Showing posts with label locked-room mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label locked-room mystery. Show all posts

Friday, October 23, 2026

The House at Devil's Neck by Tom Mead

 Nine strangers.
A notorious mansion.
An isolated island. 
A suicide that might be murder.
And a locked-room mystery.




The plot:  While Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard investigates the apparent suicide of Rodney Edgecombe in London, Joseph Spector, former magician extraordinaire, heads to Devil's Neck for a weekend seance. When one of the other guests ends up dead, Spector immediately figures out it's murder. But finding the murderer is another matter.

My thoughts: Tom Mead's mysteries are like an homage to those classic locked-room Golden Age mysteries I love to read. There are always clever tricks and deceits in them. And Joseph Spector, a master of illusion himself, can spot them all. He's the other reason I really love these books. He and Flint work so well together. And even though they are apart for most of this book, I love how their two separate investigations come together at the end. There are a lot of surprises along the way, but also enough clues for you to figure it out if you're really clever. Which I was not. But I sure did have fun reading this one! 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!