"Death and the Conjuror" by Tom Mead immerses readers in 1930s London, where the murder of celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees in his locked study baffles Scotland Yard. With no clues or witnesses, the Yard turns to retired stage magician and part-time sleuth Joseph Spector for help. Known for his expertise in illusions, Spector navigates through a web of dark secrets among the psychiatrist's patients and household, uncovering motives for murder and a connection to an impossible theft.

As the investigation deepens, another murder in an impenetrable elevator raises the stakes, linking the crimes in ways that challenge even Spector's skills. Mead's narrative blends atmospheric historical detail with a classic whodunit plot, promising readers a gripping journey through deception, intrigue, and the art of illusion in a bygone era of mystery and suspense.

In 1936 a prominent Austrian psychiatrist is murdered in his London home. He is found dead in a room locked from the inside. The Scotland Yard detective assigned to the case hates locked room mysteries, so of course he calls upon the semi-retired magician Joseph Spector to help him solve the murder. Fortunately, the doctor had only 3 patients, so that kept the list of suspects under control. Unfortunately, they all had alibis. Later, there is another locked room murder to muddy the waters.

I like locked room murder mysteries and I did enjoy this one. However, the fact that the characters kept referring to John Dickson Carr just acted as a reminder that his books are much more entertaining than this one, and that is primarily due to his characters. The magician/detective in this book was no fun at all. The resolution of the murders was extremely convoluted, but that is par for the course in this genre. If this book is the start of a series I will probably try the next book. The narration of the audio book was very good.

I received a free copy of this audio book from the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to listen to the audio version of this book.

I will start off with a review of the book and then the narration of it. First, if you are a fan of John Dickson Carr novels, Agatha Christie's Poirot or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, then you will like Tom Mead's debut book, Death and the Conjuror. This is a whodunit mystery that keeps you guessing. A locked-room murder mystery similar to Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie or The Case of the Constant Suicides by Carr. The setting is London, 1930s with world renowned psychiatrist Anselm Rees being murdered in his office, but by who and how did they it occur in a locked room with no way of escape that can be seen. There is also a second murder and the theft of a priceless painting. Are they related, you will have to read the book. Illusionist Spector and Detective Flint will remind you of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Lestrade in how they play off one another.

The book will keep you guessing to the very end, even when you think you might know the culprit.

If I could separate the narration, it would not receive the rating given for the overall book as it would be much lower. As stated, the setting is London, 1930s, yet the narrator does not have a British accent and unfortunately he falls short when shifting from one character's voice to the other. For example, Anselm Rees is from Germany, but the narrator does not give him a German accent, it's more like a Middle Eastern's accent. And he equally fails when shifting from male voice to female voice.

Overall, if you like a good murder mystery book, then you will enjoy this, just get the print version over the audio or if you decide on the audio, know that it has some challenges.

1930’s locked room mystery with with a few surprises I did not see coming. Felt like watching a classic black and white film. A quick read. I will continue the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for sending me an audiobook arc.

I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher via NetGalley.

2.5* rounded down. I had heard so many good things about this novel that I was sure I was going to love it, but in the end I found it too cerebral and a little tiresome. As other reviewers have noted, although it is set in 1936 there isn't a lot of period colour and the characterization was rather superficial. Maybe it was listening to it while trying to overcome jet lag, but it was all too convoluted and the solutions so deviously convoluted and unlikely that I lost interest in trying to grasp them, let alone work them out for myself. The audiobook narrator made Joseph Spector's voice very supercilious and 'stagy' which grated on me. I've only recently started listening to audiobooks again and I don't understand why the narrator, having got to the end of a sentence where they clearly misplaced the stress or mispronounced a word (e.g.Bodleian), doesn't re-record that sentence...?

The publishers summary says this book has a “baffling plot.” And that’s true, though the feeling the reader takes away from it is something different than what they surely meant to convey.

The setup for this mystery is a fine one, an homage to John Dickson Carr and the Locked Room Mystery. Accompanying that is a solid set of suspects and an amateur sleuth who plays the archetypal role well enough.

But the positives end there. First, there’s the aforementioned “baffling plot.” Which might have been fun had it led to a logical conclusion. Alas, the solve for this was incredibly convoluted in a way that just renders it poorly done. And contrary to the through-the-fourth-wall moment that the author half-jokingly inserts into the narrative to mimic genre structure, you actually do NOT have all the information you need to solve this. Or anything close to it.

