LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Highly entertaining, this murder mystery takes place over the lead-up to the Christmas before the Second World War begins, and absolutely revels in its fiendishly intricate depths. This retelling of a tale from the early 1600’s, set within the Golden Age of crime, is the third in the Spector Locked-Room Mystery series.
Joseph Spector leads the charge as magician turned sleuth while Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard is an admirable second. Author Tom Mead sets layer upon twisted layer of mystifying puzzles for the reader to solve. While I found myself celebrating certain wins, I was left reeling by the revelations as they played out in front of me.
The setting of a country house suffering from dark deeds is full of atmosphere and plays wonderfully against the theatre of Spector. While the locked-room element sits within this tale with panache, there is so much more to discover. There are a whole host of suspects, and I delighted in how perfectly dreadful they could be.
Cabaret Macabre deserves a round of applause, as it takes all of the elements required for a Golden Age crime mystery and magics them into a fabulously twisty yet beautifully readable and satisfying novel.
About Cabaret Macabre
Victor Silvius has spent nine years as an inmate at The Grange, a private sanatorium, for the crime of attacking judge Sir Giles Drury. Now, the judge's wife, Lady Elspeth Drury, believes that Silvius is the one responsible for a series of threatening letters her husband has recently received. Eager to avoid the scandal that involving the local police would entail, Lady Elspeth seeks out retired stage magician Joseph Spector, whose discreet involvement in a case Sir Giles recently presided over greatly impressed her.
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Cabaret Macabre Synopsis
Victor Silvius has spent nine years as an inmate at The Grange, a private sanatorium, for the crime of attacking judge Sir Giles Drury. Now, the judge's wife, Lady Elspeth Drury, believes that Silvius is the one responsible for a series of threatening letters her husband has recently received. Eager to avoid the scandal that involving the local police would entail, Lady Elspeth seeks out retired stage magician Joseph Spector, whose discreet involvement in a case Sir Giles recently presided over greatly impressed her.
Meanwhile, Miss Caroline Silvius is disturbed after a recent visit to her brother Victor, convinced that he isn't safe at The Grange. Someone is trying to kill him and she suspects the judge, who has already made Silvius' life a living hell, may be behind it. Caroline hires Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard to investigate.
The two cases collide at Marchbanks, the Drury family seat of over four hundred years, where a series of unnerving events interrupt the peace and quiet of the snowy countryside. A body is discovered in the middle of a frozen pond without any means of getting there and a rifle is fired through a closed window, killing a man but not breaking the glass. Only Spector and his mastery of the art of misdirection can uncover the logical explanations for these impossible crimes.
An atmospheric and puzzling traditional mystery that pays homage to the greatest writers of the genre's Golden Age, Cabaret Macabre is the third book in Tom Mead's Joseph Spector series, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "a recipe for pure nostalgic pleasure." The books can be enjoyed in any order.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781613165300 |
| Publication date: |
16th July 2024 |
| Author: |
Tom Mead |
| Publisher: |
Mysterious Press an imprint of Penzler Publishers |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Series: |
Joseph Spector Series |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Tom Mead Press Reviews
'It made such a refreshing change to read something so different. It really had it all, and his characters are so well 'fleshed out' that you can picture them with ease. The twisted and complex puzzle totally foxed me, and although I hate to admit it, I really didn't have a clue whodunnit! Entertaining, even if it did give me one heck of a headache trying to work out the fiendishly clever answer to both the locked room mystery and the body in the lake!' - Joy Ellis, #1 bestselling author
'For the lover of locked room mysteries, for the devotee of Golden Age tales, for the book connoisseur whose heart leaps at the sight of maps and diagrams, and—above all—for the reader who won’t be satisfied with anything less than a twisty and ingenious plot: Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you the incomparable Tom Mead.' - G.M. Malliet, Agatha Award-winning author of the St Just and Max Tudor mysteries
'A tour de force of devious plotting and malicious wit.' - Judith Cutler, author of the Matthew Rowsley Victorian Mysteries
'Cabaret Macabre, the third book in Tom Mead’s Joseph Spector series, is absolutely stunning—a locked room mystery that’s so masterfully executed, “twisty” doesn’t begin to describe it. With its atmospheric setting and characters as real as your next-door neighbors, this book is a pure delight.' - Karen Dionne, author of the #1 international bestseller The Marsh King's Daughter and The Wicked Sister
Author
About Tom Mead
Tom Mead is an aficionado of Golden Age crime fiction. His short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Lighthouse, as well as Best Crime Stories of the Year (ed. Lee Child). Death and the Conjuror, his debut novel, featuring illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector, was highly acclaimed by the UK and US press and was one of Publishers Weekly's Mysteries of the Year.
He lives in Derbyshire, England.
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