Death and the Conjuror
by Tom Mead
Show Notes
Mysterious Press July 2022
ON episode 242 and we are finally back after our holiday hiatus. We are fiinally reporting on the book Death
and the Conjuror: A Locked Room Mystery by Tom Mead. We assigned this book back in September but
have not been able to publish our findings until now.
This a throwback locked room mystery set in 1936 London. Renowned psychiatrist Anselm Rees is found
dead in his study.
The cast of characters includes his adult daughter who he trained in the field, her fiancé, the housekeeper,
Detective Flint, Spector the conjurer, along with a variety of interesting character walk-ons and Patients 1, 2
and 3, all successful in the arts.
There's an actress, a writer and a famed musician and the notes on their sessions reveal much. Having been
a fan in my earliest years of mystery ready of the classic authors to produced these confections, this had
great characters and was well plotted. A bit of magic and old fashioned police work save the day.
At the time of his death, both the room and the windows were locked from the inside. There were other people
in the residence who swore that no one else entered or left the house. To make it more confounding, the
murder happened within a five minute window of time.
Inspector George Flint is delegated to solve the “murder as a puzzle,” as our author has it. He knows he
needs help, and calls upon Joseph Spector -- the “old magician.” The conjuror of our title. The novel boasts
not one, but three locked room mysteries. Two are murders, one is an art theft.
The body count increases by one, in another impossible crime. The press begins looking for “the phantom
killer.” Readers may begin to agree that, as Spector says, they’re faced with a “puzzle with too many pieces.”
But he is a magician, after all.
Tom Mead's website is tommeadauthor.com
TRIVIA
The last question (before the holiday break) was:
Tim Dorsey writes a mystery series featuring Serge A. Slorm. What makes him unique among
mystery protagonists?
a. He is blind
b. He is transgender
c. He has amnesia
d. He suffers from several types of mental illness
The answer is d. He suffers from several types of mental illness. He is described as tall and
thin, but muscular, with dark hair shot through with gray. Serge has been diagnosed with a
variety of mental illnesses, and has been prescribed a "cocktail" of drugs to keep him stable His
name is a pun on storm surge. Most often described as "intense" in personality, he is
a vagrant with a voracious intellect and an encyclopedic knowledge of Florida history, but prone
to periods of "focus" that lead him to commit brutal - and often elaborately planned and staged -
acts of violence.
This week's question is:
Which mystery author is famously quoted as saying :”If it sounds like writing, then I rewrite it.”
a. Elmore Leonard
b. Dan Brown
c. Clive Cussler
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tune in next week for the answe.