This was a quick cosy crime read. It's a very traditional and literal locked room mystery, which is solved by a former magician. The concept of the book is all a lot of fun and I particularly enjoyed the way that the explanation at the end of the book was depicted, with page numbers even included in the footnotes so you could go back and double-check that it all made sense without having to re-read the whole book. My only complaint was that sometimes it felt a bit rushed, and the characters could have done with a little more development time.

Definitely one for fans of historical, Golden Age crime, magic and locked rooms. An enjoyable read that keeps you guessing and introduces a new series of books, I’ve already got the later stories on my Kindle, and am looking forward to reading those. Well done Tom for creating such an intricate puzzle.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review. Apologies for the delay in providing this.

This book was not for me. It felt like the synopsis had a lot of great moments and something that could work, but the writing is what really let me down. Everything felt clunky and not put together. I felt confused on the characters. It wasn’t even that I didn’t like the characters, which I didn’t, but I couldn’t understand them or understand what they wanted to do. it was just a miss for me and I would be curious for future books to see if it was a one off or if I can find a way to enjoy this author because I feel they have some really good ideas.

A terrifically yummy murder mystery set between the wars in London, Joseph Spector was a music hall magician, and now works for Scotland Yard incorporating his sleight of hand tricks to his cases, and this one takes place in a locked room! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC - I will definitely be looking for more of these books by the same author.

This was a perfect fantasy/murder mash-up. I loved the main character and the plot was well-paced. I will definitely read more by this author in the future.

Really enjoyed the smart writing and the historical detail in this novel. I was definitely hooked, and look forward to more writing by Tom Mead, especially in this series!

The style was not to my taste, and I did not appreciate the profane phrase and crude urinate-in-a-dustbin moment. Moving on to better books.

Content: profanity, crudity

Excellent locked door mystery that takes you back to 1930’s England. Perfect for those looking for their next mystery.

I was originally given a free ARC, however, I wasn’t able to read it prior to it being archived and had to find it elsewhere. This was a fun book to read. It follows a magician who is helping to solve the murder of an Austrian psychiatrist. I enjoyed reading this one.

“But increasingly over the last few years, he had been conscious of a burgeoning subgenre of crime, … These were the “impossible” crimes—typically high-society affairs, where men in locked rooms were killed under impractical circumstances, ... Murder as a puzzle.”

My thanks to Penzler Publishers/Mysterious Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Death and the Conjurer’ by Tom Mead. My apologies for the late feedback.

This is the first in Mead’s Locked Room Mysteries featuring retired stage magician Joseph Spector. As the above quote indicates it is a locked-room mystery as well as a tribute to the golden age whodunnit.

London, September, 1936. Celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard calls on Joseph Spector, a retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth. Who better to make sense of the impossible than someone who traffics in illusions?

Not only does Spector have an uncanny ability to explain the inexplicable, he seems to know everybody who is anybody in London society, including musicians, writers, and theatre folk. He also has a knack for getting people to open up to him, making him a useful asset to the detective.

Added to the original murder, there is an impossible theft and a second murder in an impenetrable elevator. It appears that all three impossible crimes are linked.

I so enjoyed getting to know Joseph Spector, whose upper crust accent could probably cut glass. This is one of the reasons I enjoy combining reading with the unabridged audiobook edition as its narrator brought an extra dimension to the novel.

I felt that Tom Mead did well in capturing the rich period detail of the pre-war period as well as creating a group of well rounded characters. I also appreciated that the novel opened with its cast of characters.

Overall, I found ‘Death and the Conjurer’ a witty historical mystery that was very entertaining. I have already downloaded Book 2, ‘The Murder Wheel’ and am looking forward to immersing myself in the next mystery for Joseph Spector and associates.

I loved the mystery of this book. It was definitely a fast-paced page turner. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, it changed. The suspense was the best and worked out well for this book. The characters were well written out and I felt like I was in the story and not just reading it. I cant wait to read the next book in the series

Brilliant. A masterful debut from an ingenious plotter and a worthy descendent of John Dickson Carr. Mead pulls off not one, not two, but THREE separate impossible crime plots within this book and managed to keep the reader satisfyingly in the dark until a brilliant moment of revelation near the end.

After the locked-room murder of a prominent psychologist, Scotland Yard detectives call on retired magician/amateur sleuth Joseph Spector for help. Spector's background in sleight of hand as well as his connections with many groups of people in 1930s London give him a different viewpoint on the murder mystery which turns into murders, each one an impossible situation.

This was an okay book for me, there was nothing outstanding about it but it was a pleasant read and the mysteries were pretty solid. Spector was an interesting character and the other characters in this book were also decently written and fleshed out. I felt that it went a bit too long and the theft subplot could have been dropped entirely and not damaged the overall story. I enjoy mysteries, but this one isn't my mystery cup of tea.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for an e-copy of this title.

"Death and The Conjurer" is a decent read, but it fell a bit short of my expectations. The story follows a young magician named Oliver who gets caught up in a murder investigation, and there are certainly some intriguing elements to the plot.

However, I found the pacing of the book to be a bit uneven. There were times when the story felt like it was moving too slowly, and other times when it felt rushed and confusing. Additionally, while the concept of a magic-themed murder mystery is intriguing, I felt that the execution of the idea was somewhat lacking. The actual magic tricks and illusions described in the book felt a bit underwhelming and didn't really add much to the story.

That being said, I did appreciate the character development in "Death and The Conjurer". Oliver is an interesting protagonist, and I enjoyed seeing his growth over the course of the book. The other characters are also fairly well-drawn, and there are some engaging relationships and conflicts between them.

Overall, while "Death and The Conjurer" wasn't my favorite read, it did have some redeeming qualities. If you're looking for a light mystery with a magic twist, this might be worth a read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. A murder mystery of who done it guess work. The first book in the Joseph Spector series. It keeps you going and suspenseful. Worth a try.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Death and the Conjuror is the first Joseph Spector locked room mystery by Tom Mead. Released July 2022 by Penzler, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out second quarter 2023. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

This is such a stylish and well written historical mystery set in the interwar period in England. Stage magician Joseph Spector joins forces with Scotland Yard inspector Flint to solve several "impossible" crimes. Readers who enjoy figuring out "how" before the sleuths will find a fiendishly clever puzzle here. I gave up trying to beat the mystery about halfway in (impossible crimes upon impossible crimes) and just enjoyed the ride.

The writing is top shelf; engaging and smooth. The characters are believably rendered and the plotting is well engineered and sophisticated. The whole is redolent of the time period without being clunky or archaic.

Four stars. A strong series start. For fans of Golden Age classic mysteries, this one definitely delivers. The classic great authors of the period aren't producing any more stories, and this one really does evoke the time without being derivative or precious. The second volume (The Murder Wheel) is due out in late 2023.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish

Death and the Conjuror was a very griping mystery. It keeps the reader interested in the case from the very beginning. The characters were well developed and the twists and turns kept the plot interesting. A very good whodunit.

Okay, you have to read this book! I normally can figure out whodunnit somewhere in the pages, but this one kept me guessing until the very end. SO GOOD!

This is a fun throwback locked room mystery set in 1936 London. Renowned psychiatrist Anselm Rees is found dead in his study. The cast of characters includes his adult daughter who he trained in the field, her fiancé, the housekeeper, Detective Flint, Spector the conjurer, a variety of interesting walk-ons and Patients 1, 2 and 3, all successful in the arts. There's an actress, a writer and a famed musician and the notes on their sessions reveal much. Having been a fan in my earliest years of mystery ready of the classic authors to produced these confections, this had great characters and was well plotted. A bit of magic and old fashioned police work save the day.