2023 mystery, seventh in its series. It's 1966 in Brighton, and
someone is murdering magicians' assistants again…
There may be a new generation of detectives going out and
interviewing people, but the echoes of The Zig Zag Girl are strong,
as one woman after another turns up dead. But this time there are
plenty of dodgy old men from the variety days to be in the frame, with
an echo of the Jimmy Savile style (Griffiths may have been thinking of
some other iffy celebrity; that's a part of the period history I don't
find particularly interesting).
But the murder mystery angle is definitely on the back burner while we
hear about Max Mephisto's daughter Ruby and her newborn child, and
Max's secret affair with another major character (when it comes out
the reaction is pretty much just a shrug, which actually seems
entirely appropriate to the characters). And every so often someone
mentions the ongoing World Cup.
I really loved the first book in this series, and I've at least
enjoyed them since. On reflection, I came to this one mostly to see
how the series characters were getting on, because that's what
Griffiths seems most enthused about; I fear this may be going the way
of the Ruth Galloway series and having too much soap opera and too
little murder for my taste.