Houdini spent much
of his later career debunking illusionists and spiritualists. He was
particularly hard on mediums who he felt used illusions to convince
people they could talk to the dead. Horace Stapleton was one of the
spiritualists ruined by Houdini. Now he’s trying to restart his
career by bringing a man back from the dead.
Wren Lockhart,
Houdini’s apprentice, is there on the frigid New Year’s Eve when
Stapleton tries to bring back a man dead twenty years. When the man
rises from the grave and then drops dead, things go horribly wrong
and Stapleton is charged with murder. Not only is Wren in the
audience, but so is the FBI. Agent Elliot Matthews notices Wren and
recruits her to help solve the mystery.
The book is set in
the years after WWI when there was an intense interest in spiritualism.
Conan Doyle, who was a friend of Houdini’s, believed that a medium
had helped him talk to his dead son. This book explores spiritualism
and the illusions that Houdini successfully debunked. I
enjoyed this background.
The story is
beautifully written and gives a good picture of vaudeville and the illusionists. I was
hoping for a stronger plot focused on the mysterious death of
Stapleton’s accomplice. However, the story is primarily about Wren
and Matthews getting to know and trust each other as they seek to
solve the mystery. If you enjoy character driven novels, this is well
done.
I received this book
from Book Look Bloggers for this review.
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