The Vanishing Box – Elly Griffiths

Historical Crime Fiction
4*s

This series is so refreshing with the murders somehow far more of a puzzle than centre stage – that place belongs to the safe pair of hands which belong to DI Edgar Stephens.

The year is 1953 and the month is December and in those days snow was more or less a certain event and so the detectives have the weather to contend with as they tramp, often on foot, to the crime scene and the police station.

The book opens with the murder of a young woman at a boarding house in Brighton run by the formidable Edna Wright and her somewhat less formidable husband, Norris. Edgar had attended the scene after the latter had opened the door to find the young Lily Burtenshaw’s body arranged as if part of a tableau. Sergeant Bob Willis is also attending in charge of the new piece of equipment, the camera which will document everything rather than relying on memory.

Of course along with Edna and Norris the other occupants of the boarding house have to be interviewed and among them are two young women who are sharing the bill with Max Mephisto at the Brighton Hippodrome. Max is performing magic alongside his daughter Ruby with the finale using a life-size vanishing box. It won’t be long before their magic act moves to television at the behest of their manager Joe Passolini.

With Edgar and Max having served together as the band of Magic Men in World War II along with their collaboration on previous murders he shares some of the details, especially as it seems there may just be a link to the variety show. The show features near naked women (with strategically placed feathers) standing stock still in a tableau. Now I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know that this was a thing! Apparently naked women could appear on stage as long as they didn’t move so these tableaux were presumably popular with the male attendees of the variety shows hopeful of a mis-positioned feather! Anyway back to the story… Edgar along with Bob and his female sergeant Emma Holmes ponder and puzzle over the clues when someone else is found murdered.

These books really are delightful, I preferred the setting firmly back in the theatre rather than our brief foray into television in the last book, and the puzzle is an intriguing one. The tone is light although because of the somewhat tangled personal lives of all our favourites the humour isn’t quite of the level of the first two books. I particularly enjoy the period details which are sprinkled throughout the book without the reader ever feeling as if this is overdone, a tip that many other authors tackling the historic angle could take note of. I also like the length of the book, the pace is fairly swift with the personal lives of our favourites woven into the plot seamlessly so that the book doesn’t feel as if these scenes have been added to pad the book out.

If you want the perfect kind of winter read you could do an awful lot worse than to settle into your seat, albeit slightly frayed, at the Brighton Hippodrome, and prepare to be amazed.

I received an ARC of The Vanishing Box from the publishers Quercus Books. This unbiased review is my thanks to them.

Published UK: 2 November 2017
Publisher: Quercus Books
No of Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Crime Fiction
Amazon UK
Amazon US

Max Mephisto & DI Edgar Stephens Series

The Zig-Zag Girl
Smoke and Mirrors
The Blood Card

 

This Week in Books (October 25)

Hosted by Lipsy Lost & Found my Wednesday post gives you a taste of what I am reading this week. A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words

I am currently reading When A Killer Strikes by RC Bridgestock the eighth in the DI Dylan series, written by two former employees of the police service. This book was published just last week on 19 October 2017.

Blurb

“Boss, we’ve got a body”.
Detective Sergeant Vicky Hardacre, greets him at the scene, but what awaits them behind the blood red door of Colonial House is undoubtedly a murder. The approach identifies several prime suspects. But who is telling the truth; and who is lying?
Before the killer can be caught, another body is discovered, this time in a putrefying mixture of mud and slime, lain among the remnants of decaying food within a waste-bin shelter. Now it’s the task of the man in charge to make the call.
Are the two murders connected?
There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by working long hours, within strict budgets, and the usual pressure from above to obtain quick results.
However, Dylan is distracted by personal matters, with Jen being keen to seal the deal on a renovation project. He suggests they delay finalising the purchase; until he discovers the significance of the house, and that it’s about to be demolished.
In his absence, Jen’s pleas for help from his estranged siblings are answered, resulting in hidden secrets coming to light, as Dylan continues, through a twisting and turning plot, to ensure justice is done in respect of the murder victims, whose bright hopes for the future were cruelly snatched away. Amazon

This follows on from The Solitary Child by Nina Bawden which I have to say I found incredibly enjoyable in a miserable sort of way!

Blurb

The Solitary Child is a story of violent death and suspicion. Harriet becomes engaged to James Random, a gentleman farmer, monied but unpretentious. But his first wife, Eva, had died in what were called ‘unforgettable circumstances’; James was charged with murdering her and was acquitted. Breaking the news to her mother of her engagement was Harriet’s first ordeal: facing Maggie, the solitary child who was James’ and Eva’s daughter was more complex. Suspicions are not always cleared away by a verdict of ‘not guilty’. Here the suspicion which Harriet found surrounding her new home was so oppressive it distorted the relationships of the people involved into a nightmare climax. Amazon

Next I am planning to read The Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths, the fourth book in the Stephens and Mephisto Mystery series.

Blurb

What do a murdered Brighton flower seller, the death of Cleopatra and a nude tableau show have in common? Read the most dangerous case yet for Stephens and Mephisto and find out.

Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked ‘living statues’. This might appear to have nothing in common with DI Edgar Stephens’ investigation into the death of a quiet flowerseller, but if there’s one thing the old comrades have learned it’s that, in Brighton, the line between art and life – and death – is all too easily blurred… Amazon

What do you think? Any of these take your fancy? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments box below.

