Smoke and Mirrors (Magic Men Mysteries) by Elly Griffiths is a book I haven't featured here on the blog yet. It also happens today to be bargain priced in ebook format for $2.99.
Rather unusual here at SurLaLune, it's the second book in a murder mystery series. The plot offers a killer inspired by fairy tales, especially Hansel and Gretel and Aladdin. Fairy tales are not part of the first book in the series, Zig Zag Girl, but magic is part of the world building with one of the detectives a magician. Intrigued yet? Murder mysteries with fairy tale references are not that unusual but this particular mix is one of the most original combination of elements I've seen in a while. There's also a 1950s setting and a pantomime, very British. And the second book is slightly better reviewed than the first in the series, too.
Book description:
In the sequel to the "captivating" Zig Zag Girl, DI Edgar Stephens and the magician Max Mephisto hunt for a killer after two children are murdered in a tragic tableau of a very grim fairy tale.
It’s Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about a local production of Aladdin, starring the marvelous Max Mephisto. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He’s investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were strangled to death in the woods, abandoned alongside a trail of candy—a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel.
Edgar has plenty of leads to investigate. Annie, a surprisingly dark child, used to write gruesome plays based on the Grimms' fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her unfinished final script? Or does the macabre staging of Annie and Mark’s deaths point to the theater and the capricious cast of characters performing in Aladdin? Once again Edgar enlists Max's help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.