I read more in the summer than other parts of the year as my other hobbies don’t mix well with hot weather. Mysteries are some of my favorites for the season. The Magic Men series by Elly Griffiths, is just the sort of series that I love. The first book in the series is The Zig Zag Girl.
It’s 1950 in Brighton, England. Two cases left at the train station’s luggage room have been found to contain the body parts of a beautiful young woman. A third case is delivered to the police department addressed to Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens. The label calls Stephens by his army rank, rather than his police one. This small factor plus the fact that the cases reminded him of the kind that stage magicians use in their shows cause Edgar to seek out Max Mephisto. Max is a legend of the variety circuit and an old friend from their World War II service. Both were in a unit called the Magic Men.
The Magic Men were a top secret unit composed mostly of stage magicians. Their objective was to use their skills to create illusions that would confuse and mislead the enemy. Most of the members had been on the stage for years. Edgar had no idea why he was recruited. A colonel had seen him quickly solve a newspaper puzzle and that was that.
Max agrees that the body was presented in a way that looks similar to the Zig Zag Girl, a trick he invented, where it appears that the woman in the box is cut into thirds. Of course on stage it only appears that way, but this girl really had been. Max also recognizes her as a former assistant, one of the best he ever worked with, and it shakes him more than he’s willing to admit.
Edgar, with Max in tow, continues the investigation. It’s a common mystery novel team in some waysm as they complement each other. Edgar is more sensitive and Max more detached. Max’s insights and connections in the variety show world are helpful in gaining the trust of the somewhat insular community, and his celebrity puts the general public at ease.
The descriptions from witnesses are vague, but what becomes clear is that someone is targeting members of the Magic Men. The body count starts to rise and it becomes a race to stop the killer before all of the Magic Men are attacked. I won’t give any spoilers, but I didn’t figure it out until I saw it on the page. As much as I like detective stories, I’m a lousy detective.
I like the tone of this series. It’s not a cozy book but it isn’t super gritty either. The murders themselves can be gory, but more in a theatrical than a realistic way. You get to see inside the minds of the two leads. Edgar has little confidence, survivor’s guilt, and frequently wonders if he’s doing the right thing. Max is the son of a lord, but he left the aristocracy behind for a life in show business. He’s used to being a big star, but the business is changing. In later stories we see into the minds of some of the other characters, too.
Magic Men is a fun series to read, and easy to binge on. If you’re looking for a good mystery Zig Zag to it.
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