to helping out with another. With any luck, Ibbs will be able to consult with Spector regarding Dominic’s death, too. But a ruthless killer is still lurking in the wings, and won’t hesitate to make Ibbs’ life a living nightmare as he relentlessly pursues the truth.

Tom Mead has written a murder mystery featuring not one but two locked rooms, with such finesse as to make this book feel virtually indistinguishable from any written during the Golden Age of detective mysteries. From the 1930s setting to the Ellery Queen-esque challenge issued directly to the reader, this is both a delightful throwback and a satisfying modern-day successor to the intellectual puzzles of that classic era. Spector is a compelling sleuth, and we’ll hopefully see more of Ibbs too in future installments of Spector’s eponymous series.

I had listened to an audiobook of DEATH AND THE CONJUROR so maybe this was something Mead did in the first book, but I really loved that THE MURDER WHEEL came with footnotes to direct readers back to previous pages that held information/a clue to solving the murders. I appreciate that Mead encourages readers to get involved in the case and try to solve the mystery before Spector reveals all.

There were more moving parts this time around (and more bodies), but THE MURDER WHEEL is just as enjoyable of a reading experience... though I did enjoy the mystery in the first book more. If you enjoy Agatha Christie's Poirot, you should definitely give Mead's Joseph Spector series a try.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Penzler Publishers, and Mysterious Press in exchange for an honest review.

I am obsessed with historical mysteries and when I saw this one, I could not resist...

With the investigator a former magician, it only intrigued me more. A stunning death on a Ferris wheel sets the stage, but the bodies just keep stacking up!

It was well worth the read and looking forward to more in this series!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Mysterious Press for this Advanced Reader Copy and the opportunity to review “The Murder Wheel.” All opinions and comments are my own.

The basic tenants of a murder story -- the who, the how and the why - are thoroughly explored in “The Murder Wheel,” the second in the Joseph Spector series by Tom Mead. Since this is a locked room” mystery, the “how” is our focus, and what a focus it is. Indeed, author Mead even provides clues with page numbers, and an interlude, whereby he gives readers a chance to come up with a solving before revealing all. So, pay attention, and you’ll be rewarded.

Mr. Edmund Ibbs, a London solicitor thinks he only has an “impossible” murder case to work on; instead, he finds himself in the midst of a diabolical scheme. Luckily, that fine gentleman and retired magician, Joseph Spector is asked to assist. It will take all the skill he posses to solve this one, but is there any doubt? None, gentle reader.

Criminal masterminds, murder, bluff and double-bluff. What more could one ask for? And characters to support the intricate plotting. Oh -- a bit of a moral dilemma is presented at the end of the book --- you’ll have to decide if you agree with Spector’s assessment. The “Murder Wheel” will keep your brain and crime-solving skills engaged and exercised. Satisfaction all around.

This is the second in the Joseph Spector series, both are locked room stories, where someone has been murdered and no suspect is immediately considered as the guilty party. In this case, Carla Dean and her husband are riding a ferris wheel at the fairgrounds, while the wheel is at the top of the spin, a shot is heard, when the wheel descends, Carla's husband is dead, she of course is considered a suspect, she is after all holding the gun. Young solicitor Edmund Ibbs is tasked with defending Carla, he's not so sure she's the one and her pleas of innocent convince him to look further for another suspect. He ends up at a theatre to watch a master of illusion, Professor Paolini, Ibbs is also an aspiring magician, during one Act a dead body falls on stage from a wheeled cupboard type of device. The police are called and George Flint asks Joseph Spector to take a look to assist with how the body ended up there. A lot of the text is by dialogue between characters and can be sometimes confusing as to who is speaking, but I did find the whole premise and solution highly entertaining. This also reminded me a lot of older style mystery stories. I look forward to the next installment and I would recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Mysterious Press for the ARC.

The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead is the second in the Joseph Spector series and is every bit as fabulous as Death and the Conjuror. It is drenched in fascinating magic and other historical details and jam packed with wit. Twists and red herrings hide in every nook and cranny, adding to the beguiling atmosphere. The author has a punchy way with words and knits the puzzle pieces together with oodles of charm. Locked room mysteries are buzz words for me and this series is reminiscent of John Dickson Carr's intricacies.

In 1938 London, after a murder on a ferris wheel, conjurer-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector investigates. His special skills come in very handy, especially when secrets darken and deepen and one murder becomes more. Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint enters the scene. But lawyer Edmund Ibbs happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...more than once...and is highly suspect. A few advocate his innocence but others aren't quite as forgiving and he gets stuck in the sticky web. If that weren't enough, illusionist Professor Paolini has several tricks up his sleeve. Not only does the reader get to know a wonderful cast of quirky characters with personality but is also privy to conjuring performances, on and off the stage. And really, a ferris wheel? Clever!

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.

My sincere thank you to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this delectable mystery which I ate up in no time flat. I wonder what the author will conjure up next?

Thanks to NetGalley and Mysterious Press for the eARC of this novel. I thought the novel was well-written, and I enjoyed the throwback style. It involved multiple locked room mysteries. I am always looking for novels that truly stump me, and this one did. I think that murders one and two could be discerned from the clues provided but number three was kind of preposterous, and required wayyy too much explanation. This was a good introduction to this series for me.

