Brighton has always loved a show, and Max Mephisto and DI Edgar Stephens learned their tricks in a very secret wartime unit. From the variety halls of 1950 to the coronation and on into the Swinging Sixties, the seaside stage keeps producing corpses. Elly Griffiths conjures every period with a magician's eye for misdirection. Watch the hands, and don't be distracted by the patter.
Elly Griffiths, 'The Zig Zag Girl' - Brighton, 1950: a young woman is found cut into three, and DI Edgar Stephens recognises the stage trick behind it.
Elly Griffiths, 'The Blood Card' - Coronation fever grips Britain as a dead colonel, a playing card and an American mesmerist send Edgar to New York.
Elly Griffiths, 'The Midnight Hour' - Rat poison kills a ninety-year-old impresario, and his music hall widow hires Emma Holmes to clear her name.
