The Murder Wheel

 The Murder Wheel (2023) by Tom Mead

Edmund Ibbs is a young, idealistic lawyer working for the defense in what looks like a hopeless case. Dominic Dean, bank manager, and his wife Carla took a ride on the Ferris wheel at the local fair. But only one of them survived the ride. When their carriage reached the top, there was a shot and Dean was dead before he could receive medical attention. Carla swears that she's innocent and Ibbs wants to find a way to make a jury think she could be. He hears about a mysterious "limping man" who had been following Dean and was seen leaving the fair after the shot by the man who operated the Ferris wheel. He starts looking for answers--interviewing workers at the bank and learning that there had been a robbery at the bank not long before. Is there a connection?

Ibbs is also an amateur magician and decides to take in a show featuring Professor Paolini. During one of the illusions, a dead man falls out when a locked crate is opened....and it is Varga, the operator of the Ferris wheel. When another impossible crime happens in the theater, Ibbs finds himself the prime suspect. But fortunately, Joseph Spector, the expert on impossible crimes is on hand to investigate and between the two of them, they will discover who is responsible for each murder. Do they all tie in with the robbery? And if so, does that mean that Titus Pilgrim, an underworld crime boss, is at the back of it? Or are there different culprits with different motives? We will have to wait and find out.

Tom Mead is carrying on the tradition of John Dickson Carr and other locked room/impossible crime experts from the Golden Age...and doing it well. Using the magician's stocks-in-trade (the art of distraction and sleight-of-hand), he makes it difficult to keep your eye on the ball and figure out which cup it's really under. I absolutely fell for one of the red herrings and was busy trying to tie it to one of the suspects. This kept me from spotting the clues that Mead obligingly sprinkled through the text (and which he helpfully footnotes during Spector's wrap-up scene). I'm still not sure I completely understand how the body got in the crate--even with the delightful little map/diagram that we're given. But I'm trusting that it really does make sense to those more able to decipher the layout. 

Just as with a good magic show, I thoroughly enjoyed being mystified and I really liked the opening mystery with the Ferris wheel. It was also satisfying that we came full circle and had a second helping of attempted murder on the wheel, creating an exciting finish for our hero. This second adventure in the Joseph Spector series is nearly as good as the first and it is another terrific effort at recapturing the spirit of the Golden Age of Detection. ★★★★

First lines: It began with the book. If not for the book, the rest of it would not have happened.

Last lines: Ibbs looked back at the old man. Spector's pale eyes gleamed.
******************

Deaths = 12 ( four natural; four shot; one beaten to death; one broken neck; one fell from height; one hanged)