Now You See Them: The Brighton Mysteries 5
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By Elly Griffiths
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1 review
A gripping Brighton-based mystery from the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway series – a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie, cosy crime and TV series such as Grantchester and Midsomer Murders.
Three young women have gone missing.
A girl called Rhonda has vanished from her boarding school. Maybe she ran away, but there are disturbing similarities to the disappearance of two other young women – those too thought not to be suspicious.
But where are they?
Detective Edgar Stephens is under pressure to solve Rhonda’s disappearance, but it is his wife Emma, herself a former detective now frustrated at being just a housewife, who concludes there might be a connection between the three cases.
Then the danger comes nearer home.
Edgar’s friend, magician Max Mephisto, is reinventing himself as a movie star and trying not to envy his daughter Ruby’s television fame. Little do either of them know how close they are to being drawn into the deadly web of abduction and murder about to trap them all.
Praise for The Brighton Mysteries
‘Original, lively and gripping’ Independent
‘Full of period detail, smart plotting and likeable characters’ Mail on Sunday
‘A piquant mixture of humour, period detail . . . and truly beguiling characterisation’ Financial Times
‘Recalls the best of Agatha Christie’ Sunday Express
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British author Elly Griffiths is perhaps best known for her Norfolk-based mysteries which feature the forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. But she also writes the Magic Men series – historical mysteries set in the 1950s about Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and his friend, the magician Max Mephisto. The first of these – The Zig Zag Girl – was published in 2014.
Now You See Them is the fifth Magic Men novel and although it’s still set in Brighton it is now 1964. Between Book 1 and Book 5 Edgar Stephens has married Emma Holmes (a former detective) and they have three children. But while Stephens has been promoted to Superintendent, Emma is no longer allowed to serve in the police force, which she finds enormously frustrating.
During the same period, Max Mephisto has moved to work in America, where he’s found fame and stardom. He’s back in England for a brief visit to attend a funeral and to consider a prospective movie job. And so, the team reunites.
In this mystery, the police are under pressure. It is May Bank Holiday weekend and Edgar is engrossed in policing Brighton as the Mods and Rockers arrive. DI Willis is dealing with a case of missing girls. Then a girl is found murdered. When Ruby, Max's daughter, fails to turn up for a rendezvous with Emma he is drawn into the case. Emma and a woman reporter, Sam Collins, have a theory about the case but Edgar doesn't give it much credence, so they decide to put their theory to the test, putting Emma and her children at risk. All hands are needed to catch the kidnapper and killer and deal with the violence on the sea front.
What I love most about these novels is that Elly Griffiths is so good at characterization and supplying the back story of the series. To add interest, familiar figures appear from the Magic Gang of the war and post-war years, and she captures the atmosphere of the time very well. Perhaps more importantly, she writes with a wry sense of humour whilst never underplaying the seriousness of the crimes.
These are books I really enjoy. The stories are engrossing and the sense of time and place is authentic. You don’t have to start reading them from the beginning of the series, so if you see one, pick it up and give it a try. And as for Now You Seem Them, it’s Book 5 in the series and I give it 5-Stars.
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