Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

Joseph Spector #3

320 Pages

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Release Date: August 1, 2024

Netgalley

 

Blurb

Sleuth and illusionist Joseph Spector investigates his most complex case yet in this gripping new locked-room murder mystery from Tom Mead, set in an English country house just before the Second World War.

Hampshire, 1938. Victor Silvius is confined in a private sanatorium after attacking prominent judge Sir Giles Drury. When Sir Giles starts receiving sinister threatening letters, his wife suspects Silvius. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered... by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles.

Caroline seeks the advice of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Flint, while the Drurys, eager to avoid a scandal, turn to Joseph Spector. Spector, renowned magician turned sleuth, has an uncanny knack for solving complicated crimes – but this case will test his powers of deduction to their limits.

At a snowbound English country house, a body is found is impossible circumstances, and a killer’s bullet is fired through a locked window without breaking the glass. Spector and Flint’s investigations soon collide as they find themselves trapped by the snowstorm where anyone could be the next victim – or the killer...

 

Review

Almost a decade ago a young woman died under suspicious circumstances, but the mystery of her death has never been solved. The aftermath left one man, Victor Silvius confined to a private sanatorium for attacking Sir Giles Drury, the judge he held responsible for the death of the woman he loved.

Now, in 1938 the old case is coming back to life and Scotland Yard inspector Flint and Joseph Spector, former magician and occasional sleuth, are asked to investigate. Unfortunately, their involvement doesn’t prevent further bloodshed. In fact, it isn’t long before Spector and Flint are up to their necks in murders which all appear to be impossible and require all of Spector’s skills to eventually unravel.

If the description of this book makes it sound as if there’s a lot going on in the story, you are right. In fact, the blurb barely scratches the surface when it comes to (impossible) murders, victims, and mysteries. There is so much happening in this story that it should be too much and overwhelming. And, I want to say that in the hands of a lesser author this story and the solutions to the mysteries wouldn’t have worked. Tom Mead works some kind of magic of his own in this book which allows him to tell a story at neck-breaking speed without overwhelming the reader.

Eighteen clues are masterfully hidden in this story and tagged so that the reader can check and discover, like I did, that Tom Mead plays fair with his audience. All the information the reader needs to solve the mysteries in this story is available to those who pay close attention. I for one have to admit that I missed most but, I’m proud to say, not all of them.

This is the third Joseph Spector mystery I’ve read and with every book I’m more in awe of Tom Mead’s storytelling and mystery-creating prowess. The release of the next book in this series can’t come soon enough for me.

Related reviews:

Death and the Conjuror: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2023/05/death-and-conjuror-by-tom-mead.html

The Murder Wheel:  https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-murder-wheel-by-tom-mead.html

 

 

Hemlock Bay by Martin Edwards

 

Rachel Savernake Mysteries #5

384 pages

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Release date: September 12, 2024

 

Blurb

The first rule of murder: know your victim.

Basil Palmer has decided to murder a man called Louis Carson. There's only one problem: he doesn't know anything about his intended victim, not who he is or where he lives.

Basil learns that Carson owns Hemlock Bay, a resort for the wealthy and privileged. Knowing that his plan will only work if he covers his tracks, he invents a false identity and, posing as Dr Seamus Doyle, journeys to the coast plotting murder along the way.

Meanwhile Rachel Savernake buys an intriguing painting of a place called Hemlock Bay, one that she cannot get out of her head. Macabre and strange, the image shows a shape that seems to represent a dead body lying on the beach.

Convinced that there is something sinister lurking amongst the glamour of the bay, Rachel books a cottage there – where she meets a mysterious doctor called Seamus Doyle…

 

Review

Exactly a year ago, I read Sepulchre Street, the fourth title in the Rachel Savernake series. That book opened on the intriguing dilemma of how one solves a murder before it has happened. Intrigue (and impossible murders) appear to be a theme in this series because the hook into Hemlock Bay is how do you murder somebody if you have no idea who he is?

The year is 1931 and a seaside resort called Hemlock Bay is about to live up to its somewhat sinister name. And a series of apparently unconnected events bring Rachel Savernake and her entourage to the resort.

Through diary entries, we learn that a man named Basil Palmer plans to kill Louis Carson although the two men have never met. Meanwhile, journalist Jack Flint is intrigued when he is visited by a man claiming to be a clairvoyant who claims that he has had a vision that a murder will be committed in a place called Hemlock Bay on the summer solstice. And finally, Rachel Savernake has recently bought a disturbing surrealistic painting titled Hemlock Bay which appears to feature a body draped over a rock on the beach.