The 2nd book in the magician turned detective series by Tom Mead. What starts out as one "impossible" murder eventually turns into multiple mysterious murders taking place at a magic show. A body is discovered by falling out of a magicians trunk in the middle of the performance. Then a second murder is committed backstage while investigating the earlier "stage body". What connects all three of these murders? I enjoy the magic/investigator angle of this series however the mystery inside a mystery inside a mystery was a little confusing and the ending reveal wasn't as fulfilling as the previous book. Overall still worth the read but you must pay more attention in the last half of the book to keep all the characters and red herrings straight.

This book does a lovely job of capturing the feel of old-school locked room mysteries; anybody who loves them should love this! I enjoyed the interweaving of magic along with the murders and found that while sometimes--in other books--the Victorian-esque style can feel a little too outdated, this author did an excellent job of capturing the style for a modern audience.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my review copy.

"In London, 1938, young and idealistic lawyer Edmund Ibbs is trying to find any shred of evidence that his client Carla Dean wasn't the one who shot her husband dead at the top of a Ferris Wheel. But the deeper he digs, the more complex the case becomes, and Edmund soon finds himself drawn into a nightmarish web of conspiracy and murder. Before long he himself is implicated in not one but two seemingly impossible crimes.

First, a corpse appears out of thin air during a performance by famed illusionist "Professor Paolini" in front of a packed auditorium at the Pomegranate Theatre. Then a second victim is shot dead in a locked dressing room along one of the theatre's winding backstage corridors. Edmund is in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, and attracts the suspicion of Scotland Yard inspector George Flint. Luckily, conjuror-turned-detective Joseph Spector is on the scene. Only Spector's uniquely logical perspective can pierce the veil of deceit in a world of illusion and misdirection, where seeing is not always believing.

Tom Mead continues to pay homage to the locked room mysteries of the Golden Age in this second Joseph Spector novel."

Who doesn't want to find out how ingenious and impossible crimes are committed?

3 stars! The Murder Wheel is a tribute to the locked room stories of the Golden Age of Mysteries. In 1930s London, solicitor--and magic enthusiast--Edmund Ibbs is charged with representing Carla Dean, accused of murdering her husband. When Dominic Dean was shot dead while riding a Ferris wheel with his wife at the local festival, it seems she's the only one who could have done it, but Ibbs isn't so sure. This conviction is further strengthened when a similar locked room murder at the Pomegranate Theatre seems to be connected to the Dean murders. Ibbs's investigation introduces him to the famed magician and amateur sleuth Joseph Spector. Can he solve the murders before suspicion falls on himself?

I think the author was successful at capturing that Golden Age style, and I also particularly enjoyed the fourth wall breaking towards the end. As Spector is explaining whodunnit and why, footnotes direct the reader back to the pages where the key clues appeared, and I thought that was super fun! If I had a physical copy, I would've liked to flip back and forth and see what I might've missed during the initial go-round.

The epilogue didn't do it for me, however. I think the initial solution was perfectly satisfying and the author didn't need to introduce a last-minute twist.

(Oh, and one more thing: this book spoils the Sherlock Holmes short story The Problem of Thor Bridge. I haven't read that one yet, so I skimmed over that part, and you could probably do the same if you haven't read it either.)

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Penzler Publishing for an advance copy of this mystery that is a throwback to the golden days of detection, featuring amateur sleuths, locked room puzzles, and fair play clues.

In the real world what goes up usually comes down. In the genre of mystery sometimes two people go up but only one comes down alive, a murder in front of a crowd, with the only person there saying I didn't do it. During the golden age of mysteries locked door mysteries were common, as were the numerous amateur sleuths who went around trying to solve them. Sometimes though a locked room mystery was such a puzzle, such a conundrum that some would say it had to be magic, and that is when a magician would be called to solve it. The Murder Wheel: A Locked-Room Mystery by writer Tom Mead is the second book in the Joseph Spector series about a retired stage magician who uses his keen mind, his skills and a knowledge of human nature and how to fool people to solve the cases that befuddle Scotland Yard.

The year is 1938. A husband and wife take a ride in a ferris wheel at a very popular amusement park. Upon reaching the top there is a shot and a scream. Upon returning to Earth the husband is found to have been shot in the stomach, dying before he can say what happened. The wife pleads her innocence, and at media sensation is born. A young lawyer with an interest in stage magic is enlisted to help in the wife's defense. A day of investigating makes him think little of the witnesses, a few he thinks are not telling the truth. The lawyer decides to spend a night at the theater, catching what might be the last performance of a magician, whose act and tricks have just been revealed in the press. During his performance a body is found, where a body should not be, and happens to be one of the witnesses that the lawyer had doubts about. Suddenly there are two impossible murders, confusing both the law and the lawyers. However, also in the crowd is Joseph Spector, retired magician, amateur sleuth, and his keen eyes have seen what others have missed.

Not just one locked door mystery but three different murders, all tied into each other. All of the them are intricate, or the reasoning behind them are, and played fairly with clues in the footnotes for readers to go back and find. I really enjoy that touch. This is a perfect book for golden age detective fans, the whole amatuer aspect, the police and their actions, the murders that probably would have been ignored if they just shot these men in the street, but over complicating murder makes good reading. The cast is large with a lot of suspects, and a lot of alibis to look at. The lawyer Edmund Ibbs is just naive enough to fill in for the reader, and of stout stuff that no matter what comes up, Ibbs is always ready for more. Spector is mysterious, with little known about him, bits that are slowly revealed over the two books, and is also morally ambivalent, which is odd in these kind of mysteries, but I enjoy the contrast. I really enjoyed the story, the mystery and the feeling and work that the author obviously put into it.

For fans of fair play mysteries, locked room, or just plain fun mysteries. This is the second book that I have read, and really enjoy the stories. I look forward to many more.