
Member Reviews

The House At Devil’s Neck is the fourth book by Tom Mead in his series about illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector.
It opens on the eve of World War II, with a coach slowly making its way through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors plan to hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil’s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Included in the party is Spector, who is there as a skeptical observer but finds that his sleuthing skills are needed when the stranded guests start to die. Meanwhile back in London, Scotland Yard detective George Flint finds himself investigating an apparent suicide, which uncannily mirrors a similar incident from twenty-five years ago.
The House At Devil’s Neck is a very enjoyable, old styled murder mystery of the ‘locked room’ variety. The opening sections are very good, and Mead effectively evokes the mood of classic British detective stories as he assembles his cast of victims and suspects. The supposedly haunted house at Devil’s Neck is a marvellous creation and its unfortunate history as a field hospital at the end of the First World War is given extra poignancy by the pending start of a new World War.
The mystery elements are well handled and despite the cleverly planted clues, few readers will be able to solve ‘whodunit’ before Spector and Flint. Spector is an engaging character, and I really liked Mead’s use of the point view from a young woman on the coach. The revelatory monologue towards the end is perhaps too drawn out, but not enough to detract from the pleasure of the book.

Book 1: Death and the Conjuror
Book 2: The Murder Wheel
Book 3: Cabaret Macabre
I love this series so much and I want it to go on and on. It's a classic whodunnit and really arks back to the good ol' days of Agatha Christie. They have that same classic feeling and I could see them having long lasting appeal.
The cover was wonderful and really caught my eye.
There are always a lot of characters in these books and this one is no different, which can be confusing, especially for someone as bad with names as I am, but it never felt overwhelming.
It really does suck you straight in, but then gets a little quieter. Tom has weaved both paces in very well to make it easy to read.
When you get a series like this that focus on the same characters with similar stories, they can get a bit samey and predictable and boring. But somehow Tom has made them familiar enough so you get what you expect, but different enough that it still keeps your hooked. This is book four and I personally think it's the best one. I really didn't have it figured out - although I had my suspicions. It's so clever, and to keep doing it time and again, with the same characters, but still keep it fresh it very impressive.
It's almost like we have two stories. We have the scenes with Spector and the scenes with Flint, and then we see how they interweave.
I found this one very involved, a lot of characters, a lot of moving parts, but the business didn't bother me, in fact it probably meant it held my attention all the more.
I read a lot of thrillers, mysteries, and crime novels, and I always think "this will be the one I work out" and I never do! And I'm always so impressed by Tom's ability to write these "impossible" books because I wouldn't have the first clue how to start, let alone finish.
It's not really a book to read when doing other things. It requires, and deserves, your full attention.

I love locked room mystery thrillers and I enjoy horror as well, so The House at Devil’s Neck looked like the perfect mix of genres for me!
On a rainy night, a bus carrying paranormal investigators makes its way to Devil’s Neck – a former First World War field hospital. What ghosts and secrets might they unearth in the dark?
This book is the fourth instalment of the Joseph Specter series, but I haven’t read the previous books and think it works quite well as a standalone. There are a few events from the other books mentioned but these are just to add flavour and are not relevant to the plot. The reoccurring characters of Inspector Flint and illusionist Joseph Specter are interesting and well-rounded, and I would be interested in reading more books featuring them in future.
The setting of Devil’s Neck, the old field hospital is a great one, as our characters find themselves stranded inside as the storm cuts off their only escape route. I enjoyed the character of the medium Madame and the way that Specter debunks her tricks felt well researched. The addition of the creepy doll also added a little bit of a horror twist to the story which I enjoyed.
The book itself feels quite old-fashioned, and not just in it’s setting. It’s a classic murder-mystery involving locked rooms, scandals and plenty of red herrings. Although I really enjoyed the first half of the book and was invested in the mystery, it did lose me a little towards the end as the plot is very complex and involves a lot of moving parts. The epilogue in particular where the entire solution is turned on its head is quite confusing and I’m not entirely sure I fully understood what happened by the end.
There’s an odd narrative technique employed where if a clue is referenced in the denouement, there’s a footnote denoting the page number of where this clue was first presented. This felt a little like the author trying to show off – by that point as a reader I will either have remembered that clue from earlier or am happy to just take the authors word for it that it was included. There are also drawings of various rooms which were an interesting touch, I’m not sure if it’s just because I was reading the ARC but these are very simplistic hand-drawn pictures which I think will look a little odd in the final print version.
Overall The House of Devil’s Neck is a fun and twisty locked room mystery – just be warned that it’s quite a complex case to be solved! Thank you to NetGalley & Head of Zeus – Aries Fiction for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by Tom and Ive thoroughly enjoyed it. I love a locked room mystery, and add in a big house, a stormy causeway and a bit of murder, and it couldn’t be more up my street.
This is a book to sit down and absorb. You do need to spend time on it, picking it up and putting it down every 10 minutes is just going to cause confusion.
Sit down. Grab a cup of something. Enjoy!
My thanks to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The House at Devil's Neck was a fantastic experience. I spent a rainy weekend glued to the pages, taking copious notes and trying to solve the locked-room mystery by myself.
The novel is masterfully written, fast paced and engaging, with the narrative threads cleverly woven around the murder of Robert Edgecomb whose past is a shady business, while also following a colorful group of characters exploring the mysterious House at Devil's Neck, and the strange events that take place upon their arrival.
This read like a classic detective mystery mixed with a gothic ghost story. It reminded me of Agatha Christie novels, specifically Hallowe'en Party or the movie the Prestige. A conflict of identity takes place at the heart of this novel, and while the groundwork made it possible to solve parts of the mystery, the final twists had me reeling! It was both cozy and thrilling, familiar, nostalgic and yet fresh. I was left with some minor questions about certain plot elements that initially felt like conveniences but I suspect would clear upon a re-read.
I am definitely excited to pick up more books by Tom Mead and I definitely recommend The House at Devil's Neck.

