It’s Christmas 1953 and the great Max Mephisto and Daughter are top of the bill at the Brighton Hippodrome supported by a ventriloquist, dancing poodles and a tableau show of naked ‘living statues’ all staged to mirror historical death scenes.

When DI Edgar Stephens is called to investigate the murder of a quiet flower-seller he begins to make tenuous links between the crime scene and the show.

As Edgar and Max once again join forces, will they be able to battle their personal lives in time to catch the killer before they strike again?

I love this series! Having stumbled across it a little over a year ago I eagerly await each new instalment like a child does Christmas. Griffiths has a unique way of bringing 1950s Brighton to life before the readers eyes, with vivid descriptions and details.

The characters are hugely likeable, and whilst it may be a little unconvincing that all the murders taking place in Brighton are in someway connected to the stage, its easy to accept due to the amazing network of people the author has created.

This book really captures the changes life took in this era, with variety becoming a dying art and taken over by television and the ‘silver screen’. It’s stories like this one that make me, as a big history lover, wish I had a time machine but the magical world Elly Griffiths’ has created is as near as dammit!

Excellent book. I adored the storyline and the characters. A real page turner. I would this recommend this book.

I am beginning to prefer the cast of characters in these books to the modern series based around the archaeologist - she is beginning to annoy me.
I read this in two sittings, I hated having to put it down. There is a fantastic evocation of the period - and of theatrical digs (a friends son is currently on tour with a musical and his comments are similar).

Thanks Quercus Books and netgalley for this ARC.

Elly Griffiths amazes me fresh with every book. This series is really taking off with big changes, thrilling relations, and a big cliffhanger.

I really love this period crime series from Elly Griffiths featuring magician Max Mephisto and DI Edgar Stephens, close friends after serving as The Magic Men during the war. This is the fourth in the series, set in 1953. Max and his daughter, Ruby, are headlining at the Brighton Hippodrome in a variety show that features a controversial female nude tableau act run by Vic Cutler, deemed unseemly by so many and attracting considerable prurient interest. At a boarding house run by Edna and Norris, a shy and beautiful Brighton flower seller, Lily Burtenshaw, is found murdered, blindfolded and posed as Lady Jane Grey at her execution. Lily was friends with janette and Betty, members of the tableau act, also residing at the boarding house. Max finds himself drawn to the beautiful Florence Jones, another performer in the tableau, signalling the demise of his relationship with Mrs M., his landlady.

Edgar, and his team of the bright DS Emma Holmes, in love with Edgar despite his engagement to Ruby, and DS Bob Willis, hunt for the killer and possible motives. Lily's mother, Cecily, had in the past worked as a tableau artist with Vic Cutler, her past connection with Norris and Edna, and is the reason why Lily ended up at the boarding house. Characters from previous novels make an appearance, Tol and his daughter, Astarte, tarot reader and psychic. As further murders take place, including that of another tableau player, posed as Cleopatra, DI Stephens races frantically to find the murderer before they kill again. This is a story of misdirection, an allusion of what takes place with the Vanishing Box, used by Max in his act with Ruby, and the past coming to haunt the present. DS Bob Willis finds himself being attracted to Betty and as Emma finds herself in deadly danger, it appears that at long last Edgar begins to become aware of his feelings for her.

Elly brings 1950s Britain alive with her vivid descriptions, period detail and characters. The world of theatre variety is under threat with the growing impact of television and her portrayal of the Brighton Hippodrome and its variety show depicts this beautifully. Amidst a maelstrom of grief and loss, Max is looking for something more as his agent introduces him to a Hollywood agent looking to cast Max in a film. Ruby, having suffered a personal devastation, finds herself following the same path as Max. At long last, the ongoing misery that has afflicted Emma seems to be heading towards a happier resolution in her relationship with Edgar. I am not sure where this series will go next, but I look forward with great anticipation to the next in the series. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of The Vanishing Box, the fourth novel in the Stephens and Mephisto series of detective novels set in 1950s Brighton.

It's Decmber 1953 when DI Edgar Stephens and his team are called out to a murder. Lily Burtenshaw has been found strangled and posed in her boardinghouse room. Coincidentally two of Lily's fellow boarders pose naked as living statues in tableaux at the local theatre where Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are top of the bill.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Vanishing Box with its glimpses of a bygone era, excellent characterisation and twisty plot. I'm a big fan of Ms Griiffiths's writing and this is no different. It has a welcoming tone which invites the reader to immerse themselves in another world and a well paced plot which holds the interest.

As ever, characterisation is key in the novel, not just the main players but the minor ones as well who are equally multifaceted. Just when you think you know a character as a type they do something unexpected to confound you. The main characters, DI Edgar Stephens, DS Emma Holmes, DS Bob Willis, Max Mephisto and Ruby French are becoming like old friends as the series progresses but nothing stays the same and Ms Griffiths is ringing some changes in their relationships. It makes for good reading as the reader lives their hopes and fears with them.

The plot is interesting and a real puzzle. The reader knows as much as the police and nothing more (so refreshing when so many novels feel the need to over inform the reader with several points of view) so the perpetrator and the motive are elusive until the end. I didn't have a clue.

The setting seems authentic from the attitudes to the little details, like most houses not having one of the new washing machines or women wearing trousers being not quite the thing. It all adds up to a compelling snapshot of the "good old days".

The Vanishing Box is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.