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It’s September 1936, London. A famous psychiatrist, Anselm Rees, is found dead in his locked study. Several people visit him late that evening around the time of the murder, and his housekeeper is there. But no one could possibly have killed him given all the circumstances.
Scotland Yard inspector George Flint and sergeant Jerome Hook investigate what seems to be an impossible situation. Flint asks retired magician Joseph Spector to help him in this unusual case with his amateur sleuthing talents.
The two interview Rees’ daughter, herself a new psychiatrist; her fiancé, a wealthy playboy; the housekeeper; Rees’ three patients, and anyone else who could have seen or known anything at all. Various people have motives, but none seems to have had opportunity.
Then as they go to one suspect’s apartment building, a young elevator operator is found dead. Again, no one seemingly could have done it given the place and timing.
Death and the Conjuror is a fun homage to the classic whodunit, with the locked-room type of mystery. It borrows plenty from earlier writers and winks at doing so. I was charmed by Spector and delighted to have the opportunity to stylistically revisit my long-ago days of devouring any Agatha Christie book I could find. This is a worthy addition to the genre and I’ll look forward to the next one featuring this amateur sleuth. The bonus: the book is clean reading.
Rated: Mild. One use of moderate profanity, 10 instances of mild language and about 10 uses of the name of Deity in vain. A murder involves a throat being slashed deeply and there’s a reference to a suicide that used the same method. Another person is killed by strangulation. Two characters carry on an affair, but it’s just information rather than related scenes.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
