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Sleuth and illusionist Joseph Spector investigates his most complex case yet in this gripping new locked-room murder mystery, set in an English country house just before the Second World War.
Hampshire, 1938. When prominent judge Sir Giles Drury starts receiving sinister letters, his wife suspects Victor Silvius, a man confined to a sanatorium after attacking Sir Giles. Meanwhile, Silvius' sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered... by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles Drury.
Caroline seeks the advice of Scotland Yard's Inspector Flint, while the Drurys, eager to avoid a scandal, turn to Joseph Spector. Spector, renowned magician turned sleuth, has an uncanny knack for solving complicated crimes – but this case will test his powers of deduction to their limits.
At a snowbound English country house, a body is found is impossible circumstances. Spector and Flint's investigations collide as they find themselves trapped by the snowstorm where anyone could be the next victim – or the killer...#
I'm thrilled to be opening the blog tour for Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead today. Many thanks to Ransom PR and Head of Zeus for inviting me and for sending me a copy of the novel.
Cabaret Macabre is the third book in Tom Mead's Joseph Spector series. I thoroughly enjoyed Death and the Conjuror, and The Murder Wheel and he was already an auto-read author for me but this book is the best so far and I loved it. Each mystery is a stand-alone and although earlier cases are mentioned, there are no spoilers, so if you haven't yet read any books in the series, you can easily start here.
The gruesome discovery of a body at the very start of Cabaret Macabre heralds a fiendishly testing time for poor Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard. This particular murder is evidently such but the investigation into the man's demise quickly becomes of secondary importance after he is drawn into a complex, trying case which is linked to a rather more opaque previous tragedy. Flint is approached by Caroline Silvius, who explains she fears somebody wants to kill her brother, Victor. Meanwhile, the illusionist turned sleuth, Joseph Spector, is contacted by Lady Elspeth Drury, the wife of eminent judge, Sir Giles Drury as he has been receiving death threats via poison pen letters. She is convinced that Victor Silvius is the letter-writer as he blamed Sir Giles for the death of his girlfriend, Gloria Crain. Gloria died as a result of strychnine poisoning, recorded as suicide but Victor was convinced otherwise and has spent the past ten years in a sanatorium after attacking Drury.
The Drurys will be spending Christmas at Marchbanks, their country retreat which was also the site of poor Gloria's death ten years ago. Their sons, Leonard and Ambrose, and Jeffrey Flack, Elspeth's son from her earlier marriage, all manage to inveigle invitations, and Spector is asked along to keep an eye on things. It has already become clear by this point that Giles really does have cause to fear for his life but it's at Marchbanks where the real danger lies. Tom Mead weaves a deliciously convoluted tale of illicit liaisons, seething familial jealousy, blackmail and revenge here, and as the body count rises, almost everyone present becomes both a suspect and a potential victim.
The murders are, to Flint's chagrin and Spector's delight, apparently impossible puzzles. Bodies are discovered in places which defy explanation, the suspects all seem to have alibis, and as Flint later observes,
"The whole thing is like some crazy spider's web."
Of course, as Spector reminds him , there's always a spider at the heart of the web. Each separate murder is brilliantly devised – Tom Mead's dextrous plotting means that the solutions to the deaths are superbly imagined and yet there are still more surprises left as the intricately intertwined storyline reaches its conclusion. The morally ambiguous cast of characters are beautifully drawn while the juxtaposition between the serious, practical younger man, Flint and the astute old trickster, Joseph Spector is always a highlight.
Tom Mead is a Golden Age of crime fiction aficionado and it shows; the meticulously researched Cabaret Macabre encapsulates the genre and period perfectly. The clever daisy chain series of mysteries which feature here are complemented by the exceptional sense of time and place, and I particularly love the references to dastardly real-life murders and actual illusions performed in the past. Set in 1938, the narrative vividly evokes that brief period between the wars, and the atmospheric country house setting, with its dark history and layers of intrigue allows for the suspenseful drama to unfold amidst a captivating portrayal of society at that time. Cabaret Macabre is a hugely entertaining, ingeniously crafted Golden Age mystery, and one of my favourite reads this year. I very highly recommend it.
Cabaret Macabre will be published on 1st August by Head of Zeus, It can be pre-ordered from the publisher's website, bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo, Amazon or your favourite independent bookshop.
Follow the blog tour, details are below.
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