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Smoke and Mirrors
Автор: Elly Griffiths
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“Another great series.” — San Jose Mercury News
“A dazzlingly tricky mystery.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A tremendous skein of red herrings, sharp and thorough police work, [and] mysterious connections.” — Bookgasm
It’s Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about magician Max Mephisto’s star turn in Aladdin. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He’s investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were found in the woods alongside a trail of candy—a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of “Hansel and Gretel.”
Edgar has plenty of leads. Annie, a dark child, wrote gruesome plays based on the Grimms’ fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her final script? Or does the macabre staging of the bodies point to the theater and the capricious cast of Aladdin? Edgar enlists Max’s help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?
“Excellent . . . Evoking both the St. Mary Mead of Agatha Christie and the theater world of Ngaio Marsh.” — Booklist
“A dazzlingly tricky mystery.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A tremendous skein of red herrings, sharp and thorough police work, [and] mysterious connections.” — Bookgasm
It’s Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about magician Max Mephisto’s star turn in Aladdin. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He’s investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were found in the woods alongside a trail of candy—a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of “Hansel and Gretel.”
Edgar has plenty of leads. Annie, a dark child, wrote gruesome plays based on the Grimms’ fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her final script? Or does the macabre staging of the bodies point to the theater and the capricious cast of Aladdin? Edgar enlists Max’s help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?
“Excellent . . . Evoking both the St. Mary Mead of Agatha Christie and the theater world of Ngaio Marsh.” — Booklist
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Smoke and Mirrors
Автор: Elly Griffiths
Описание
“Another great series.” — San Jose Mercury News
“A dazzlingly tricky mystery.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A tremendous skein of red herrings, sharp and thorough police work, [and] mysterious connections.” — Bookgasm
It’s Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about magician Max Mephisto’s star turn in Aladdin. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He’s investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were found in the woods alongside a trail of candy—a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of “Hansel and Gretel.”
Edgar has plenty of leads. Annie, a dark child, wrote gruesome plays based on the Grimms’ fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her final script? Or does the macabre staging of the bodies point to the theater and the capricious cast of Aladdin? Edgar enlists Max’s help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?
“Excellent . . . Evoking both the St. Mary Mead of Agatha Christie and the theater world of Ngaio Marsh.” — Booklist
“A dazzlingly tricky mystery.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A tremendous skein of red herrings, sharp and thorough police work, [and] mysterious connections.” — Bookgasm
It’s Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about magician Max Mephisto’s star turn in Aladdin. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He’s investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were found in the woods alongside a trail of candy—a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of “Hansel and Gretel.”
Edgar has plenty of leads. Annie, a dark child, wrote gruesome plays based on the Grimms’ fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her final script? Or does the macabre staging of the bodies point to the theater and the capricious cast of Aladdin? Edgar enlists Max’s help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?
“Excellent . . . Evoking both the St. Mary Mead of Agatha Christie and the theater world of Ngaio Marsh.” — Booklist
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Book 2 in the series featuring DI Edgar Stephens, and actor/magician Max Mephisto. A much better crafted tale than Zig Zag Girl, this continuing saga is set in Brighton, about a year later, around Christmastime, 1951. The story is very human and somewhat a sad account for the opening crime. However, the character development is admirable and the personalities were very engaging. A couple of the clues were casually dropped into the narrative that served to add an unexpected twist but derailed my guessing 'who-dun-it'. I was fooled right through to the end. It was a fast read, just when I needed it!
Rating: 4Very enjoyable. This one was all about the case Edgar is working on with a new (female - was that even a thing in the 50s?) sergeant and an associated pantomime in which Max and Diablo are performing, with the wartime antics of the Magic Men mere background.
Rating: 5I've found that I haven't read THE ZIG ZAG GIRL, which is the first in this series. This is something that I must remedy as I have thoroughly enjoyed this title. I did read THE VANISHING BOX, but I think my lower rating must have reflected my unfamiliarity with the earlier titles.This mystery is intriguing right from the start. Two children disappear playing together after school, one of them a very precocious writer who writes her own versions of fairy tales and then organises children to act them out. Her script is based on something she has worked out about her family.Once again plenty of red herrings which characterises well written mysteries.