This is the fourth book featuring Tom Mead’s Joseph Spector and I think it is the best one yet. It is a brilliant locked room mystery that kept me guessing throughout. Spooky old house, ghostly happenings and a collection of intriguing characters makes for a very interesting book.
I love all the Spector novels and the characters of Spector and Inspector Flint are growing in strength from book to book. Tom writes these locked room stories so well and though the other three in the series are all great you don’t need to have read them in order to enjoy this one, it works very well as a standalone book.
I do hope there will be more to come in this series and I can highly recommend The House at Devil’s Neck to all mystery lovers.

This is a fantastic locked-room murder mystery with a ghost story woven into the mix.
Inspector Flint has been presented with a very unusual case. A man has died in a locked room scenario. Was it suicide, or murder?
His friend Joseph Spector is an illusionist turned sleuth, and is on his way to Devil's Neck, a spooky old house that has become a favourite location for ghost hunters. On the bus ride there, he meets the people he will be staying with - an eclectic group of people who are all heading to Devil's Neck for their own reasons.
When they reach the house, the murders start to happen. The murders are very elaborate, and Joseph Spector takes the lead in finding out the guilty party.
This is a wonderful murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. There are many twists and turns, and the conclusion will have your chin on the floor.

This was my first time with the series, but I was immediately pulled in. the characters are brilliant, and the setting is so vividly drawn it felt like stepping right into the story. Clever, eerie, and sharp with just the right dose of humour. A perfect pick for fans of classic whodunnits with a modern twist.

Locked room mysteries are a plenty in Tom Mead's fourth installment of Joseph Spector novels.
Set in the pre-war London of 1939, the story begins with the body of Rodney Edgeware found in a locked room by Inspector Flint who having been heavily influenced by Joseph Spector in the previous three books doesn't take this apparent suicide at face-value and suspects foul play.
Meanwhile Joseph Spector, the former Conjuror, is on a coach heading to the titular House at Devil's Neck, a former army hospital built on a tidal island which has recently reopened as a haunted house. Amongst his fellow travelers are a 'ghost hunter', a psychic and her assistant, a private investigator and a lady who's son died at the house when it was a hospital.
The coach makes it across the causeway before the house is cut off from the main land by high tide, leaving all of the passengers and driver trapped along with the hosts Mr. and Mrs. Lennox. A nice setup for a few more locked room mysteries at the House at Devils Neck.
Tom Mead really does capture the mood and atmosphere of an old Agatha Christie novel. Joseph Spector is clearly based on Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot with Inspector Flint reminiscent of Watson or Hastings. Spector is a great character and I do enjoy how he reads a crime scene and explains his reasoning.
My main issue with this book was the plot became overly complicated. Too many lock room mysteries with ridiculously convoluted explanations. Its such a shame as the story comes together quite nicely up until we start tying a piece of string around 6 door handles to ring a bell. This was perhaps the most far-fetched part and when the story started to get to fanciful.
There is a nice note to the reader three quarters of the way through stating that you now have all of the clues to solve the mystery which I'm pleased to say I did. Although I didn't connect the hundreds of dots Spector did to get to the murderer.
The Means and Motive felt very unsatisfying for my little grey cells which was a shame as I had really enjoyed the journey for the most part.
I would like to convey my thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus, Aries Fiction for providing the opportunity to review this novel. All opinions are my own.
The House at Devils Neck is due to be released on 14th August 2025.

