June 1, 2021
Just-launched PI Emma Holmes and partner Sam Collins already have a case: they must discover who poisoned the theater-impresario husband of retired music-hall star Verity Malone, herself suspected of the crime. (No wonder she was so anxious to hire them.) The problem: the Brighton police are also on the case, and the police superintendent is Emma's husband. From 2020 Edgar Award winner Griffiths; with a 35,000-copy paperback and 3,000-copy hardcover first printing.
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October 25, 2021
In Edgar winner Griffiths's intricate sixth Brighton mystery (after 2019's Now You See Them), police constable Meg Connolly, Det. Insp. Bob Willis, and PIs Emma Holmes and Sam Collins look into the poisoning of theatrical impresario Bert Billington in Rottingdean, Sussex, in September 1965. Finding a long history of serial affairs and abuses of power, they also encounter hints that Billington's murder may be connected to the deaths of two performers and a child. Possible suspects include Billington's widow, Verity Malone, and his sons; actor Max Mephisto, who had an affair with Verity; Eric Prentice, who was a musical performer in variety; and Alma Saunders, who served as Verity's dresser when Verity was a music hall star. An additional death and mysterious figures seen in a graveyard and at murder locales add complications. Sober themes on the oppression of women and the achievement of justice even after many years provide a touching complexity. Griffiths fans and new readers alike will enjoy their time with the Brighton mysteries crowd. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.
Starred review from October 1, 2021
"Something wicked at the door." Halloween provides the perfect setting for another triumph of misdirection from Griffiths in this sixth Brighton Mystery, following Now You See Them (2019). Police superintendent Edgar Stephens is investigating a murder that is simultaneously being looked into by Holmes and Collins, Private Detectives, a firm headed by his wife, former policewoman Emma Holmes. Aged theater impresario Bert Billington has been poisoned, and his wife, retired music-hall star Verity Malone, is the prime suspect. Eventually Max Mephisto, magician turned actor, and his American movie-star wife become involved, as do Verity's three sons, one of whom, Seth, may have been fathered (but unacknowledged) by Max. Complicating matters is the fact that Max is filming The Prince of Darkness, with Seth playing Dracula and Max his father. And it gets even worse as Max learns that his older daughter, Ruby, may be interested in Seth. The plot goes well beyond the usual domestic tragedy and becomes a dramatic and elaborate tale of retribution. The book is set in the mid-sixties, with "women's liberation" on its way, which can't come soon enough for the very determined WDC Meg Connolly, whom readers might decide is the real star of the show. Griffiths is also the author of the acclaimed Ruth Galloway series, as well as stand-alone novels including the Edgar winning The Stranger Diaries (2019).
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