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Loading... Smoke and Mirrorsby Elly Griffiths
   Books Read in 2016 (977) No current Talk conversations about this book.  kmartin802 | Dec 21, 2023 |    ) infjsarah | Aug 8, 2023 | ) charlie68 | Nov 23, 2022 | fernandie | Sep 15, 2022 | Interesting mystery with some nice period detail, though Edgar seems to be more sympathetic to two minor characters who turn out to be a gay couple than I suspect a policeman in 1950 would be. ( ) Robertgreaves | Jul 26, 2022 | no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Series
"In the sequel to the "captivating"* Zig Zag Girl, DI Edgar Stephens and the magician Max Mephisto hunt for a killer after two children are murdered in a tragic tableau of a very grim fairy tale. *Wall Street Journal It's Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about a local production of Aladdin, starring the marvelous Max Mephisto. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He's investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were strangled to death in the woods, abandoned alongside a trail of candy a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel. Edgar has plenty of leads to investigate. Annie, a surprisingly dark child, used to write gruesome plays based on the Grimms' fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her unfinished final script? Or does the macabre staging of Annie and Mark's deaths point to the theater and the capricious cast of characters performing in Aladdin? Once again Edgar enlists Max's help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection?"-- No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.66)
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Wikipedia in English (1)
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When the children are found strangled to death, Edgar and his team are on the case. The case brings to mind Grimm's fairy tales since the children are found surrounded by candy. Annie and Mark disappeared after school one day when they were supposed to be rehearsing one of the plays Annie wrote with the younger children who are their actors.
As Stephens investigates, they find a childless, widowed man who has built a theater for them in his garage and a man who runs the corner store as possible suspects. Diablo also brings to mind another death of a young actress at the same time of the year but forty years earlier making Edgar wonder if there is any connection between the two crimes.
Annie's new play also connects to Grimm's fairy tales because it is the story of two lost children where the villain is part of the children's own families. After Annie and Mark's death, Annie's younger sister Betty is determined to put on the play but she is kidnapped herself on opening night.
I really enjoyed this mystery narrated by James Langton. He does a good job dealing with the various voices and really showing how frustrated the police are as they try to track down the murderer and save Betty before she becomes the next victim. (