I didn't realise this book was part of a series however you can still read it as a standalone novel. If you love magic then this is the book for you. Great characters and an interesting plot.

This title is the fourth in the Eli Marks series; I read the one before it and loved it, but you will be fine if you’re jumping in uninitiated. Thanks go to Net Galley and Henery Press for the review copy, which I received free and early in exchange for this honest review. The book is now for sale.

Eli and his girlfriend, Megan, head to London, where he and his Uncle Harry are attending a sort of reunion with a group of magicians. When one of them is murdered, Harry is arrested and so Eli investigates in order to clear his uncle. Along the way more magicians are killed, and Eli discovers that another magician, a TV magician that holds little respect from his peers, has stolen Eli’s signature act.

Gaspard writes a solid mystery, with a manageable number of characters with a complex but blessedly linear plot. His sense of humor slays me. That said, I blanched a few times at the gender stereotypes, which aren’t entirely redeemed by the brief discussion about sexism in the industry. However, the last fifteen percent of the story is so brilliantly crafted—and so hilarious—that I could only bow in awe when it was over.

Recommended to those that enjoy a cozy mystery.

“The Linking Rings” earns 5/5 Magically Murderous Performances!

Abracadabra! This newbie to John Gaspard’s Eli Marks Mystery series…is now a fan! Gaspard has penned a very engaging plot with clever, sometimes quirky, characters and weaved in reference to distinct historical figures in the magician community and descriptions, not disclosures, of skillful illusions. In this fourth book, “The Linking Rings,” he takes us to London where Eli Mark’s Uncle Harry has been invited to perform his magical artistry at The Magic Circle, a preeminent and exclusive magician’s club. Joined by another respected magician Oskar Korhonen, they both would also receive The Davant Award for their life’s work. But, as the enthusiastic crowd applauds the pair, it becomes clear something is very wrong. Yes, deadly wrong, and Uncle Harry is handcuffed and arrested! Since it looks like no one’s going home anytime soon, the group gets an offer to stay at Laurence Baxter’s estate, one of Harry’s friends and himself a magician. And when another dead body appears, Eli and former police inspector McHugh think one of the aged magicians may be the next target or the killer. But just as any good magician will tell you, misdirection is the key to any wonderful illusion. Ok, I'm hooked!

Who wouldn't be fascinated by magicians and the illusions they create! I remember my grandfather pulling coins out of my ear when I was four-years-old and going back to him for more and more, until he looked deep in my ear and said, “It's empty!” Gaspard has provided a story rich with engaging twists and turns and a delightful sense of humor. I had some queries about background as the series has four books already, and some references to London sites and British personalities were inaccurate (Judi, not Judy), but the plot, characters, and a “surprise” ending more than made up for it. In the background we have an old friend of Eli’s popping in and the continuing relationship between Eli and Megan. I highly recommend “The Linking Rings.”

I really enjoy this series...from the magic to the mystery to the romance (even though that is such a small part).

In this 4th book, Eli is caught up in several murders in London. Plus a bit of a scuffle with his high school classmate, Jake North. Eli and Harry have flown to London so that Harry can participate in a show with his cronies never expecting to be caught up in the middle of a murder (or two or three)!

The mystery is well written - I only sort of guessed the murderer but not until the end when the clues were being revealed. It was quite surprising the events that unfolded at the end, but not too surprising when you consider the motive and the players. I liked the banter between Roy and Roxanne, it was quite comical. The other characters/magicians were intriguing due to their role and their chosen profession. There was a bit of tension between Eli and Jake, but considering the facts this is not too surprising.

There is a nice romantic twist at the end with Megan. I rather like her character because she comes across as very down to earth and low key.

"What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes" - Harry Houdini

Eli Marks is a magician who has accompanied his uncle Harry, also a magician, to London for a special show at the Magic Circle, the most illustrious magic club anywhere. It is also the first time the Magnificent Magi, a group of select magicians, have reunited in many years. While they don't at first have a lot of time for reminiscing, Harry and Oskar, one of the other magicians, are going to perform an act together, and are starting rehearsal. But when something goes terribly wrong and Oskar is killed, Harry is put front and center as the most likely suspect.

