Death and the Conjuror

I read this in black and white!

I'm a huge fan of old Hollywood mysteries. You know, the old black and white ones. Pretty much anything that stars William Powell, actually. And if he hadn't retired from acting at a relatively young age, I could totally see Powell in the role of Specter. So, as I read this wonderful mystery, I harkened back to those old black and white pictures and reveled in it.

As mysteries go, this is probably one of the most multifaceted and complex multi-mysteries I've ever read. The puzzles were sublime and I found myself, for a change, not wanting to solve it myself ahead of time, but rather to simply follow along for the enjoyment of the reveal. The sheer complexity of constructing the locked room scenarios described in this book shows a genius and extreme patterns of the author.

Specter is one of my new favorite sleuths and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future (I hope!)

“But that's all magic is, my dear. Taking the mundane and making it remarkable.”

This was a fun little locked room mystery in which a psychiatrist is murdered in his office under strange circumstances. At the same time in another part of the city, a valuable painting vanishes without a trace, seemingly into thin air. Joseph Spector is called on by the cops to help untangle this tangled mystery, and we get a fun romp through 1930s London.

Honestly this would've been a hit with me if the ending hadn't been so convoluted. The author included footnotes during his Big Reveal of the crime at the end where the clues were, which was a nice touch, but the actual reveal took pages and pages and pages of dialogue and was rather hard to follow initially.

Still, if locked room murders are your thing, absolutely give this a try.