When theatrical impressario Bert Billington is poisoned in his own home, his youngest son has the idea that his mother, former theatrical star Verity Malone, killed him. To protect herself, Verity hires Emma Stephens, going by her maiden name of Emma Holmes, and Sam Collins, who have just set up a private detective agency; Verity worries that the police, including Emma’s husband Edgar, will be quick to take her son’s suggestion, even though she is innocent. Emma and Sam start to investigate, as do DI Bob Willis and newly minted WDC Meg Connolly, but the question is, who will solve the crime before more murders occur?.... Here we have the Brighton magic men a bit sidelined - Edgar has more of a supervisory role now, and Max Mephisto, although intimately connected to all parties involved, including the deceased, has his own worries, particularly about his marriage and his purpose in life. I enjoy this series, but there’s a big blunder here that bugged me every time I saw it on the page: the story takes place in the autumn of 1965, but the characters on several occasions reference the lyrics to The Beatles’ song “All You Need Is Love,” which was released in July of 1967. Surely Ms. Griffiths, an editor or someone somewhere along the line should have caught that anachronism; I’m sorry to say that it took me out of the story each time it occurred. Really giving it a 2 ½ rating versus a 3, just because of that glaring (to me, anyway) mistake. ( )

Took me awhile to realize there’s 5 prior books w/these characters I haven’t read, was definitely missing something’s, liked it & didn’t guess the ending ( )

When this series began it was labeled "The Magic Men Mysteries", but its focus has definitely shifted to the women. The Midnight Hour sees Emma Holmes Stephens and Sam Collins take on their first official case and places them in an unofficial competition with the Brighton police and Emma's husband, Superintendent Edgar Stephens. Emma soon finds herself working with a young female constable, seeing a reflection of what her life had been before her marriage and children. Another winner from Elly Griffiths.

Thanks to Mariner Books for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley. ( )

You'll see from my list below that I have really only dabbled in this series, and it is 5 years since I have read one of them. I found this one a perfectly acceptable read rather than being over the moon with it like I am with the Ruth Galloway series. I think the reason is that I much prefer the Ruth Galloway character (and the setting) to Max Mephisto.

I found the creation of the new PI duo, Emma Holmes and Sam Collins an interesting concept. Emma Holmes is a former policewoman and the wife of Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens. Edgar is a good friend of Max Mephisto (from the war years) and so you can see the relationships are a bit tangled. I thought the sharing of information that goes on between the detecting strands is a bit unrealistic and at times Emma forgets she is no longer a policewoman.

For what its worth, the new duo goes on into the next book in the series THE GREAT DECEIVER. ( )

This latest instalment of the series featuring Max Mephisto and Edgar Stephens brings us to 1965. Edgar (whose part in this book is relatively minor) is Superintendent of the Brighton police force, while one of his former sergeants, Bob Willis, is now Detective Inspector. Hie other former sergeant, Emma Holmes, is now Mrs Stephens, and mother of their three children. Following prevailing social mores, Emma was unable to remain in the police following her marriage. She has, however, retained her raging curiosity and detection skills, which she now deploys as half of ‘Holmes and Collins’ a private investigation agency that she runs with Sam Collins, aspiring reporter for the Brighton Evening Argus.

The novel opens with the discovery of the death of impresario Bert Billington, who seems to have died of natural causes following a normal Sunday lunch. Further checks reveal, however, that he had been killed by a dose of rat poison. As the police commence their investigation, in which his widow Verity is naturally one of the suspects, she, adamantly maintaining her innocence, retains Holmes and Collins to find the real killer. Bert Billington had been a hard and callous man throughout his career, so there is no shortage of people with strong grudges that might have proved adequate to provoke his murder.

Verity’s retention of Holmes and Collins allows for an intriguing contract between the two investigations. The police case is pursued primarily by Inspector Willis and Margaret ‘Meg’ Connolly, an ambitious young officer who had been introduced in the previous novel, ‘Now You See Them’. The two intertwined investigations follow family leads in London and also up in Whitby, where one of the Billingtons’ sons is starring in a film adaptation of Dracula, ,in which Max Mephisto (now more actor than magician) plays his father.

As always with Elly Griffiths’s books, the plot is very soundly developed, and the characters all seem highly believable. I think that, on balance, I slightly prefer her series following Dr Ruth Galloway, but that is not to take away from the Brighton novels, which are highly entertaining, and to which this is a welcome and strong addition. ( )