Now You See Them (The Brighton Mysteries, #5)

by Elly Griffiths

Gripping historical mystery from the bestselling author of The Stranger Diaries.

'Griffiths writes with a smart, sharp eye and great elegance' Peter James

Three girls have left. None have come back.

Brighton, 1963. Edgar Stephens has been promoted to Superintendent and is married to his former sergeant, Emma Holmes. Edgar's wartime partner in arms, magician Max Mephisto, is a movie star in Hollywood, while his daughter Ruby has her own TV show.

The funeral of an old friend highlights just how much the gang's lives have changed in the last nine years. Edgar is struggling with fresh responsibilities and the new swinging Brighton of rioting mods and rockers; Emma is chafing against the restrictions of life as a housewife.

Bob Willis, meanwhile, is tackling his biggest case since his promotion to DI: a schoolgirl missing from high-class boarding school Roedean. It looks like she's run away; but there are disturbing similarities to the disappearances of a young local nurse and a tearaway Modette, neither of whom have been seen or heard from since...

A new world is dawning in Brighton, but the city's dark side is as dangerous as ever.

'A piquant mixture of humour, period detail . . . and truly beguiling characterisation' Financial Times

• ISBN10: 1786487349
• ISBN13: 9781786487346
• Publish Date: 3 October 2019
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 December 2022
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Quercus Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Now You See Them is the 5th mystery in a series by Elly Griffiths. Released 3rd Dec 2019 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it's 352 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

I've enjoyed all the previous books in this series as well as the author's other series. This one is a little different. It's set 10 years after the occurrences in book 4, with Max back in England for a funeral after moving to Hollywood. When a local girl goes missing, his friend Inspector Stephens (now a Superintendent) is drawn into the case along with his (the inspector's) wife, a former detective sergeant.

This is (as all her other books) an intricately plotted, technically adept book. It's a large ensemble cast and I wonder if it might be difficult to keep track of the characters if the reader weren't already familiar with the earlier books. I'm not sure how well this one would read as a standalone. The plot is certainly self contained, and the denouement is satisfying, but I think I would've had difficulties sorting out the characters' interrelationships if this were my introduction to the series. That being said, this is a supremely entertaining read and I heartily recommend it.

I like the nostalgia aspect. There aren't that many series set in that time period (post WW2 up to the 60s) with the same light humor, intrigue, and show business/magic circuit characters.

Five stars, but I'd read the others in the series first.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.