This locked room mystery set in the eponymous abandoned house and former hospital, Devils Neck, brings together a group of people connected tangentially to a single, elusive man Rodney Edgecombe. The master solver of the clues is Joseph Spector, a Mephistopheles like character, Illusionist turned sleuth who solves the murders with the support of inspector Flint of Scotland Yard. Identity, the horrors of World War One and greed are the key to this mystery that kept me guessing until the end. If you like puzzles, you will enjoy this. I prefer characters to have more emotional depth whereas this is all about tricks and solutions rather than character development hence my rating.

I was privileged to read this excellent book on NetGalley. There’s something rather special about the way this author writes that draws you instantly into the intricacies and intrigue of the locked-room mystery. I am enthralled with the book which rattles along at pace and throws up so many questions! It takes the brilliance of the main character Joseph Spector to fully make sense of the action.
I love the way the detective who is investigating believes he’s solved everything based on what he’s previously learnt from Spector, only to be proved wrong and gently corrected in the end by his friend. I don’t presume to have an inkling all the way through! Such fun to read! I cannot wait for more from Tom Mead! A well-deserved and easy 5 stars!

Excellent golden-age-esque locked room mystery, the fourth in this series. Atmospheric and littered with references to classic horror and weird fiction, this is a haunted house tale on an island accessible only by a causeway, all linked to a suicide (murder) in London. With parallel events - Spector in devil’s neck and inspector flint back in London - the clues are carefully set out (made clear in footnotes through the dazzlingly complex resolution) and - by this reader at least - almost entirely missed. Excellently complex mystery - even if I admit to being a bit lost during the final explanations at first read!

I have not read any of the previous books featuring these characters. It was a very convoluted and intriguing plot, it must have taken a lot of work to plan it so precisely.
Very much a locked room mystery, set on a very stormy night....really anything was possible.
An absorbing read.

The House at Devil’s Neck is a classic locked-room mystery with a great eerie setting and clever puzzles that will satisfy fans of detective fiction. Tom Mead crafts an intriguing atmosphere, and the main investigator Joseph Spector remains a compelling presence. However, the pacing can be uneven, and some of the secondary characters feel underdeveloped. While not quite as gripping as others in it's genre it still offers a solid, cerebral mystery experience.

The House at Devil’s Neck is a gripping locked-room mystery that combines suspense, supernatural intrigue, and clever twists. Set in a spooky, isolated manor, this novel sees illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector investigating a series of eerie deaths tied to the haunted house at Devil's Neck.
The story begins with rumors of a phantom soldier causing mischief at the old mansion, a former First World War field hospital. Spector, familiar with the house’s dark history, joins a group of visitors hoping to uncover the truth behind the ghostly tales. But as the weather turns and floods cut off access to the outside world, the guests find themselves trapped and killed off one by one.
The author does a brilliant job of building tension as the isolated group is picked off, with Spector and his ally, Inspector Flint, racing against time to solve the mystery before the house claims them all. The atmosphere is haunting, and the complex web of clues and connections keeps you guessing until the very end.
What sets this book apart is its perfect blend of psychological suspense and eerie, supernatural elements. While the pacing is deliberate, it adds to the growing sense of dread and claustrophobia as the characters realize that the house itself might be as dangerous as the killer among them.
If you enjoy locked-room mysteries with a spooky, atmospheric setting and a strong, intelligent lead, The House at Devil’s Neck is definitely worth picking up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

A very exciting and keep you guessing kind of book. With plenty of twists an turns. It had me guessing right to the very end. A very enjoyable atmospheric read.