But the rest of the magi don't believe it for a minute. They don't know who killed him, but they know it wasn't Harry. Then Laurence Baxter, the most famous of them, invites everyone to stay at his home out in Hampstead Heath. So Harry, Eli and Eli's girlfriend Megan temporarily move to the estate, along with the rest of them. The only one not staying is a retired police detective named McHugh that Harry has called upon to help solve whatever is going on.

But within a day or two of arriving, another of the magi is found dead - poisoned - at the estate, and now they are all taking things seriously. Someone is obviously on the loose killing people, and it's likely that the murderer is among those at the estate. But who? None of them truly believe another of murder, but there doesn't seem to be any other explanation.

To top it off, an old school friend of Eli's, Jake North, is also in London starring in a play. While Eli would normally be happy to see him, he discovers that Jake has done something unthinkable, and it may change - or end - their friendship permanently.

Things may get worse before they get better, and Eli realizes that he has to figure out what exactly is going on if he's to see that Harry gets home safe; but he still has a few tricks up his sleeve that will certainly come in handy if they're going to escape from the mess they've been thrown into...

I do love magicians. I do love mysteries. So together they make for a perfect story, and this is very good indeed. Our friend Eli, based in Minneapolis, has traveled to London with Harry and Eli's fianceé Megan for a short vacation and to enjoy the goings-on. He doesn't expect to find that Megan has booked them into a nightmare of a hotel, nor that his friend Jake is being underhanded, nor that Harry will be a murder suspect. But there you are - and Eli is right in the middle of it.

It's a fast-moving story with a lot going on, and slightly reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. (But don't be alarmed; it's not a rip-off at all). It's put together well, and a ton of fun to read. I especially found McHugh interesting, and it would be wonderful if he showed up in a future book or two.

When all is said and done, and the murderer is revealed, it's quite a surprise. It's like magic - you think you see one thing, but it may be something else entirely - or not. This is a delightful series that has plenty going for it - mystery, intrigue, suspense, wonderful characters - and you just might find a little bit of magic yourself in reading it. Highly recommended.

THE LINKING RINGS by John Gaspard is the fourth in a series featuring Eli Marks (but the first I have read by this author). This mystery takes place in London where Eli, his girlfriend Megan, and Uncle Harry are attending a celebration of the Magic Circle. Harry and Eli are practicing magicians and their tricks are often discussed although no secrets are given away. In this offering, Harry and another older magician, Oskar, are to be honored. It's not giving much away to reveal that the curtain goes up and Oskar is found dead with Harry as a chief suspect. Several more murders occur and the mystery continues with plenty of possible suspects. I think this book does a good job of offering a fairly "cozy" mystery, but some of the references to London sights and phrases feel off – maybe that's part of the point since Eli and Harry are Americans?

The Linking Rings is the 4th Eli Marks mystery by John Gaspard. I read it as a standalone and it worked very well. I intend to chase down the first three books in the series.

The 'hook' for the series is that the main characters are, and the action happens around, magicians and their performances. The main character, Eli, is a performer and co-owns a magic store with his famous uncle Harry, also a magician. Harry and Eli are off to London for a special set of performances at a famous magic venue, The Magic Circle. The performance schedule is upended when one of Uncle Harry's former cronies, Oskar, is literally stabbed in the back by a chair prop on their first night.

This is a traditional whodunnit. The characters are maybe a bit standard (the bumbler, the femme fatale, the lush, the womanizer, etc), but they're pretty well written and the book is a fun read. The dialogue is well written and the foreshadowing and clues are presented creatively and relatively subtly. One thing I really enjoyed a lot about this book was the humor. The main characters definitely don't take themselves too seriously and the dialogue is often sparkling and witty. I really liked the repartee and patter between Roy and his wife, Roxanne; they seemed to genuinely like one another (at least under the surface).

This is a clean mystery and the murders (though one of them is fairly horrific) are all written tamely and without graphic descriptions. The dialogue is also clean and except for an occasional 'hell' or 'damn' has nothing which will dismay readers.

I enjoyed it very much and recommend it to lovers of classic amateur sleuth fiction. One small caveat, the author writes at a couple of different points in the book that Eli's uncle Harry is being held because murder is 'a capital crime' in the UK. I thought at first that the book itself was set pre-1965 (the point at which capital punishment was abolished in Great Britain), but then the author talks about clearly modern landmarks like the London Eye. It's not a huge discrepancy and it doesn't have any overall effect on the plot, so it isn't going to be any sort of issue for the vast majority of readers.

