Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Zig Zag Girl

Title: Zig Zag Girl
Author: Elly Griffiths
Published: November 6th 2014 by Quercus
Format: Hardcover, 328 pages
Genre: Mystery
Series: DI Stephens & Max Mephisto #1

Loving the Dr. Ruth Galloway Mysteries, I was happy to see that Ms. Griffiths has begun a new series with Detective Inspector Edgar Stevens and Max Mephisto, this time, taking place in Brighton during the 1950’s. I must admit that was my initially drawback. For me, the book felt more like the 1850’s and I had to remind myself of the true period.

Detective Inspector Edgar Stevens is called in when the head and legs of a woman are found in two suitcases. Days later, the torso is sent to Detective Stevens addressed to him using his former military ranking. The image of this woman reminds him of a magic trick that he saw years ago performed by Max Mephisto. Max not only was a well-known illusionist he was also a friend of Edgar’s back when they served together in the war.

They were part of a group called the Magic Men, a group that was based in Scotland during the war and used illusion and subterfuge to gain intelligence. Flash forward to their current time, the two must work together to solve this crime. A crime that is becoming more and more obvious that the true culprit is someone that they know. Someone is using his illusions in a deadly manner to lure and expose their involvement in this secret group. Grudgingly, Max now has no options; he must help Edgar since he knows the murdered girl and also the people that could be involved.

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