"The very presence of a mask tells us there is something behind it. And so, the very act of deception is itself a revelation."
This novel offers such a wonderfully classic mystery vibe, with a resolution that will make your head spin—in a good way. A haunted house where, one by one, the guests end up dying? A cast of suspicious characters with hidden motives? Murders committed in such a way that only those most knowledgeable in the art of locked-room mysteries can figure it out?
If you like novels like And Then There Were None, you will definitely enjoy this book.
"But whatever you do, don't let on that a member of their weekend party is a suspected murderer."
The story follows Imogen, one of the many guests visiting Devil's Neck, a building seemingly haunted by the ghost of a fallen soldier. Her fellow guest, Joseph Spector, firmly believes that whatever is going on isn't of supernatural origin at all and sets out to uncover the mystery. He's a traditional detective—think early Poirot—someone who has everything figured out while everybody else is confused and nowhere close to the truth. If you love those confident, seemingly all-knowing detectives, he's your guy.
I do feel like the time spent at Devil's Neck compared to the resolution is a bit unbalanced. Everything happens in a very short amount of time, and it felt like the latter half of the book was a monologue explaining exactly how the murders were committed. It did have a lot of twists and turns, and I really enjoyed the characters. I just wish we had gotten to see a bit more of them!
7/10 — I will definitely be checking out more Joseph Spector novels in the future. Recommended to anyone who loves classic mysteries.

3☆
This is the first book from this series that I ever read and I was pleasantly surprised and entertained (through most of the action) by both the plot and the gothic atmosphere.
The story starts off a bit character dumpy but evens out as the events unfold. We come face to face with strong female characters, creepy dols, individuals that are not who they say they are and an inheritance that is at the core of it all. The parallel narratives kept me hooked and guessing while the room maps from the crime scenes gave me a bit more insight in the mystery.
There were some phrases that felt awkward and, while the story was interesting, the plot was picking up then stopping abruptly- both things that took me out of the story a few times. Some character's thought processes were hard to follow as the information wasn't very well structured -certain things were over explained while others were not explained enough.
Approaching the end the pace evens out and the book sets us up for a logical explanation having been both thrilling and mysterious. I appreciated the unique view on automation, how it's used in illusion and magic shows and the role it had in the whole story. Can't wait to read more from this series✨️
My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The title of Tom Mead's newest work might immediately bring to mind John Dickson Carr's The House at Satan's Elbow, but prospective readers may rest assured that it's definitely a better book than that one.
I've enjoyed the other three works in the Joseph Spector series, and there has been a noticeable improvement over them, a trend which is continued in this book, which I'd say along with Cabaret Macabre is the best of the series so far.
The book is set over dual plotlines, with Inspector Flint investigating the supposed suicide of one man, and Joseph Spector in the House at Devil's Neck for a seance, and while it's obvious from early on just how the lines are going to intersect, it was still enjoying seeing the two characters approaching the mystery from two different ends.
As for the impossible crimes, while I found some of the solutions to be either overly scientific/mechanical, there was also a sense of simplicity to others that I also enjoyed. However, I found the real highlight of the book to lie in the solution of the mystery itself, and just what exactly was behind the tangled skein of events. Some may find the revelations to be over-the-top and not necessary, but I quite enjoyed the final pages when Spector was explaining. Not that there were no unnecessary subplots, I found the hidden relationship between two characters to add almost nothing of value. Also liked the ending proper, and wonder if it'll bring about any changes to the series.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I literally devoured this book in just a couple of days. And even though the ending might be a bit over the top with all the plot twists and really tested my suspension of disbelief, it still remains an enjoyable read that I will keep suggesting!
The plot is a clear homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, with the only difference being that part of the story takes place outside the closed and isolated location, and not all the characters die.
A group of people gathers in a former military hospital, now converted into a sort of guesthouse, to attend a séance. But not everyone is who they claim to be. Among them, a killer has a pressing need to eliminate certain individuals. Meanwhile, the police are investigating an unusual suicide that seems far too much like a murder. What ties these two events together?
The novel has an excellent pace, and like in classic mysteries (still the best kind), the plot twists hit at just the right moments. There’s no shortage of unsettling details, which keep the tension consistently high. As I mentioned, the only flaw of this book is that it pushes the envelope a bit too far with the final twists, offering multiple dramatic turnarounds. Even the murder dynamics, when you think about them rationally, are quite implausible—though the way they’re told in the novel makes them enjoyable nonetheless.
The characters are intriguing, each of them suspicious in turn. The two investigators—former magician Spector, a cross between Poirot and Sherlock Holmes with a slightly Mephistophelian flair, and Police Chief Flint—start off from different places and seemingly unrelated cases, only to converge as they unravel a single, deeply intricate plot that traces back many years...
The novel is part of a series featuring Spector and Flint, but it can easily be read as a standalone story.