The Zig Zag Girl cover art

The Zig Zag Girl

The Brighton Mysteries 1

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About this listen

 Brighton, 1950.

When a girl's body is found, cut into three, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is reminded of a magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl.

The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, is an old friend of Edgar's. They served together in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men.

Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls. Changing times mean that variety is not what it once was, yet Max is reluctant to leave this world to help Edgar investigate. But when the dead girl turns out to be known to him, Max changes his mind.

Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max become convinced that the answer to the murders lies in their army days. When Edgar receives a letter warning of another 'trick', the Wolf Trap, he knows that they are all in the killer's sights...

(P) 2014 Quercus Editions Ltd©2014 Elly Griffiths Cosy Crime Fiction Fiction Historical Mystery Police Procedurals Crime Magic Detective Murder War

Critic reviews

Enormously engaging . . . Post-war Brighton and its Theatre Royal are beautifully captured in all their seedy glory . . . subtle, charming and very good
A colourful crowd of ventriloquists and sword-swallowers, a world lovingly re-created in this original, lively and gripping work
The historical detail is very well done . . . The Zig Zag Girl is an extremely well-written and well-researched novel
All stars
Most relevant
Yes, enjoyable but I kept feeling that there was another book I should have read first. Possibly one called 'The Magic Men'! This feeling wasn't dispelled until towards the end, when the previous lives info the main protagonists became clearer. None the less - a good listen.

Enjoyable...

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Come on Elly. The concept/ of magicians/just after war is wonderful. I absolutely adored the first half of this tale (as will all lovers of Empires Lost and Good Companions/JP Priestly. But sadly the last half of this tale lost its way,
This could indeed be the start of a great series - but you need to give it a lot more TLC Elly Griffiths before it becomes a good one.

JP Priestly meets Jonathan Creek

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loved the story line and the plot I'm a big fan if the writer and have read many of their work

a great read

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I liked the Ruth Galloway stories but definitely didn’t find this as interesting. I’m not sure if that is because it’s set in the past.

Disappointing

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Story line interesting with some historical link but as plot unfolded it was a little predictable

A bit predictable

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