Now You See It

August 12, 2013
In Tesh’s pleasantly diverting third mystery featuring the housemates who live with laid-back clairvoyant “Cam” Camden in Parkland, N.C. (after 2012’s Mixed Signals), Lucas Finch—a member of a brotherhood of magicians called Wizards of Wow—hires PI David Randall to find a stolen box that supposedly once belonged to the great Houdini. Might a rival group, Wizards and Amazing Mages, be involved? Things become more serious when the body of Lucas’s twin brother, Taft, is discovered folded inside a trunk backstage at the Magic Club, a nightclub downtown. Randall’s investigations turn up some amusing characters among the flamboyant magicians and stagestruck wannabes, and the Grace Street residents contribute their share of quirkiness to the proceedings. Readers shouldn’t expect a lot of tension—the major conflict is whether Camden’s girlfriend can prevent a talentless, domineering harpy from taking over the Psychic Service Network.

September 1, 2013
It takes a combination of psychic ability and a knowledge of magic tricks to solve the murder of a magician. Private investigator David Randall (Mixed Signals, 2012, etc.) is suddenly flush with cases. A socialite asks him to find her missing diamond bracelet, and magicians Taft and Lucas Finch want him to locate a missing box which was reputedly owned by Harry Houdini. Randall is happy to have his mind occupied so that he's not constantly feeling guilty about the death of his daughter. Although he'd like to marry his housemate and girlfriend, Kary, his overprotectiveness puts her off. Another housemate, Camden, is always willing to help on cases. But although his psychic powers are often helpful, Camden has problems of his own. He's lost his beautiful singing voice, and Ellin, the girl he wants to marry, reports troubles with her Psychic Service Network's TV programming. A visit to the magic club where the Finch brothers were working reveals the body of Taft, murdered and hidden in a magician's trunk. As always, the cops warn Randall away, but since both the club owner and Lucas want him to solve the crime and find the box, he continues to investigate the local magicians, whose tight little community is a hotbed of jealousy, bruised egos and theft. Kary succeeds in becoming a magician's assistant, and Camden uses his abilities to try to get rid of the pushy fake psychic who's driving Ellen crazy, but it's a combination of clues from both that finally solves the crime. The charms of Tesh's quirky characters often outweigh the mystery.

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September 1, 2013
North Carolina PI David Randall has a new client: stage magician Lucas Finch, who wants Randall to find a missing prop that was once owned by Houdini. Randall is already working for Sandy Olaf, a local socialite, looking for some lost jewelry, but he can always use some new clients. Although when Finch's brother, also a stage magician, turns up dead, Randall wonders if perhaps he should have stuck to the missing-jewelry case. Randall is a good character, a struggling PI with some serious personal issueshe's avoiding dealing with his young daughter's death in a car accident four years agoand he's surrounded by some nifty supporting players (including friend Camden, a professional psychic). This is the third Randall mystery (following Stolen Hearts, 2011), and readers who have yet to try this series should be encouraged to crack this one open.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)