Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Fun characters; great locked room mystery
Cons: Abracadabra, all cons are gone
The Bottom Line:
A locked room puzzle
Proves to be plenty of fun
In magical book
Eli Marks Must Solve a Locked Room Mystery
One of the staples of the mystery genre is the locked room
mystery because they add such a great twist to the mystery. I know I always find them intriguing. And that’s exactly what we get with The Miser’s Dream, the third Eli Marks
Mystery from John Gaspard.
Eli Marks lives in a third floor apartment above the magic
shop he runs with his uncle in Minneapolis, Minnesota. From his window, he can see into the
projection booth of the theater next door, and he has long enjoyed trying to
guess the movie based on the reflections he can see. This night, however, he seems something
completely different when he looks into the projection booth – the dead body of
Tyler James, the projectionist.
Naturally, Eli calls the police, but they have to break into
the projection booth since the door locks from the inside and there is no key
for the outside. When they do, they not
only find the body, but also a gun and a large stack of cash.
Eli is perfectly content to sit this one out until an
outside force begins to pull him in.
Accidents only make him more determined to solve the crime. But can he figure out how Tyler died and why?
I really enjoy these books because of the bits of magic that
show up in them. Eli being a magician is
a creative hook for the series. In fact,
there is an entire sub-plot involving Eli’s jealousy of a fellow magician that
winds up playing into the main mystery.
And the main mystery is great. Naturally, there is the question of how the
murder took place as well as who the killer is.
I’ve got to say that both were so expertly explained at the end, I
couldn’t believe I didn’t piece it together myself.
And the characters are wonderful. We actually meet a fun assortment of people
here. They are a bit eccentric, but it
fits the book. The series regulars are
as great as ever, and I enjoyed seeing the growth we got here in Eli.
The Miser’s Dream
is the best book yet in the series.
Eli’s fans will be happy with it, and those new to his adventures will
find themselves looking for more.
It's no magic trick. Here are the rest of the Eli Marks Mysteries.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for stopping by. In order to combat spam, I moderate most comments. I'll get to your comment as soon as I can.