The Vanishing Box

August 1, 2018
Murder reaches deep into the hearts of a magician and a police officer.DI Edgar Stephens and his team are called to the scene of a disturbingly odd murder in a Brighton boardinghouse. Lovely florist Lily Burtenshaw was strangled and carefully posed in her room, reducing the six tenants of her landlords, Edna and Norris, to five. Of those remaining, Brenda and Peggy work in a bank; Peter Entwhistle is a shaky retired bookkeeper in his 70s; and newcomers Betty and Janette perform in a risqué tableau at the Hippodrome, where Edgar's pal, famous magician Max Mephisto, co-stars with his daughter, Ruby, who's engaged to Edgar. Ever since Max and Edgar became friends while serving in a World War II special-ops group, Max has assisted Edgar with other cases (The Blood Card, 2017, etc.) and is more than willing to help out again. Edgar's clever DS, Emma Holmes, suddenly realizes why Lily's pose looks familiar: It mimics the death of Lady Jane Grey in a famous painting. The group of near-naked beauties that make up the tableau at the Hippodrome re-create similar historic moments. One of these showgirls, stunning Florence Jones, has a fling with Max even though she's the mistress of wealthy showman Vic Cutler, the next to die. Indeed, love must be in the air. Despite his long-standing arrangement with his landlady, Max grows close to Florence and pulls out all the stops to prove her innocence. Emma has long loved Edgar, who has doubts about his engagement to the ambitious Ruby. Even Edgar's sergeant falls for one of the showgirls. But all these budding romances must be pushed aside as the sleuths unearth clues and look to the past for help in finding a ruthless and unusual killer.Griffiths combines plenty of theater lore, romance, and a clever mystery that's sure to please both newcomers and fans of the Magic Men detective team.

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August 20, 2018
At the start of Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Griffiths’s solid fourth Magic Men mystery (after 2017’s The Blood Card), stage magician Max Mephisto and his daughter, Ruby French, are headlining a variety show in Brighton, England, during the 1953 holiday season. Meanwhile, Det. Insp. Edgar Stephens—Max’s friend and former military colleague, and Ruby’s fiancé—investigates the murder of a young woman with ties to a female troupe performing in the same show. As more deaths follow, a ruthless killer threatens Max’s new love interest, Sgt. Emma Holmes, who’s Edgar’s colleague. Series fans will appreciate the developments in the various relationships, but they and new readers might wish for more insight into characters’ personalities and motives. That said, Griffiths nicely evokes the post-WWII zeitgeist in Britain, incorporating details about hypocritical censorship laws and the theatrical lifestyle. Those who favor human intrigues over crime solving should find this a charming holiday read. Agent: Rebecca Carter, Janklow & Nesbit (U.K.).

October 1, 2018

As the holiday season approaches, magician Max Mephisto and daughter Ruby are bringing their dazzling magic act to the impressive Brighton Hippodrome. They're happy to be headlining and honing their act for a TV show, but are less thrilled about one of the opening gigs--a tableau show of naked girls. Then a housemate of one of the showgirls is murdered, and soon more people associated with the production turn up dead. The cases fall to DI Edgar Stephens, Max's longtime friend and Ruby's fiancé, and Max becomes embroiled in another mystery. As Sergeants Emma and Bob help investigate, Emma tries to contain her feelings for Edgar, Bob is quite taken with Betty from the tableau, and a love interest of Max's creates more complications for the case. Despite the murders, the show must go on. VERDICT The fourth entry in the "Magic Men" series (The Blood Card) presents a fascinating look behind the curtain of 1950s showbiz as well as an engaging mystery, especially when DI Stephens and his sergeants are involved. [See Prepub Alert, 4/19/18.]--Melissa DeWild, Spring Lake Dist. Lib., MI

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