Mysteries that rely on an info dump at the end to solve the case are almost always terrible unless they have some other element to recommend the reading experience, like strong atmosphere or excellent characters. Both of those things can at least partially save a book for me even if the solve is a mess. Unfortunately, this book has very little atmosphere and the characters, while satisfactory enough, are not uniquely intriguing.

Audiobook readers: Obviously I’m not recommending this book in any format, but it certainly doesn’t lose anything in audio format if you’re still interested in it. The story works fine for the medium and the narrator is excellent.

This incredible book is a classic closed room whodunnit mystery. It takes place in London in the 1930’s. Scotland Yard, with the help of a former magician, investigates the murder case of psychiatrist Anselm Rees. He is found dead in his home office by his housekeeper and one of his patients. But the windows and doors appear to be locked tight, no one else is in the room with him and there is no murder weapon. There was recent rain, and there are no footprints in the garden going to the window. There is a large cast of interesting macabre characters that could be responsible for this murder and they must get past the smoke and mirrors to figure out how this crime could have possibly happened. Nothing appears what it seems. This was a really fun read!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Death and the Conjuror is a classic whodunnit, complete with the collection of all suspects and a big reveal in the final chapter. Even though this genre is not my personal favorite, I enjoy the modern twist of the genre that Anthony Horowitz has made his own, and I was looking forward to this book.
However, the story line was moving extremely slowly, and the Sherlock Holmes character became insufferable before the book finished.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was a quick and fun whodunit/locked room mystery. I enjoyed trying to figure out what happened! I did feel like it almost entirely a conversation and no real imagery, which isn't really my style. The narrator was good though!

Picture it: London, 1936.

The Pomegranate Theatre is putting on a production of "Miss Death", and everyone is going; among them, psychologist Anselm Rees and his daughter, Lydia. Dr. Rees left Vienna to take up residence in London, where he is seeing three new patients. When tragedy strikes, and we're left wondering "whodunnit", there is no shortage of suspects. The reclusive writer, the would-be, old-money son-in-law, an acrimonious patient? Or is the truth stranger than we could ever imagine?

This book was like reading a game of Clue, complete with a diverse cast of characters that will leave you guessing. The narrator of the audio was perfect. The only thing I was missing was more imagery of the surroundings. 1930s London has the potential for stunning world-building, and I'd have loved to see more of that.

Thank you to Tom Mead and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to review this fun mystery.

Thoroughly enjoyed, and was saddened that I couldn't find more. (Ha!This is his Debut.) I want a series.

This starts like all Masterpiece episodes, however, the author has chosen magic as his gimmick, and I loved it. The personality, charm, and magic of Spector is endearing. I liked him. Spector is called in by Scotland Yard. Who better to figure out how a murder is committed in a locked room than a magician. This worked for me.

The narrator, Jake Ruddle, was perfect.

Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for accepting my request to read and review Death and the Conjuror.

This was a fun, fresh new take on a locked room mystery, and the narrator is truly marvelous.. I really liked how the element of magic was included, but not overdone where the book felt supernatural. I would have liked to see a stronger sense of place and time, as it was easy to forget this is a historical mystery. Overall, a good read with a solid plot and ending.

Need to solve a locked room mystery? Find yourself a master of illusion like semi-retired stage magician Joseph Spector.

This whodunnit feels like an homage to the golden age of detective novels and adopts several of it’s hallmarks including a locked room, an eccentric amateur sleuth, and a challenge for readers to solve the mystery first.

I enjoyed this story. The audiobook is narrated by Jake Ruddle. He did a great job bringing this mystery novel to life.

This was fun! Solid 4 stars! It is pretty different from what I usually read, but I was like murder mystery with a magician set in 1930's London...I could get into this! And I did! This was a pretty quick listen at just over 6 hours. The narrator, Jake Ruddle, did a great job of giving each character a voice.

Now I am not a mystery reader, so I had to look up what 'fair play' meant - which is where the book contains all the clues the reader needs to solve the crime on their own - awesome! Lol when the reveal happened I was like Oh Ok...ya I'd never put that together in like a million years. Maybe if I had the actual book to flip back through and analyze...but probably not 😅. Not a commentary on the book, more a commentary about my locked room murder solving ability.

