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. ( )

In this fifth instalment, Elly Griffiths’s captivating series of novels set in Brighton and featuring Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto has moved on a few years. We are now in the early 1960s, and Stephens has been promoted to Superintendent. He is also married to former Detective Sergeant Emma Holmes, and they have three children. Having relished her career as a police officer, Emma now struggles to overcome her resentment at having to relinquish it simply because she is married. Meanwhile, after scoring success in a few films, max has relocated to America where he too is married (in his case to a noted Hollywood beauty) and has two children.

The book opens with Edgar and Max being reunited for the sad purpose of attending the funeral of their former colleague and friend, The Great Diablo, with whom they had served during the Second World War. Max is staying for a little while, as he is helping a producer to find suitable filming locations for a movie in which Max has agreed to star, although he feels a little bitter that he is now being hired to play the father of the leading star, rather than as the principal attraction himself.

The Great Diablo’s wake is cut short when Edgar receives news that a young woman has gone missing. This is the third such disappearance, and this time it creates a greater stir because the girl’s father is not only a wealthy and successful businessman, but is also the local MP. The issue becomes more fraught when Max’s daughter (and Edgar’s former fiancé) is the fourth woman to disappear.

As usual, Griffiths keeps the plot rolling along very effectively. The characters in this series are as finely drawn as those in the Ruth Galloway novels, and gain even greater solidity and depth with each new outing. The historical detail seems very appealing too, with the threat of a Bank Holiday clash between the Mods and the Rockers looming over the latter half of the novel.

I also applaud the author for her ability convincingly to capture and depict the reactions and emotions of her male characters. Edgar and max seem wholly plausible to me.

Casting an eye back over my reading so far this year, I realise that this is the seventeenth novel I have read by Elly Griffiths. Ordinarily I would worry that I might be nearing the end of my patience for a single author after so much exposure within such a relatively short period, but I am now very keen to return to Dr Galloway’s exploits as soon as I can. ( )