Rating: 5This is the second in the DI Edgar Stephens and Magician Max Mephisto series. They have been friends since their stint in Norway as The Magic Men in WW2. As a child I read all the fairytales and never realized how dark and creepy they really were. This is a dark and creepy story that centres around the darkest of fairytales about wicked stepmothers, fathers discarding their children, wishing so hard for a child that it is only half human and the kidnapping and murder by evil witches.
It is November and Brighton is in the middle of Pantomine season. Max is staring as the evil genie in Aladdin performing magic tricks to make his role even better. Meanwhile, Edgar is organizing a search party to look for two missing children. The worst part is that they have had a terrible, unexpected snowstorm which makes searching even harder, yet frantic as they want to find the children before they freeze to death. Annie, a young writer of plays and her good friend and assistant, Mark went to buy candy for Annie's latest dark, fairytale-like play and never returned. A couple of days later, the children are found buried in the snow, with a trail of sweets leading to their bodies. Not only are the families of Annie and Mark devastated, the whole town is frightened to think there is a murderer in their midst. As the police continue their investigation, Edgar recruits Max to the case.
This story does not have as much of Max in it as the last one, but that is okay. It was still very interesting and had me guessing right to the end. Rose, Max's daughter makes an appearance as does his father. Emma, the local police detective, realizes some things about class and poverty that shake her up somewhat. It will be interesting to see if that goes any further in the next stories. The plot was well done and had me putting other things aside so I could see what was going to happen next. Another great addition to the Stephens & Mephisto series.
Rating: 4It is November and Brighton is in the middle of Pantomine season. Max is staring as the evil genie in Aladdin performing magic tricks to make his role even better. Meanwhile, Edgar is organizing a search party to look for two missing children. The worst part is that they have had a terrible, unexpected snowstorm which makes searching even harder, yet frantic as they want to find the children before they freeze to death. Annie, a young writer of plays and her good friend and assistant, Mark went to buy candy for Annie's latest dark, fairytale-like play and never returned. A couple of days later, the children are found buried in the snow, with a trail of sweets leading to their bodies. Not only are the families of Annie and Mark devastated, the whole town is frightened to think there is a murderer in their midst. As the police continue their investigation, Edgar recruits Max to the case.
This story does not have as much of Max in it as the last one, but that is okay. It was still very interesting and had me guessing right to the end. Rose, Max's daughter makes an appearance as does his father. Emma, the local police detective, realizes some things about class and poverty that shake her up somewhat. It will be interesting to see if that goes any further in the next stories. The plot was well done and had me putting other things aside so I could see what was going to happen next. Another great addition to the Stephens & Mephisto series.
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. *Wall Street Journal 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?
My Review Elly Griffiths is one of my favorite authors. I've read all of the books in her Ruth Galloway series and have loved them all. Her Stephens and Mephisto series is much different as this series takes place in Brighton, England in the 1950's and deals with mystery, magic and the theatre. I find Griffiths to be a talented writer who draws you into her characters and creates plots that hold your interest until the very end of the book. This 2nd book was a great sequel to the Zig Zag Girl and I look forward to the next book in the series. If you love the Ruth Galloway series then I think you would enjoy this series too."
Rating: 5My Review Elly Griffiths is one of my favorite authors. I've read all of the books in her Ruth Galloway series and have loved them all. Her Stephens and Mephisto series is much different as this series takes place in Brighton, England in the 1950's and deals with mystery, magic and the theatre. I find Griffiths to be a talented writer who draws you into her characters and creates plots that hold your interest until the very end of the book. This 2nd book was a great sequel to the Zig Zag Girl and I look forward to the next book in the series. If you love the Ruth Galloway series then I think you would enjoy this series too."