Anyway, this was a fun way to spend a few hours. I especially loved the interlude - fun little touch that made me think of Clue or even older vaudeville/magic shows and such. Give it a read (or listen) and see if you can figure it out better than me!

Thank you to Tom Mead, Jake Ruddle, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very intriguing mystery--until it wasn't. A dangled intrigue-carrot quickly becomes annoying when there's no payoff. By the end I was over the impossible-ness of the crime and just wanted answers...but then, ironically, Spector's long monologue explaining how it had happened bored me to tears. Monologues, especially let's-halt-the-climax-while-we-explain-everything-because-it's-too-convoluted-for-anyone-to-possibly-guess monologues, are a big no-no. If you've got one of those in your mystery, and your name isn't Agatha Christie, you're doing it wrong.

And yeah--bullshit. How the crime happened was so goddamned convoluted and dependent upon variables that the stars had to have aligned to make it all work out successfully for the perp; I honestly don't believe anyone could have figured out how it all happened.

It is a brilliant premise, though--a master of illusion helping the police figure out a seemingly impossible whodunit. Sure, why not? This just wasn't well executed. I don't mean that Mead's a bad writer, he's not....the horrible monologue at the end just really pissed me off.

Jake Ruddle was an excellent narrator, though there were a few times he pronounced terms in an unusual way that was distracting. "Coupe," for instance, he pronounced koo-PAY. Not wrong, but I've only ever heard it pronounced koop, so I winced every time I heard koo-PAY.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and HighBridge Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, so a locked room mystery is nothing new - there are even escape rooms that simulate it for people to try and solve. HOWEVER, what Mead does so expertly is give modern readers a similar experience to readers during the days of Agatha Christie novels being first published. DEATH AND THE CONJUROR invites readers to try and solve the mysteries before all is revealed and while I had figured some of the pieces out myself, I was pleasantly surprised with how everything played out in the end.

I genuinely look forward to seeing what Mead has in store for readers with this series.

Jake Ruddle does a great job with the audiobook performance.

My thanks to Net Galley and Highbridge Audio for this delightful listen.

A psychiatrist killed in a locked room ,a theft,colorful cast of suspects, a second murder and a former magician turned sleuth. This is Death and the Conjuror. Story gives you the feel of an Agatha Christie style and formula. Very different investigator.

My only issue was narration a bit stuffy.

Highly recommend.

I did not see that coming.

You got to love a good locked room mystery. Death and the Conjuror is a story set in 1930 London where a well know psychiatrist is found murdered in own home. The kicker, he was murdered in his study which only has one door and one window- both of which were locked… from the inside! This is where Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard and his enlisted magician assistant, Joseph Spector come in. We quickly realize that not only does the murder seem impossible, but there is a line of potential suspects with a ton of clues that the two must work through. The questions keep popping up, who did it? Was it the doctor’s daughter and her fiancé? One of his eccentric patients? And how did they do it?

I am happy to say I could not figure it out for the life of me and I loved that- good job Tom Mead. I am really looking forward to reading more. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a real brain teaser.

Thank You to Tom Me adand HighBridge Audio, for the audio-digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I didn’t absolutely love this one, but I didn’t hate it either, it just fell a bit flat. I still recommend, but not my favorite.

This wonderful book by Tom Mead seems to be the beginning of a new series featuring Joseph Spector who is a retired stage magician and part-time sleuth. This story takes place in pre-WWII England and Spector uses his knowledge of the magic technology available at that time to assist in solving crimes. The crimes in this particular book are a murder and a possibly related art theft.

I have to admit there were a couple things that worried me before I even started to listen to this audiobook. First, from the description this book seemed to be in the style of classic murder-mystery authors of days long ago, like Agatha Christie. This worried me since I had stopped reading Agatha Christie because her great detective, Hercule Poirot, just seemed to pull solutions to mysteries out of thin air without having enough clues to do so. Second, I am the first to admit that I am TERRIBLE at guessing "whodunit". I have given up even trying to guess and just enjoy the book I'm listening to. I was hoping this one wouldn't be frustrating for me.

I was pleasantly surprised in both of these cases. Spector and the detectives from Scotland Yard that he was helping actually investigated and brought clues to the story as they uncovered them. And for a bonus from my perspective, at the end of the book everything was explained thoroughly and clearly enough for dummies like me. Thank you Mr. Mead! I am definitely looking forward to the next installment of this series.

And a big thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review!