I intend to find the first three books in the series, high praise from me.

Four stars, well written and entertaining.

“To see oursels as ithers see us...” 3½ stars

When his uncle Harry is invited to perform at the Magic Circle in London, Eli Marks takes the opportunity of turning the trip into a holiday for himself and his girlfriend, Megan. But things take a dramatic turn when one of the magicians slated to appear with Harry dies on stage – killed by a “magic” contraption. As Harry falls under suspicion, Eli and some of Harry's magician friends must try to find out what happened...

I love this series so approached this book with high expectations and it has a lot of the elements that make the series so enjoyable. Eli is a first person narrator (past tense) and it's always fun to listen in on his thoughts about the people he meets. Gaspard always presents the stage magic interestingly, without breaking the magician's code of not revealing how tricks are done. I love the interaction between Eli and his elderly uncle and, by extension, the older generation of stage magicians he knows from the days when stage magic was still bigger than TV magic.

But the transplanting of the characters to London didn't work so well for me. Thankfully Gaspard doesn't go the funny accent route, but he does keep suggesting that perfectly commonplace English expressions are actually American in origin and therefore hard for us old-fashioned throwbacks to use confidently. And when Eli began to refer to his hotel as Fawlty Towers, it set my teeth on edge somewhat. It's such a cliché. I also can't help but get picky about factual inaccuracies that could have been sorted by a little research: for example, the suggestion that magistrates are responsible for charging people with crimes, or a police officer using the term 'capital crime' in a country that abolished capital punishment back when the Beatles still had short hair. Irritating errors like these, and there were several more of them, tend to throw me out of the flow of the story.

However, I doubt any of these things would annoy American readers, who will make up the bulk of Gaspard's audience, so hey ho! But I personally will be glad when Eli returns to Minnesota for his next adventure.

Otherwise, the plot itself is quite fun with its origins back in Harry's past, leading to enjoyable reminiscing among the entertaining group of magicians who've assembled for the performances at the Magic Circle. It seemed to me to cross the credibility line more than usual in this series, and perhaps not to be quite as “fair play”. But there's plenty of humour in it and Eli is as likeable a hero as always.

I know this review has been quite critical but I did enjoy reading the book overall, although it certainly isn't my favourite in the series. However, it was good to see the personal stories of the main characters move forward, and I look forward to meeting up with them all again in their next outing. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Henery Press.

Eli Marks, his girlfriend Megan, and his uncle Harry are in London so that Harry can participate in a week-long series of performances honoring Harry and a circle of his magician friends. However, the week gets off to a bad start when the curtain opens to find Harry standing next to his fellow performer Oskar. The problem is Oskar has been stabbed in the back. Naturally, the police consider Harry a strong suspect, but Harry has another question – was Oskar the intended victim, or what is Harry?

The book gets off to a quick start and the pace never falters over the course of the story. I did find that Eli spends more time reacting to everything going on instead of actually investigating, but he does put the pieces together at the end. And I was having so much fun I didn’t care. While we don’t see the rest of the series regulars in this book, the new characters more than make up for it. The glimpse into the world of magic is wonderful once again, and I couldn’t help but laugh at some of Eli’s observations and one couple we meet here.

The Linking Rings by John Gaspard is the 4th book in An Eli Marks Mystery series, and it is full of fun and magic. Eli and his Uncle Harry make a trip to London, and before they know it, Uncle Harry is a suspected of murder. Eli is determined to solve the murder and save his uncle. This book kept me on my toes with all the twists and turns. Looking forward to the next book in the series. If you enjoy a fun mystery, give this book/series a try.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for a fair and honest review.

