Review: The Zig Zag Girl (The Brighton Mysteries, #1)
Gaby Meares
I’ve read all the Ruth Galloway novels written by Elly Griffiths, so I thought I’d investigate other series she’s written.
The Zig Zag Girl is the first book in the Stephens and Mephisto series. It’s 1950 and a girl’s body is discovered, cut into three pieces. DI Edgar Stephens is reminded of an illusion performed by his old friend Max Mephisto, ‘The Zig Zag Girl: girl in a cabinet, blades cut through top and bottom. Pull the mid-section out to make a zig zag shape, open a door to show the midriff.’
Stephens and Mephisto first met during the war when they were part of a special unit called the Magic Men, whose mission was to create the illusion to the enemy, now in Norway, that Britain was ‘bristling with guns and boats’. As their commanding officer says ‘the idea is to employ some deception’.
When a former member of the unit is murdered, again resembling a magic trick, Stephens convinces Mephisto that it all ties in to their time as members of the Magic Men, and that their lives are in danger. They work together to find the killer, before he strikes again.
I’m a sucker for stories set around the theatre and Griffiths has re-created the tired and shabby world of second-rate theatres in a time when variety shows were dying, and audiences craved more than slight-of-hand tricks. The city of Brighton is a well drawn character; ‘a seedy seaside place, full of actors and foreigners and men wearing perfume.’
Griffiths has a bit of fun with a local theatre ‘doing an Agatha Christie. Pre-West End run. It’s a strange play. Called The Mousetrap. Ever heard of a name like that? My bet is that it’ll only run a few weeks, never make it to the West End.’
I enjoyed the concept of a policeman joining forces with a magician to solve crimes. Griffiths has written four more books in this series, so I’m keen to see what trouble Stephens and Mephisto can get into in the next book.