In 1950s Brighton, two children go missing near Christmas and, despite the hopes of their families and the community, their snow-covered bodies are eventually found. DI Edgar Stephens and his team are determined to find the killer or killers but, with only one major clue to go, it won’t be easy. The bodies are surrounded by a trail of sweets as if staged to resemble perhaps Hansel and Gretel, a possible hint either, perhaps, to point suspicion at the local sweet shop owner or to a play the children had written and were rehearsing called The Stolen Child. Could a fairy tale hold the key to this murder? Smoke and Mirrors is author EIly Griffiths’ second historical mystery featuring DI Stephens and magician Max Mephisto. It seems somehow wrong to call a story about the murder of children quirky and entertaining but, in fact, it is – very. Perhaps this is because Griffiths, rather than depicting the gruesomeness of the crime instead distracts the reader from its horrors by focusing on the characters, the time period, the surroundings, and the theatre, both the children’s play and the pantomime, and, of course, the myriad clues and red herrings strewn throughout. Or perhaps it’s because there is as much a theatrical feel to the murders themselves as there is to the novel overall – to quote the Bard, in this novel ‘the play’s the thing’ that captures the interest of the reading audience as easily as it will lead to the capture of our fictional murderer.Thanks to Edelweiss and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 5As she did in The Zig-Zag Girl, Elly Griffiths takes us to 1950's Brighton, England and the slightly seedy world of the theater and magic and pantomime. It's a world I know very little about, so I enjoy learning about it through Griffiths' eyes.Griffiths has created an excellent mystery, one that many times had me wishing I remembered more of Grimms' Fairy Tales, but (as usual) the real strength in this book lies in her characters. I found little Annie to be fascinating. She was such an interesting character that I thought she was wasted as a victim; I wanted to see more of her. We also learn more about the personal lives of Stephens and Mephisto, which will answer some questions readers may have. I found the focus of Smoke and Mirrors to be much more in the present day and on Edgar and his investigation. I missed the spice that "more Max" gives to the action as well as talk of what the two men did during World War II, although I know the series can't get stuck back in that time frame. It will be very interesting indeed to see where the author's focus shifts to next as the series progresses.
Rating: 4This is the second book in a mystery series featuring Detective Edgar Stephens by Elly Griffiths, who also writes the Ruth Galloway mystery series, one of my favorites. This series is set in post-World War II England. Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens of the Brighton police previously served in a World War II group based in Scotland known as “The Magic Men” assigned with creating false trails for the Germans. Some of the others in his group, particularly Max Mephisto and Stan Parks, continue to be a part of Edgar’s life.In this book, two young children, Annie and Mark, have been killed, with their deaths staged to suggest the Hansel and Gretel story. And in fact, Annie and Mark worked together to put on plays along with their friends, with fairy tales being a common theme.Edgar, along with his police sergeants Bob Willis and Emma Holmes, are desperate to find the killer, since they know such criminals tend not to strike only once. But the Christmas holidays are approaching, along with the accompanying snow, ice, and cold, to cover up any trails or evidence.Edgar feels like he has all the pieces to the puzzle, but hasn’t been able to put it together: “The truth was there, he was sure of it; it was just hard to see. Smoke and mirrors, Max would say. What was real and what was illusion?”The question is whether he can figure it out in time before another child is harmed.Discussion: Griffiths does her research well to bring as much verisimilitude as possible to the time and place of her books. She does a great job of bringing the post-war world to life, as well as the world of magicians and what it was like to perform on the road during the last years before television took over the entertainment world. Also, as with her other series, she limns characters with complex psyches showing a mix of self-awareness, self-delusion, and self-deprecation that make them seem like actual people we all can recognize. I don’t like this series as much as her Ruth Galloway books, but it is still entertaining, and worth following.Evaluation: Once again the author employs the “misdirection” of magic as a criminal tactic as well as a plot device (in the sense of red herrings and other false trails). I look forward to more stories in this series.