4.5 stars
Eli Marks, his girlfriend and his uncle Harry all arrive in London and within 24 hours a murder has occurred. Eli and Megan are there for an extended vacation which was designed to overlap a short 2 -day trip Harry was making for a reunion of sorts at London’s magic society, The Magic Circle. As part of the reunion, Harry is to perform before the magicians with one of his peers. Before the performance can even begin, Harry’s counterpart is murdered.
This leads to Harry being held as a “person of interest” and extending his stay in London. In quick succession, other elder magicians start turning up dead. Eli, Megan and Harry, along with an ex-London cop friend of Harry’s, start trying to identify a connection between the deaths that makes sense and points to the killer.
This is the 4th Eli Marks mystery but the first I have read in the series. I was expecting the book to be filled with magician tricks and the minutiae of how tricks are worked but was pleasantly surprised that the book didn’t expend more time than needed on the tricks themselves. The magic is a backdrop to the actual storylines. The author uses magic to explain the reason for the characters being together and their interrelationships but doesn’t get bogged down in needing to expand on the actual magic “technicalities”. I found this to be a perfect balance.
Would certainly recommend this book!
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Henery Press, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Why was I interested in this book?
This is the 4th Eli Marks mystery. The first, The Ambitious Card, established Eli as our working magician and amateur sleuth protagonist. I’ve enjoyed the whole series.

What Worked
Gaspard’s details about magic and the social aspects surrounding magicians are always great. Magicians have a strange dynamic of friendship/rivalry which I’m not sure exists in other industries. It’s a lot of fun and adds a certain amount of drama to situations.

The setting of The Linking Rings shifts away from the Twin Cities in Minnesota to London. While the sense of place isn’t as strong, I never doubted Eli and Harry jumping from tube station to tube station as murders happen around them.

What Didn’t Work (as much)
Set in London, this volume of the series doesn’t have one of the relationships that have made the other mysteries work better: Eli’s district attorney ex-wife and her cop fiance. Without these hooks into the investigation, the clues in The Linking Rings just sort of accumulate around Eli. While he’s instrumental in the climax of the story, solving of the mystery feels abrupt.

Overall
This is a fun, honest mystery. Eli Marks is a great character and I’m hoping that John Gaspard continues to provide magic in future books.

This is the first book in this series that I've read and the first book by this author. I enjoyed the mystery and liked the characters although I felt like I was missing out on some information about their backstories. That's perhaps not a surprise as it's the 4th book in the series, but this was missing some of the subtle background detail reminding that I've seen done in a lot of other series. The other thing that didn't work for me was some inaccuracies around some of the detail around London and British culture. This probably isn't going to annoy many people - because if you're reading it in the US you may not know/not notice, but as I work in London and use some of the things that he was talking about I noticed *big time* when underground stations were misnamed (twice at least) and other weird stuff happened. It was especially annoying as the author clearly had done some research - just not enough to realise that Judi Dench spells her name with an i not a y or that a live late night chat show wouldn't be on BBC Four... But I liked the mystery enough that I would try one of the other books in the series and hope if it's set in a different location I wouldn't notice any similar mistakes (if there were any) as much.

The Linking Rings is a fascinating look at London’s Magic Circle, “ the most prestigious magic club in the world” (as per Wikipedia), through the eyes of an amateur sleuth from
America as he and his friends attempt to solve a series of murders which systematically whittles away at the club’s members.

As the reader makes his way through this unique novel, they are introduced to a number of real professional magicians as well as the characters in the story. This reader found himself visiting Wikipedia multiple times to understand the men and women who define the world famous magician that call The Magic Circle their home in London men like Jay Marshal, Tommy Cooper, and Chung Ling Soo. I did not look up every name dropped in the course of the book’s 250+ pages.

As the deaths mount up, the list of suspects diminishes, but enough are left to make an interesting and provocative tale. Though the presence of magicians might make one expect the appearance of the macabre and mysterious, it is clear that all the magicians (both historical and fictional) are professionals, trained to entertain more than to introduce an unknown spiritual world (i.e. a world of ghosts, goblins, beasties, etc.). Though a number of tricks are described within the pages of the book, no secrets are disclosed, except those needed to identify the murderer.

For the fan of magic, cozy mysteries, or English history, The Linking Rings will make a good book to grab on a cold winter night or any other night.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

I've only read the first book in this series and have missed books 2 and 3. This one takes place in London and the reunion of several magicians who all started out at the same time. Eli Mark's Uncle Harry is suspected in the murder of another magician (although I found that a bit unreasonable given the circumstances), but one by one, the elder magicians of The Magic Circle are being taken out.

The trip certainly didn't turn out to be the romantic London vacation Eli hoped. Strangely not all that suspenseful and parts dragged a bit.

NetGalley/Henery Press