Smoke and Mirrors
The Brighton Mysteries, Book 2
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Smoke and Mirrors
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Narrated by:
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Daniel Philpott
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By:
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Elly Griffiths
About this listen
Brighton, 1951. Pantomime season takes a dark turn when two missing children are found dead under the snow, surrounded by sweets - a macabre, real-life Hansel and Gretel.
DI Edgar Stephens, has plenty of leads to investigate. The missing girl, Annie, used to write plays and perform them with her friends. Does the clue lie in Annie's unfinished - and rather disturbing - last script? Or might it lie with the eccentric actor types who have assembled for the pantomime?
Once again Edgar enlists magician and ex-wartime comrade Max Mephisto's help in penetrating the shadowy theatrical world that seems to hold the key. But is this all just classic misdirection?
©2015 Elly Griffiths (P)2015 WF Howes LtdCritic Reviews
What listeners say about Smoke and Mirrors
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Freda
- 01-07-2024
bloody good story
great tounge in cheek writing...most enjoyable....Elly is a good story teller, I'm looking forward to the next tale
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kateeliz
- 03-05-2017
Great!
The plot I this one really kept me guessing - much more than did the Zig Zag Girl (book 1 in the series). I thought the character development and introduction of more interesting female characters also made this satisfying on many levels.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Lee Wallace
- 04-03-2018
Easy reading & listening
Characters are starting to mature, enjoyed the ending. Much better than first book. Will be interested in next book.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- ReadWriteWish
- 16-09-2019
Series takes a strange turn
Oh noes!!!!! I loved The Zig Zag Girl, the first in this series, but with Smoke and Mirrors I’ve finally read an Elly Griffiths book that did not impress me!
Okay, where to start with my issues…
I always check out other people’s reviews after I finish writing my own and I did notice a lot of (obviously older) reviews mentioned The Zig Zag Girl was not part of a series. Now, a few years have passed by, and it has three sequels. I have to wonder if Griffiths never meant to write anything more with these characters and if perhaps that’s why this book feels so underdone. It was forced?
Actually I don't see the point of the series being called ‘Stephens and Mephisto’ after reading this book. Granted, what scenes Max Mephisto had were fantastic, but they were few and far between. The Great Diablo, so fun in the first book, too was relegated to a couple of irrelevant scenes. In this book DI Stephens takes the lead.
His case is the mystery of two missing/kidnapped children. I found a lot of similarities between this crime plot and a couple Griffiths has already used in the Ruth Galloway series. Right down to the inclusion of a traditional fairy tale to add a bit of creepiness.
Also like the Ruth series, Griffiths included DI Stephens’s fellow police officers in the story more. This was probably where she truly lost me.
For starters, I'd like to say that if Stephens gets a sidekick, shouldn’t it be Max? Why not? A professional policeman teaming up with an (apparent) amateur has been done several times with much success. No, as I said, Max is sidelined and replaced with Bob and Emma.
Bob was written as pretty incompetent in The Zig Zag Girl. In this book, he suddenly becomes quite capable and, for those who read the Ruth books, a complete Clough clone.
We also get a new character -- Emma Holmes. Sergeant Emma Holmes, no less. Yes, this was confusing. A story set in 1951 featuring a female detective sergeant. Okay, I’d have to research it to know for sure, but I would hazard a guess there wasn't any female detectives in 1951. And if there was one stray girl who got past the ‘plod’ stage in Brighton, I seriously doubt they’d be able to take the lead in questioning a murder suspect or witness (as Emma does).
Being cynical, I think Emma’s inclusion into the series is simply to become part of a love triangle with Edgar and Ruby. Again, Griffiths (and perhaps her publishers?) have taken what worked in the Ruth series and transferred it to this one.
In the Ruth series, the love triangle added a necessary conflict to the romantic storyline. The Ruth books are truthfully basically romance books. Their mystery plotlines are always secondary. In the Zig Zag Girl, it was the other way around. The romantic subplot took a backseat to the action and mystery. Adding the Emma character switches the focus.
Don’t get me wrong, Griffiths writes romance well and I’m sure 90% of her readers are chasing that element (not that they’d admit it) but I think she should have let the romance flow a little more organically and not specifically added an out of place (and time!) character to bolster it. There was already conflict with the Edgar/Ruby relationship anyway. There’s the age difference and the obvious problem they face due to the newly discovered identity of Ruby’s father.
I might add, Griffiths could have just concentrated on Max’s storyline with his landlady if she wanted more romance. That was a really sweet and fun subplot!
Another thing missing from this book was the charm of Brighton and the 1951 time period overall. The Zig Zag Girl seemed to use this place and time setting much more effectively. The Brighton snow seemed weird and other than the Emma character’s place in the police department being fanciful, there was also moments where Edgar’s way of thinking felt far too modern. For example, he wonders why another character hides his homosexuality from the police. Oh, I don’t know… Probably because he was afraid he might be arrested or fired from his place of work if anyone found this out! Then, he gets mad when he finds out Bob is not too impressed with homosexuals. I’m not saying this homophobic attitude is right but it was probably the usual mindset for that time. Adding our time’s sensibilities to historical books is fine by me but I prefer it when a writer does it seamlessly as opposed to hitting us over the head with a sledgehammer.
I must admit, I will continue with this series. But unfortunately all I can rate this one is 3 out of 5.
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