Zig Zag Girl - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 178429196X ISBN 13: 9781784291969

Publisher: Quercus, 2015

Synopsis

DI Edgar Stephens and a stage magician called Max Mephisto both served in a shadowy unit known as 'the Magic Men' during the war. In 1950s Brighton, they are together again investigating a brutal murder of a young woman that echoes one of Mephisto's tricks - the Zig Zag Girl.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

An absorbing read, the debut of another great series. San Jose Mercury News

A labyrinthine plot, a splendid reveal, and superb evocation of the wafer-thin veneer of glamour at the bottom end of showbusiness ... Thoroughly enjoyable. Guardian

Brighton, 1950. A girl is found cut in three, and Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is convinced the killer is mimicking a famous magic trick the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, served with Edgar in a special ops troop called the Magic Men that used stage illusions to confound the enemy. Max still performs, touring with ventriloquists, sword-swallowers, and dancing girls. When Edgar asks for his help with the case, Max tells him to identify the victim quickly; it takes a special sidekick to do the Zig Zag Girl words that haunt Max when he learns the dead girl is Ethel, one of his best assistants to date.

Another death, another magic trick, and still no killer. But when Edgar receives a letter warning of another trick on the way the Wolf Trap he knows the Magic Men are in the killer s sights.

Enormously engaging ... Griffiths s plot is satisfyingly serpentine. Daily Mail

Readers will finish looking forward to the next trick up [Griffiths s] sleeve. Mystery Scene

Elly Griffiths is the author of the Ruth Galloway and Magic Men mystery series. She is the recipient of the Mary Higgins Clark Award and her work has been praised as gripping (Louise Penny), highly atmospheric (New York Times Book Review), and must-reads for fans of crime fiction (Associated Press).
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From the Inside Flap:

The first installment of a spellbinding new series by the author of the beloved Ruth Galloway books, featuring a band of magicians, formerly special ops soldiers in World War II, who hunt for a killer performing deadly versions of their most famous tricks
 
Brighton, 1950. The body of a girl is found cut into three pieces and Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is convinced the killer is mimicking a famous magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl. The trick was invented by Max Mephisto, with whom Edgar served in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men, using stage tricks to confound the enemy. Max is on the traveling show circuit now, touring seaside towns with ventriloquists, sword-swallowers, and dancing girls. He advises Edgar to identify the victim quickly—advice that comes back to haunt him when he discovers she was a young woman he knew well. He’s soon at Edgar’s side, hunting for her killer.
 
Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max are sure the answer to the murders lies in their army days. When Edgar receives a letter warning of another “trick” on the way—the Wolf Trap—he knows the Magic Men themselves are in the killer’s sights.

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 178429196X
• ISBN 13: 9781784291969
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 325