It doesn’t take much to capture Rachel’s imagination and it isn’t long before she decides that she wants to know more about what’s going on in Hemlock Bay where she meets among other people the woman who painted the picture that inspired Rachel’s trip, a reclusive doctor named Seamus Doyle, as well as a man named Louis Carson. However, when murder does happen it isn’t on the summer solstice and the victim isn’t Louis Carson. The plot just thickened and is about to get a lot thicker again before Rachel figures out exactly what has been going on.

Hemlock Bay is a fascinating and captivating mystery. I was drawn in from the very first chapter and my interest didn’t flag until I had finished the full story and all the mysteries had been solved in a satisfying and fiendishly clever way. There is a lot going on in this golden age of mystery inspired story. We’ve got a locked room mystery, a fair number of red herrings, and plenty of clues there to be found for the ‘professional’ mystery reader/solver. For those of us who read too fast or too carelessly to pick up on (all) the clues, they are spelled out after the story has ended and they make it perfectly clear that Martin Edwards plays fair with his readers. Most importantly though, the recurring characters in these books are fascinating. Especially Rachel has captured my attention, just as she has captured Jack’s in the story. And like Jack, I’d love to discover more about her background and exactly how she became the woman she is. I can’t wait to read more titles in this series.

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

 

304 pages

Publisher: HQ

Release Date: June 20,2024

 

Blurb

In Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean has decided to cleanse the town’s reading habits. All banned books have been removed from public spaces, and the townspeople are only allowed to read books Lula has deemed ‘appropriate’.

But a small group refuse to be told what they can and can’t read.

The revolution is coming …

 

Review

Beverly Underwood and Lula Dean have been arch-enemies ever since their high school cheerleading days. The mostly silent rivalry between them becomes public however after Lula embarks on a book-banning mission. To ‘replace’ the books she’s removed from the local schools and library, Lula has created a little library filled with titles Lula deems appropriate reading in her front yard. Not that Lula has read the books she has banned or the titles in her garden.

Beverly’s daughter Lindsay is outraged about Lula’s actions and uses the cover of night to fill Lula’s little libraries with banned books wrapped in dust jackets that belong to books Lula approves of.

Curiosity being what it is means that inhabitants of the town of Troy pick up books from the Little Library and most of them finish reading the stories even after they discover the book in their hands isn’t what they thought it was.

Actions have consequences and it isn’t long before Lula and Beverly are running against each other in the town’s Mayoral election. And that’s when the repercussions of Lula’s library and Lindsay’s counter-action become visible. Because everybody who picked and read a book from the Little Library has been affected in one way or another.

At first glance, this book offers an easy-to-read, mostly light-hearted story. It appears to be one of those Southern novels in which even the bad people end up sounding adorable. Don’t let first impressions fool you though. Once you settle into the story you will find a darker edge to many of the chapters. What really scared me is that quite a few of the right-wing ideas shared on these pages don’t sound immediately shocking or wrong. It’s almost too easy to understand how people stumble into traps laid by people like Donald Trump and how a journey down that road comes without a return ticket for most people.

 Although it is very easy to read and get lost in, this book doesn’t try to make our current reality look any better than it is. In this book, the silent majority are people who have no interest in banning books or excluding certain people from society. They are those who can easily live their lives under the radar and prefer it that way. In this book, as in reality, they don’t speak up until they feel their way of life and/or their sense of fairness is under threat.

While the book is overall a fun read, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that book banning and censorship are real issues, in particular in America. Only this week I came across the following tragic news: An Idaho Public Library Will Become Adults-Only per July 1, 2024. News like that makes me want to cry. There’s a part of me that feels Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books is too easy to read to make a difference in real life. On the other hand, maybe an easy read with characters most people would recognise is exactly what is needed to get people to question what is going on around them. Sure, real life is never going to come with perfect solutions like the ones found in this book, but maybe this book can make imperfect solutions possible in real life. And if that isn’t a fabulous reason to promote Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, I don’t know what is.

 

 

 

The Pyramid Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith

#3 Miss Clara Vale Mysteries

 Pages: 300

Publisher: Embla Books

Release Date: June 13, 2024

 

Blurb

A night at the museum, a dead body and a trail to Cairo. Sounds like a case for Miss Clara Vale!

1930: Miss Clara Vale, chemistry major turned detective, is taking a night off from sleuthing to attend the launch party of a new exhibition at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle. But when the piece de resistance, a rare ornate sarcophagus, is finally opened and it turns out the mummy inside it is a fake it looks like there is no rest for Clara after all...

