The Vanishing Box
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4.8 • 8 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A magician plays detective when a show girl is murdered in an English resort town in this historical mystery by the Edgar Award-winning author.
Brighton, England, 1953. Over the holiday season, Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining a variety show at the Brighton Hippodrome. Landing a gig at the city's biggest theater is a major achievement, and only slightly marred by the less-than-savory supporting act: a tableau show of naked "living statues." But when one of the girls goes missing and turns up dead not long after, Max and Ruby realize there's something far more sinister than obscenity afoot in the theater.
Max's good friend DI Edgar Stephens is on the case. As he searches for the killer, he begins to suspect that the girl's fatal vanishing act may be related to another case—the death of a local florist. But just as he's narrowing in on the missing link, Ruby goes missing, and he and Max must reach deep into their bag of tricks to find her before it's too late.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Griffiths's solid fourth Magic Men mystery (after 2017's The Blood Card), stage magician Max Mephisto and his daughter, Ruby French, are headlining a variety show in Brighton, England, during the 1953 holiday season. Meanwhile, Det. Insp. Edgar Stephens Max's friend and former military colleague, and Ruby's fianc investigates the murder of a young woman with ties to a female troupe performing in the same show. As more deaths follow, a ruthless killer threatens Max's new love interest, Sgt. Emma Holmes, who's Edgar's colleague. Series fans will appreciate the developments in the various relationships, but they and new readers might wish for more insight into characters' personalities and motives. That said, Griffiths nicely evokes the post-WWII zeitgeist in Britain, incorporating details about hypocritical censorship laws and the theatrical lifestyle. Those who favor human intrigues over crime solving should find this a charming holiday read.)
