Cabaret Macabre

The third gripping locked-room mystery featuring illusionist Joseph Spector from critically acclaimed Derbyshire author Tom Mead.

It made such a refreshing change to read something so different. It really had it all, and his characters are so well 'fleshed out' that you can picture them with ease. The twisted and complex puzzle totally foxed me, and although I hate to admit it, I really didn't have a clue whodunnit! Entertaining, even if it did give me one heck of a headache trying to work out the fiendishly clever answer to both the locked room mystery and the body in the lake!

A delightful Golden Age puzzle... There are Agatha Christie-like twists aplenty and a final scene that Patricia Highsmith might have imagined. All in all, if you’re looking for diversion, this latest novel in Mead’s Joseph Spector series will do the trick.

Lovingly wrought and fiendishly plotted... Terrific fun with just the right amount of malice aforethought

For the lover of locked room mysteries, for the devotee of Golden Age tales, for the book connoisseur whose heart leaps at the sight of maps and diagrams, and—above all—for the reader who won’t be satisfied with anything less than a twisty and ingenious plot: Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you the incomparable Tom Mead.

A tour de force of devious plotting and malicious wit.

Cabaret Macabre , the third book in Tom Mead’s Joseph Spector series, is absolutely stunning—a locked room mystery that’s so masterfully executed, “twisty” doesn’t begin to describe it. With its atmospheric setting and characters as real as your next-door neighbors, this book is a pure delight.

Utterly delicious! If you love locked-room mysteries, as I do, this book delivers. With its clever plot, creepy atmosphere, and characters I couldn’t help but cast for an upcoming movie (which I hope someone will have the sense to make), Cabaret Macabre is a winner on every level!

Another wonderful locked room mystery

Mead is at the pinnacle of his powers as he adapts an obscure classic play, transforming it into a whip-smart whodunnit set in the 1930s

Atmospheric

Armchair detectives take note, a real brain-teaser awaits in this knotty labyrinth of a locked-room mystery set in 1938

A devilishly intriguing read and a pleasing homage to Golden Age mysteries...My appetite is whetted for more of Spector’s cases after this very enjoyable book. Recommended.

Masterfully plotted whodunnit

Always highly original

The locked room mystery is enjoying a welcome revival [and] leading the way is Tom Mead... a classic brainteaser

As long as Mead can keep coming up with ideas for these fun, atmospheric stories, I'll keep reading them.

Tom Mead is an aficionado of Golden Age crime fiction. His short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Lighthouse , as well as Best Crime Stories of the Year (ed. Lee Child). Death and the Conjuror , his debut novel, featuring illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector, was highly acclaimed by the UK and US press and was one of Publishers Weekly 's Mysteries of the Year. He lives in Derbyshire, England.

Follow Tom at tommeadauthor.com, @TomMeadAuthor and facebook.com/tommeadauthor