Weekly Wrap Up (September 24)

Last Sunday we had a family trip to the cinema to watch Victoria and Abdul, a fascinating film but one that turned my stomach early on in the scenes of Dame Judi Dench wolfing the food down at a banquet.

On Monday I managed to take part in the Book Fairies and Goodreads #hideabookday and left four books at key places in St Helier at 9 am. When I went to check at lunchtime all had been picked up so I’m hoping the finders enjoyed them.

This Week on the Blog

My week started with a Question and Answer session with Ray Britain the pen name for a former Police Officer who has turned his hand to writing crime fiction. His first book The Last Thread was published last Sunday, 17 September 2017.

On Tuesday She Did It by Mel Sherratt was published and my review was posted the same day to mark publication of this psychological thriller.

My This Week in Books featured the authors Helen FitzGerald, Dee Gordon and Kate Moretti 

I was delighted to finally publish my review of fellow blogger, Margot Kinberg’s book Past Tense which I actually read in June. Margot’s incredible knowledge of crime fiction translates into being able to write a fine mystery too.

My review of My Last Confession by Helen FitzGerald was posted on Friday taking my Mount TBR up to 24 books read and reviewed that were bought prior to 1 January 2017.

It was a huge honour to be asked to contribute to the blog tour to celebrate the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards with my review of David Hastings non-fiction book The Many Deaths of Mary Dobie, a true-crime book that also examines the politics between the Maori tribes and the settles in 1880 New Zealand.

This Time Last Year…

I was reading the second in Sarah Ward’s Francis Sadler series, A Deadly Thaw, set in the fictional town of Bampton in Derbyshire. Her trademark easy to read yet fiendishly complex plots are a delight and this book has us meeting a woman convicted of the murder of her husband, in the marital bed no less, only for him to turn up alive following her release from prison twelve years later! The author isn’t content to provide a brilliant plot, she also creates realistic characters no matter whether they are a main mover and shaker or provide a supporting role. As I write this short summary, I’m getting more impatient to read my copy of the third in the series, A Patient Fury which was recently published.

You can read my full review of A Deadly Thaw here or click on the book cover.

Blurb

Autumn 2004
In Bampton, Derbyshire, Lena Fisher is arrested for suffocating her husband, Andrew.

Spring 2016

A year after Lena’s release from prison, Andrew is found dead in a disused mortuary.
Who was the man Lena killed twelve years ago, and who committed the second murder? When Lena disappears, her sister, Kat, sets out to follow a trail of clues delivered by a mysterious teenage boy. Kat must uncover the truth – before there’s another death . . . Amazon

Stacking the Shelves

Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell has been on my wishlist since I fell in love with The Other Typist earlier this year and so when it was offered at a bargain price my resolve melted away like the ice in a nice martini!

Blurb

Back in those days My Old Man was king of what they called the three-martini lunch. This meant that in dimly lit steakhouses all over Manhattan my father made bold, impetuous deals over gin and oysters. That was how it was done.’

Cliff Nelson, the privileged son of a New York publishing house editor, is slumming it around Greenwich village in 1958, enjoying the booze, drugs and the idea that he’s the next Kerouac.

Fresh-faced Eden Katz arrives in New York with the ultimate ambition to become an editor, but she’s shocked at the stumbling blocks she encounters.

Miles Tillman, a black publishing house messenger boy, is an aspiring writer who feels he straddles various worlds and belongs to none.

Their choices, concealments and betrayals ripple outwards leaving none of them unchanged. Amazon

NetGalley provided temptation with the proven skills of Elly Griffiths and her latest in the Stephens and Mephisto mystery series – The Vanishing Box

Blurb

What do a murdered Brighton flowerseller, the death of Cleopatra and a nude tableau show have in common? One thing’s for sure – it could be the most dangerous case yet for Stephens and Mephisto.

Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked ‘living statues’. This might appear to have nothing in common with DI Edgar Stephens’ investigation into the death of a quiet flowerseller, but if there’s one thing the old comrades have learned it’s that, in Brighton, the line between art and life – and death – is all too easily blurred…

The fourth book in the Stephens and Mephisto mystery from the author of the bestselling Dr Ruth Galloway series. NetGalley

I was also lucky to be approved for Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate, A British Library Crime Classic published by Poisoned Pen Press. which I have been eying up ever since seeing it feature on other blogs – what can my willpower is weak!

Blurb

A woman is on trial for her life, accused of murder. The twelve members of the jury each carry their own secret burden of guilt and prejudice which could affect the outcome.

In this extraordinary crime novel, we follow the trial through the eyes of the jurors as they hear the evidence and try to reach a unanimous verdict. Will they find the defendant guilty, or not guilty? And will the jurors’ decision be the correct one?

Since its first publication in 1940, Verdict of Twelve has been widely hailed as a classic of British crime writing. This edition offers a new generation of readers the chance to find out why so many leading commentators have admired the novel for so long. NetGalley

What have you found to read this week? Any of these take your fancy?

Since my last post I’ve read 2 books, and gained 3
So I now have a total of 180
Physical Books – 100
Kindle Books – 60
NetGalley Books – 20