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.

it's 1930s England and the death of a world renowned psychiatrist, has rocked Scotland yard to its core. The Dr. was found in his office, alone and locked in from the inside.
How did the perpetrator get out? Can Scotland yard figure it out before it is too late?
With no clues, no witnesses, and not one trace of a murder weapon the stumped detective on the case calls on retired stage magician and now sleuth Joseph Spector to help unravel the mystery and bring the person responsible to justice.

I found the premise brilliant! The mystery of the locked room and no seeming motive was so delicious I couldn't put the book down. The twists and turns and all the second guessing lasted right up until the big reveal at the end. Expertly done. I do have some issues with the book. I felt the introduction to Spector lacking. It left me wondering if there was a book before that I had missed where he was properly introduced. That could have been done so much better. More back story and understanding as to why the detective decided to approach him in the first place for help. I felt like a big part of the whole story was missing and that is still how I felt when it ended.

I loved all the characters. Touching on the different types of psychomachia was clever and made the characters more tangible. Della really was a conundrum and I would have actually liked to have known more about her for my own curiosity. The only character I didn't much care for was the daughter Lidia. I think she was deliberately made unlikeable which shows how much skill the author has.

If you love a good whodunnit that will leave you guessing until the very end then this crime debut will have you scratching your head and thirsting for me.

Solid 4 stars maybe even 4,5. Thank you netgalley and Penzler Publishers, Mysterious Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

If you can overlook that then this book was beyond magnificent. I crushed it in one sitting. My hope is that this become a series.