Later that night, she is summoned back to the museum and asked to investigate a series of stolen Egyptian artefacts. Using her scientific and forensic prowess, Clara, with her trusted assistant Bella in tow, embarks on a trail that will lead from Newcastle to London and along the river Nile to Cairo.

But she is not the only person hunting for stolen antiquities and when she uncovers an international smuggling ring with a penchant for murder, it becomes clear that Clara's own life is in danger too.

Can Clara catch the smugglers before they get away with another murder among the pyramids?

Review

This is my second Miss Clara Vale Mystery. Last year I read and reviewed The Pantomime Murders. I ended that review with the words: ‘I’ve got a feeling I’ll be spending more time with Miss Clara Vale in the future’, and what do you know, just over six months later I find myself solving mysteries with the spunky lady investigator once again.

The year is 1930 and Clara, our heroine, has donated some of her deceased uncle’s Egyptian artifacts and papers to a local museum. But what should have been a joyous occasion soon turns sour when she discovers a mummy that is very recent as well as a selection of Egyptian jewels that shouldn’t even be in England, never mind in her local museum.

When she’s asked to investigate it isn’t long before she finds herself on a journey to Egypt where she soon encounters danger as the plot thickens.

There is so much to enjoy in this book. The mystery is intriguing, Clara Vale is a wonderful MC, as is Bessie her assistant and there isn’t a dull moment in the story. This story is properly set in 1930. For example, there is mention of Dr. Fleming and penicillin, the start of (commercial) air travel, and most delightfully, Agatha Christie makes an appearance when Clara is in Egypt. The author’s biography states that Fiona Veitch Smith is a huge fan of the Golden Age of Mystery stories, and her books show that clearly.

I love Clara Vale’s independence which was still rare and mostly unheard of in the early decades of the 20^th century.

The Pyramid Murders was well written and filled with detail without ever dragging. The characters are vivid, and the mystery is very well-plotted. Which means I’ll end this review as I did my review of The Pantomime Murders. I will be spending more time with Miss Clara Vale in the future. And while I wait for book #4 to be published, I'll go back and read The Picture House Murders, the first title in this series. 

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

 432 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: June 6, 2024

 

Blurb

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule” cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

And yet, just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. The local community resents what they see as the Manor’s intrusion into the local woods and attempts to privatize the beach, and small skirmishes have erupted on the edges of the property between locals and the staff. And the whispers keep coming, about an old piece of pagan folklore—it must be folklore??—the Night Birds, an avenging force that can be called upon to make right wrongs that elude the law. Though surely everything at the Manor has been done above board.

On the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered. Something’s not right with the guests. What happened on the grounds of the Manor the past 36 hours? And who—or what—is the cause?

THE FOUNDER

THE HUSBAND

THE MYSTERY GUEST

THE KITCHEN HELP

Everyone has an agenda. Everyone has a past. But not everyone will survive…The Midnight Feast.

 

Review

I guess it is safe to say that I’m a fan of Lucy Foley’s mystery-thrillers. I thoroughly enjoyed The Hunting Party, The Guest List, and The Paris Apartment. So when I had the opportunity to request a review copy of The Midnight Feast from Netgalley it only took me half a second to click that button. I did not regret that decision.

Just like those three previous titles, The Midnight Feast is a multi-layered and well-plotted mystery in which nobody and nothing is exactly who or what they appear to be.

The story is told through four narrators: the founder of the newly opened luxury resort and organiser of the midnight feast, her husband, a mystery guest, and the kitchen help. These four characters have very distinctive voices as they share their personal perspective on The Manor, past and present.

I rated the book 4.5 rather than 5 stars because too much of the story felt a little over the top to me. From Francesca’s esoteric musings to the total destruction of the Manor I would have preferred a more nuanced approach. On the other hand, I loved the author’s use of folklore and local myths and practices. These gave the story a somewhat magical feeling which only added to the thrill of reading a fast-paced and well-executed mystery. And there’s no denying that the story pulled me in from the start and didn’t release me until I reached the end. An end that kept on surprising me. Just when I thought that surely all the questions had been answered and all the mysteries solved, Lucy Foley managed to surprise me again and again.

Long review short: With The Midnight Feast, Lucy Foley has created yet another breathtaking mystery that only reveals the truth slowly and with a few misdirections along the way.  The past and the present mirror each other as events that remained unresolved 15 years earlier finally come to a head. The use of local myth and folklore only adds to the mystery and the thrillerish vibe. This is a must read for everybody who enjoys a good and fascinating mystery. 