Rating: 4Smoke and Mirrors was a very entertaining read. I am a huge fan of Elly Griffiths’ other series, the Ruth Galloway mysteries, and was really excited to read this one. I did not read the first in the series yet though I have it on my bookshelf. I had no trouble picking up the storyline with Smoke and Mirrors and didn’t feel like I was missing anything because I had not read the first one in the series.The main story takes place in Brighton, England in 1951. Two children disappear and are subsequently found murdered. DI Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto team up to solve this horrible crime which is dubbed the Hansel and Gretel crime. I always have a little trouble with stories involving missing and murdered children. Thankfully, while that was the crime at issue here, much of the book focused on the Panto being performed at the local theatre, starring Max, and a variety of fairy tales. Those were my favorite parts by far. The details related to the Panto, the actors involved and the roles they played, were fascinating. Griffiths even included a copy of the poster advertising the show at the beginning of the book. That was a great add.Smoke and Mirrors is well worth reading, and I recommend to anyone who likes mysteries and/or theatre. I also highly recommend her Ruth Galloway series. Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4I love this series that takes place in 1950s Brighton and is reminiscent of the Golden Age mysteries because of the setting, the era, and the lack of modern investigation techniques. This time the plot takes place in winter while Mephisto is appearing in a pantomime, a traditional element of an English Christmas. Pantomime is different to any other type of production and Griffiths' story illustrates a typical performance and reception. Despite the fact that the victims are children, this is an entertaining mystery, not horrifying. Recommended.
Rating: 5Elly Griffiths has taken a new turn in this new series, after her Ruth Galloway novels, with a period setting, Brighton in the early 1950s. Max Mephisto is starring in pantomime - Aladdin - when two local children disappear. His old friend DI Edgar Stephens is in charge of the investigation, and turns to Max when it looks as though some of the pantomime cast might be involved. When the children's bodies are discovered in the snow both locals and cast are implicated. And is the children's interest in fairytales significant?I didn't enjoy this series as much as the Ruth Galloway books, but both theatrical setting and period work well; in some of the scenes which took place actually in the theatre, I was reminded of Ngaio Marsh, which is always a good thing, and I feel that Griffiths has something to build on here. If I have a gripe, it's that the characters are all a little too bland, and although the female detective sergeant should have been a positive addition, I really wasn't convinced by her. Would she really have made it to sergeant? I want her to be a successful character, even if such a thing would probably be out of period, but she doesn't cut it. And I don't empathise with any of them much, sadly.Then there's Edgar's girlfriend (and Max's daughter). For a start, I can't stand the name Ruby, but that, at least, is my problem. But there is no chemistry between Edgar and Ruby, and not much of a relationship between Ruby and Max, but again, I just don't care very much.Other reviewers have clearly loved this new series, so my opinion shouldn't count for too much. And I did finish it, although it took me quite a while for a relatively short book - it's a successful novel in that sense. I'm just not excited by it, and probably won't read any more. Just have to hope for another Ruth Galloway novel!My copy was courtesy of the splendid NetGalley.
Rating: 3The second book in Elly Griffiths series featuring DI Stephens, and actor/magician Max Mephisto is set in Brighton, about a year after the events in the Zig Zag Girl, during the winter of 1951. When two young children go missing, and are later found dead in a snow bank surrounded by sweets, DI Edgar Stephens, and his officers, Emma Holmes and Bob Willis, are tasked to investigate. With a frightened community demanding that the killer of “Hansel and Gretel” be found, and little evidence to go on, Stephens turns to his old friend Max for information after drawing a possible link to the theatrical scene.I was a little disappointed that Max didn’t have a larger role in Smoke and Mirrors. I enjoyed their partnership in The Zig Zag Girl, Edgar’s cynical nature contrasts well with Max’s flamboyance. Emma and Bob are solid characters though, and I liked learning more about them, particularly Emma’s experience as a female officer during the time period.The mystery in Smoke and Mirrors is well crafted, and interesting. Griffiths plays up the darker themes of Grimm’s fairytales to great effect, and skilfully injects red herrings to keep you guessing, One of the strengths of this series remains its sense of time and place. The author wonderfully evokes the social climate of post war England, and the ambience of Brighton.Smoke and Mirrors can be read as a stand alone, but the experience is richer if you are familiar with the first book. I hope there will be more.
Rating: 4