From acclaimed author Tom Mead comes The House at Devil’s Neck, the latest instalment in the ingenious Joseph Spector locked-room mystery series. A homage to the Golden Age of crime fiction, this spellbinding mystery plunges readers into a haunted manor, a phantom killer, and a series of impossible murders.
Once a First World War field hospital, the isolated Devil’s Neck mansion has long attracted ghost-hunters and thrill-seekers. When whispers of a phantom soldier resurface, illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector joins a group of curious visitors. But when floods trap them on the causeway-bound estate, and guests begin dying one by one, suspicion turns supernatural … and deadly.
Meanwhile, in London, Inspector George Flint is drawn into a chilling case that eerily echoes a decades-old mystery. As the body count rises at Devil’s Neck and the storm tightens its grip, Flint and Spector must find a way to connect their investigations—before a vengeful killer strikes again.
With its clever “howdunnit” puzzles, eerie atmosphere, and nods to Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, The House at Devil’s Neck is vintage mystery at its finest, with a modern twist that will delight fans of classic crime and contemporary suspense alike.
It is an absolute pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for The House at Devil's Neck by Tom Mead today. Many thanks to House of Zeus and Ransom PR for inviting me and for sending me a beautiful hardback copy of the novel.
I am far from being either a Golden Age of crime or a locked room mystery aficionado but I have read my fair share and so I feel able to confidently suggest that Tom Mead is up there with the very best. I have been a huge admirer of his Joseph Spector series since the start and eagerly look forward to each new instalment. The House at Devil's Neck is the fourth in the series and one of my most rightfully anticipated books this year. It's not necessary to have read the previous novels, although there are a few call backs to earlier cases which returning readers will appreciate more.
The story opens in August 1939 and finds a small group on board a bus as a man hurries through the rain to join them. His name is Walter Judd, although for reasons not explained at this point, he also gives another name to the driver. The other passengers include a medium, Madame La Motte with her young companion, Imogen Drabble who introduces herself to a fellow passenger, Francis Tulp as a writer. He in turn describes himself as an investigator of phenomena and a practitioner of spirit photography. Tulp tells Imogen he has formerly made the acquaintance of the old, cadaverous-looking man at the rear of the bus, and of course, not surprising that this should be Joseph Spector. A Mrs Bailey, whom both Imogen and Madame La Motte know makes up the group, who it turns out are headed to an old manor house which served as a hospital during the Great War.
The house was built in 1640 by the mystic, Adolphus Latimer and has a chilling past as detailed by Spector when he explains the origins of the rocky outcrop's name – Devil's Neck – to Imogen. Situated at the end of a precariously cobbled causeway, rising tides and the inclement weather cause the house to become cut off from the mainland, meaning those present, who as well as the passengers, include the driver, Fred Powell and the housekeepers, Clive and Justine Lennox, are trapped. The stage is set then for the first murder at the house but even before the grisly discovery of this victim's body, death has already stalked the pages of The House at Devil's Neck …
The book also welcomes the return of the stalwart Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard, and his sergeant, Jerome Hook. They have been called out to the apparent suicide of Rodney Edgecomb, a man already known to Flint thanks to a decades-old mystery involving a contested inheritance amidst possible murders. It's because of this that Flint immediately becomes suspicious of the circumstances in which they find the deceased's body. In contrast to the previous books. Flint has evidently learned from Spector not to take what he sees at face value and soon surmises that Edgecomb was, in fact, murdered. He even manages to come up with an explanation as to how the killer did it. As he and Flint begin to investigate, they cross paths again with Dr Rees, the psychiatrist at Dollis Hill who will be remembered by readers of Death and the Conjuror. All roads, of course, lead to Devil's Neck and keen to avail themselves of Spector's singularly perceptive prowess, Flint and Hook also make the long journey towards the house.
Meanwhile, events at the former field hospital have taken a terrifying turn. Even before the first body is found, tensions are ratcheted up following the apparent sighting of a ghostly figure and a dramatic séance which includes the presence of a rather sinister automaton known as The Stepney Lad. The suspense levels are raised further as the shaken guests take steps to protect themselves but inevitably their efforts are in vain and they awaken to another, more gruesome murder. As Spector studies the cryptic evidence and begins to draw his conclusions, he is less of a showman here; the house's tragic past and the fate of some of its former residents means there is a different, more melancholic tone to this book compared to the earlier novels. Likewise, Flint's recollections of a chaotic, hellhole of a field hospital on the Western Front are both a poignant reminder of the enduring psychological impact of the Great War and a sombre portent of the war clouds gathering again over Europe.
As always, there comes a point in the book where Tom Mead breaks the fourth wall and informs readers there have been clues littered throughout, inviting any would-be sleuths to enjoy the 'quiet glory of having triumphed at what a wise man once termed "the grandest game in the world."' For once I was able to bask in the glow of success, having figured out who was responsible for the deaths at Devil's Neck. However, a Tom Mead mystery is always far more serpentine than a mere whodunnit and before I sound too smug, the hows and whys remained a deliciously fiendish puzzle.
With its creepily atmospheric sense of place, the flawless evocation of the interwar period and Tom Mead's own literary sleights of hand, this intricately structured mystery is an engagingly suspenseful and confounding treat for all classic crime fiction fans. One of my top reads this year, I highly recommend it.
The House at Devil's Neck is published by Aries/Head of Zeus and can be ordered directly from their website. It can also be purchased from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo, Amazon or your favourite independent bookshop.
Follow the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
Tom Mead is a Derbyshire author and Golden Age crime aficionado. His Joseph Spector Golden Age crime novels include Death and The Conjuror, The Murder Wheel and Cabaret Macabre and have been nominated for the Capital Crime Award for Debut Novel of the Year, shortlisted for the Historical Writers' Association Debut Crown and long listed for the CWA Historical Dagger Award. His short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Best Crime Stories of the Year (edited by Lee Child). His books have been named as crime novels of the year by the likes of The Guardian, Telegraph and Publishers Weekly. The series has been translated into several languages and is currently in development for screen adaptation.
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