It’s 1964, and Max Mephisto is now a movie star in Hollywood, married to another movie star and father of two new children, in addition to eldest daughter Ruby, who is a television star now in her own right. Edgar Stephens, meanwhile, is now Chief Superintendent and married to the former DS Emma Holmes, the latter now a housewife and mother to three children. All are reunited at the funeral of another old magician, and Max is also being recruited to join a young American star who is making an updated version of Little Lord Fauntleroy, so he plans to stay in Brighton for a while. When a young girl goes missing, and it turns out that other young girls had recently disappeared too, the friends use their various means to investigate the matter, a matter that soon turns to murder…. I had enjoyed the Magic Men series by Ms. Griffith, of which this is the fifth, but when I learned that this book would take a big leap in time (from the early 1950s to 1964), I was reluctant to follow as I felt a lot of the magic of the earlier books was due to the little-explored period of time in which it was set. Which is why I’m only reading it in 2024, 5 years after it was published; enough time has passed for me now that the 11-year leap didn’t pose a problem for me after all. I find that I still enjoy the characters and want to know what happens to them, both good reasons for reading this book; and Emma’s discontent with her circumscribed lot in life (a wife and mother cannot also be a cop in 1964 England) is very well handled. There is enough background story given for readers unfamiliar with the series to enjoy this one on its own, although it’s such fun to spend time with these eccentric characters that I expect someone reading this as a stand-alone will want to go back to the first four in the series; recommended! ( )

The disappearance of 3 young women who have left similar goodbye notes sparks an investigation. And then the body of one of them is discovered and is followed by the disappearance of Ruby Magic, Max Mephisto's daughter. Ruby has also left a note telling people not to worry. But Ruby has missed work, an left her cat locked up in her flat.

Meanwhile Edgar Stephens' wife Emma is very much feeling underused and left out. She was one of the first female detective sergeants in the country, but she resigned on her marriage. Emma feels she could still make a useful contribution. In the long run it is Emma who eventually works out what has happened to the girls.

Set in the 1960s, the plot definitely shows how things are changing. Max has been asked to accept a role in a film with a film star of some prominence. ( )

“Three girls have left. None have come back.”

I’m not sure what I can say about this one other than it was dull, dull, dull. I get that in the 1960’s attitudes towards women and their perceived role in life was different but that did not make reading about a housewife who wants more any less boring. The other characters were not exactly engaging or lifelike either. I don’t think any character was happy or living their best life! ( )

I have been reading Griffiths' other detective series (the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries) and picked up this one secondhand, thinking it was in the same series.

Instead, it is no 5 in a different series (the Brighton Mysteries). Double blunder (wrong series/ out of order) on my part.

It was a perfectly fine read, though with a fair number in the Ruth Galloway series still to go, I will concentrate on them. If I am still looking for more from Griffiths' after that I will go back to the beginning of this series and see how I go.

Big Ship

5 July 2023 ( )

I've read the whole series up till this one but even after 5 books, only Max seems pretty real to me as a character (usually). Edgar is still a cipher, and Emma, in this book, seems to be more of a proto-feminist role player than an actual person. The last couple of chapters of seemed so phony, I was just rolling my eyes waiting for the end. ( )