Random in Death by J.D. Robb

In Death Series # 58

Publisher: Piatkus

Publishing Date: January 2024

E-book

 

Blurb

 It's the best night of her life. It's the last night of her life.

Sixteen-year-old Jenna Harbough's parents had finally given in, and there she was, at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A, carrying her demo in hopes of slipping it to the guitarist, Jake Kincade. Then, from the stage, Jake catches her eye, and smiles. It's the best night of her life. It's the last night of her life.

Minutes later, Jake's in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it's no use. It's time to call Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

Who could want this level-headed teen, passionate about her music, dead? Was she targeted or could she have been the victim of a random attack? And if she was, who's next..?

 

Review

Writing an original review for an In Death title is impossible by this stage. I have read and enjoyed every single book in this series and have run out of words to express my love for these mysteries, the setting, and the characters featured. From the moment I read Naked in Death, I have been intrigued by the near-future setting and the main characters. The interactions between Eve and Roarke, and the way they compliment each other enhance every single book.

As always, J.D. Robb brings us an original and heartbreaking murder in Random in Death. And, also as always, she and her team bring the mystery to a satisfying conclusion despite the odds being stacked against them. Fans of these books will enjoy the investigation of the crime as much as the personal news of the main and secondary characters. And if they are as big a fan as I am, they are already counting down the days until the release of, Passions in Death, In Death #59. 😊

The Pantomime Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith

#2 Miss Clara Vale Mysteries

290 pages

Publisher: Embla Books

Publishing Date: November 28, 2023

 

Blurb

 

Someone is killing fairy godmothers in Cinderella... Can Miss Clara Vale crack the case before the clock strikes twelve?

 

1929, December: Snow is falling, and Miss Clara Vale is wrapped up against the cold as she braves the icy streets of Newcastle in her latest investigation.

When a young actress from the touring pantomime of Cinderella arrives at her door, Clara isn't sure what to make of her request. Sybil Langford, the legendary fairy godmother in their production, has mysteriously vanished. Could Clara help track her down?

But a few days into Clara's search, Sybil's body is pulled from an icy river, and Clara finds herself in the middle of yet another murder mystery.

With scheming stepsisters waiting in the wings, handsome princes who aren't all they seem, and clues as elusive as glass slippers, Clara will need every one of her scientific skills to catch the killer...

And when Sybil's replacement meets her own tragic end, Clara is in a race against time before the murderer sends a third cast member to their unhappily ever after...

 

Review

Although this is the second title in a series, this was my first encounter with Miss Clara Vale, and it was a pleasure making her acquaintance and joining her on her sleuthing adventures. Furthermore, I can safely say that this book can be read as a stand-alone story.

Historical mysteries with female leads don’t always work for me. All too often the story becomes a little absurd or over the top in order to allow the sleuth to investigate within the world she inhabits. I had no such qualms about Miss Clara Vale. While it was still (very) rare, women were allowed into colleges in England in 1929, so it is plausible that she would be a knowledgeable chemist. The fact that most but not all men she encounters disapprove of her chosen profession and way of life, and try to discourage her, also makes perfect sense but thankfully didn’t take over the story.

I enjoyed the multi-layered mysteries in this book. What starts of as a case of a missing pantomime leading lady soon turns into something a lot darker and more serious when she turns up dead. Clara Vale moves along with developments, adjusting her investigation to new discoveries as required and making good use of science, friends, and associates.

I have to admit that I figured a lot (but not all) of the mysteries in this book out for myself well before Clara and the police arrived at the same conclusions. That’s not a complaint, however. It just means that this is a true puzzle mystery in that the reader is given all the clues they need to solve the riddles.

This story is filled with interesting and well-portrayed characters. I like Miss Clare Vale. She is a smart, practical, and feisty woman who mostly manages to steer clear of stupid decisions. There is a vast cast of secondary characters in this book, and I liked that they were described just enough for them to play their assigned role in the story without turning into boring stereotypes. I’m especially fond of Clara’s new assistant Betty, and I’m looking forward to reading more about her.

Overall, The Pantomime Murders was a delightful surprise. Who could ask for more than a well-plotted mystery, featuring a fascinating main character, intriguing side characters, and a satisfying solution? Especially when it’s all served as a smooth and captivating read. I’ve got a feeling, I’ll be spending more time with Miss Clara Vale in the future.