In 1950, in the seaside town of Brighton, two parts of a woman’s body have been found. Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is reminded of a magic trick invented by a magician he served alongside during the war. When the third part of the body is sent to the police station addressed to Edgar using his army rank, he realises this is personal.
Max Mephisto is busy touring with other variety show performers, in a different coastal town every week, and very much trying to put the war behind him. So, when Edgar turns up claiming a girl has been murdered, and it appears to have something to do with their undercover war unit "The Magic Men”, Max is somewhat reluctant to get involved. When another murder is committed in the guise of another magic trick the pair are convinced the answer lies in their army days.
As the duo begin to dig around in their past, will they begin to wish old secrets had stayed buried?
This book had been on my to read list for a long time, so I finally decided to give it a go. Having never read anything by Griffiths before I started the story with no expectations and thoroughly enjoyed it. It seems some of the lower rated reviews have come from readers that have enjoyed the authors Ruth Galloway series, so I was glad that I couldn’t compare the two.
I felt the book was well written and for the sake of the story I was happy to overlook a few of the historical inaccuracies. Each chapter was pleasantly paced which made it easy to keep turning the pages and began gaining in momentum towards the conclusion. I did however work out the plot quite early on but this didn’t hamper my need, or want, to finish the story.
The characters were likeable and the relationship between Edgar and Max was rather endearing, and at times quite comical. Not to mention the loveable Great Diablo!
This was a somewhat lighter take on the crime genre, but there were just enough twists in the plot to keep even a diehard thriller fan intrigued.