Smoke and Mirrors

May 30, 2016
Set in Brighton, England, in 1951, Griffith’s captivating sequel to 2015’s Zig Zag Girl finds Det. Insp. Edgar Stephens embroiled in a grim holiday hunt for the murderer of two children. Like an unnerving scene from a fairy tale, a trail of candy in the snow leads to the bodies of Annie Francis, a 13-year-old with a talent for writing, and Mark Webster, her constant companion of similar age. As Stephens searches for a killer, tension grows in the town. Is the murderer the candy-store owner and the last to see them alive, or the quirky bachelor who helped the victims stage plays? Matters become more complicated when magician Max Mephisto, Stephen’s friend, appears with a disturbingly similar tale of an earlier murder. Is an actor in the Christmas pantomime connected to the long-ago murder of a young performer? Are the present-day murders a reenactment? Stephens and his team must sort through misdirection and vanishing acts before another child dies in this suspenseful outing. Agent: Rebecca Carter, Janklow & Nesbit.

Narrator James Langton finds unique voices and accents for the many characters in this story of two children murdered in Brighton, England, in 1951. The children are uniquely portrayed: Annie is clever and writes dark stories inspired by fairy tales with her best friend, Mark. Langton successfully differentiates the voices of the principal characters, Max Mephisto, a great magician, and Edgar Stephens, the detective in charge of the case, Without resorting to caricature, Langon does a wonderful job with minor characters as well, creating easily identifiable voices and edgy tones that capture the fear of the townsfolk as events escalate. Overall, Langton reads this suspenseful story with a touch of humor and plenty of sincerity. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine