Review by Booklist Review
In this fifth Magic Men mystery (after The Vanishing Box, 2018), Griffiths pulls off an amazing sleight of hand by moving her characters 11 years forward in time and planting them smack in the middle of the early 1960s. Brighton, England, police detective Edgar Stephens, now promoted to superintendent, is happily married with children to a sometimes frustrated Emma (née Holmes), who is missing her life as a brilliant detective. When a string of girls goes missing, Emma uses her connection with Sam Collins, a reporter for the local paper, to set herself up as a potential victim, unbeknownst to Edgar, and she gets in way over her head, putting herself and her their? daughter, Marianne, in danger. Magician Max Mephisto, also married with young children and now a movie star in America, gets involved when his grown daughter Ruby, a British TV personality, also disappears. The thrill of the chase makes Max ponder whether the fantasy life he created in Hollywood can compare to his earlier existence, which followed a best-of-times-worst-of-times pattern. As always, Griffiths creates an authentic sense of time and place the Cold War still exerting its chill, and Britain besotted by the Beatles. Readers will eagerly await more to come.--Jane Murphy Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in 1964, Mary Higgins Clark Award--winner Griffiths's fine fifth Magic Men mystery (after 2017's The Vanishing Box) finds Supt. Edgar Stephens and his colleague, Det. Insp. Bob Willis, looking into the disappearance of schoolgirl Rhonda Miles, an MP's daughter, who supposedly ran off to London to see 18-year-old matinee idol Bobby Hambro, but her father is certain that she has been abducted. Edgar and Bob are ably assisted by 19-year-old Woman Police Constable Meg Connolly, who goes undercover with Rhonda's friends. Edgar's wife, Emma, once a police detective sergeant but now a stay-at-home mother of three, makes some useful suggestions and investigates when she can with her female reporter friend, Sam Collins. Soon, it becomes apparent that disappearances of a local student nurse and a mod girl are connected. Griffiths mixes well-defined characters with a clever plot. Her examination of the place of women in 1960s British society should appeal to readers of procedurals and historical fiction fans. Agent: Rebecca Carter, Janklow & Nesbit (U.K.). (Dec.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In 1960s Brighton, UK, Beatlemania and miniskirts are in full swing. DS Edgar Stephens and his pal, magician Max Mephisto, have their careers well in hand and Edgar's wife, the former DS Emma Holmes, is a stay-at-home mom. When a string of young girls goes missing, likely victims of kidnapping, Edgar and his team snap into best detecting mode, and Emma sinks into restless frustration, knowing she's the best detective for the job but unable to convince her husband to let her return to work--this is the 1960s, after all. But when Max's daughter Ruby and then Edgar's daughter Marianne become victims as well, Emma goes rogue to solve the case and find the girls. VERDICT The fifth in Griffiths's "Magic Men" series (The Vanishing Box) is written with a lighter touch and quirkier characters than her "Ruth Galloway" archaeological mysteries. Nevertheless, it's a highly entertaining read with a spot-on portrayal of the manners and mores of the 1960s. [See Prepub Alert, 3/25/19.]--Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In the 1960s, a famous magician returns to England for a funeral after a hiatus of 11 years.In that time, Max Mephisto moved to the U.S., married movie star Lydia Lamont, and fathered two children. His British daughter, TV star of Ruby Magic, the product of an ancient affair, has a love/hate relationship with Max, who was absent most of her life. At the funeral for an old theatrical buddy, Max sees many friends, including Superintendent Edgar Stephens, a mate since their World War II service together, with whom he solved the murder of a woman he adored (The Vanishing Box, 2018). After the funeral, Edgar's boss, DI Bob Willis, gets a call about a missing girl that plunges them into a difficult case tailor-made for Emma Holmes Stephens, a top policewoman before her marriage to Edgar. Although she loves her family, Emma finds life boring without the mental stimulation of police work. The vanished girl, Rhonda Miles, who comes from a wealthy family, is a student at Roedean, Emma's alma mater. She left a note saying she was going to London, perhaps in the hope of meeting American movie star Bobby Hambro, who's in England working on a film deal which may soon involve Max. Rhonda's father insists she's been kidnapped, something that's happened before. But the view of the case changes when a reporter friend of Emma's informs her that Sara Henratty and Louise Dawkins, two other women, both disappeared after leaving similar notes. Ambitious WPC Meg Connolly, sent to London in disguise, learns from Bobby's fans that Rhonda had been approached by a photographer who suggested that she do some modeling. The link between the disappearances is confirmed by the body of Sara Henratty wearing Rhonda's cloak and the discovery that they had all been asked to model. When Max's daughter Ruby also vanishes, Max and Emma resolve to find her while reflecting on their unsatisfactory lives.A character-driven tale of troubled relationships in a rapidly changing 1960s England that's wrapped in an excellent mystery. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
