The Zig Zag Girl (Stephens and Mephisto Mystery)

3.5*The Zig Zag Girl is the first book in the Brighton Mysteries series. The main characters are two men who were WWII army buddies. Edgar Stephens is a Detective Inspector, and Max Mephisto is a famous magician. Edgar searches for Max when he investigates the murder of a woman cut into three pieces like Max’s Zig Zag Girl illusion. In this illusion, he pushes the middle section of his assistant to the left to cause the Zig Zag.What I liked:The characters are a unique pair. DI Stephens is a good detective, but he deals with a lot of resistance from his superiors and co-workers because of his advanced education. Also, he was in an intelligence group during the war, making some of his peers jealous of his past.Max is one of the best know magicians of the time. He worries about his popularity coming to an end. When Edgar looks for insight into his illusions and the people who worked with him, they become a team reminiscent of their collaborations during the war.The setting is post-World War II England. People are trying to find their way after the devastation to the country. It is a difficult time, which the author conveyed nicely.What I didn’t like:It took me a couple of chapters to get into the story. Part of that is because I had to adjust my brain to interpret the British spelling. I would get to some words and reread the paragraph because my brain registered a typo. This is on me, not the author, but I don’t have this problem with other British writers.Overall, I liked The Zig Zag Girl, but I didn’t love it. I see the potential of these characters. Therefore, I will read a few more books to see where the author takes the series. Also, I noticed that Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series is top-rated. I’m going to check those out too.

4.5 star readI am a big fan of Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway series. Also, read the Stranger's Diaries (standalone) and gave it a 5 star review. I ordered The Zig Zag Girl in 2015 and just read it now in Jan. 2020. Why did I wait when the author is perhaps my favorite author?I think I misperceived when I read the MCs were the magic men. I didn't have an interest to read about magicians. Also, many early reviews stated they preferred the Ruth Galloway series. I wanted to read it but didn't feel the desire to do it right now.I was wrong. I just read it and liked it very much. Yes, it was about a group of men who the service put into a group to camouflage and deceive the German pilots as they flew over British bases. The story picked up after the war and someone is threatening this group of men or people associated with them. The reader goes to the seaside towns and into the run down somewhat seedy theaters presenting the variety or vaudeville acts. It is dying out and what will become of the performers? TV is starting to develop.The plot or mystery is very good. The characters (always a strength of Elly Griffiths) are interesting as is the location. I debated whether to make my review a 4 or a 5 star review as I enjoyed it very much. I always think though, if I have to debate about it, it is a 4 star read. Now I have 4 unread books in the series to look forward to reading. I have the the 2nd one in my TBR kindle group. (since 2017)

I have read all five and enjoyed each one. The writing is excellent and always leaves you guessing until the end.

I love the author's Ruth Galloway series, and thought I'd try this one. The idea of a group of magicians intrigued me. It takes place in post World War II Brighton Beach, England, a time I do enjoy reading about. The main character is Detective Edgar Stephens, who was part of an M15 group during the war, "The Magic Men," assigned to create false trails for the Germans. When a young woman's body is found sawed into three parts, our hero thinks of the "Zig Zag Girl" trick used by magicians back in the day. He contacts his old friend, Max Mephisto ("The Master of Illusion"), with whom he served during the war as part of the "Magic Men." Max was thought to have invented the trick. Max agrees to meet with Edgar and when he views the body he realizes the murdered girl was once one of his assistents. The two begin to investigate the murder and as the bodies pile up it seems that the former "Magic Men" and those associated with them are being targeted. The question is: is one of them a murderer, and if so, why?My main issue with the book is that it is grindingly slow, especially during the first half. The author, unsurprisingly since it is Elly Griffiths after all, brought the post-war time and the world of traveling show people of the time to life. Her research was, as always, spot-on. I didn't guess whodunit until I was nearly at the end. Because I do love and respect this author, I will most likely move on to the second in the series. Now that I know they are all concerning Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto it will be easier to slip into the next plot, I think. This is a well-researched historical novel and I did like it. I give it three and a half stars out of the five.

I've been a huge fan of Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series for years but until now I hadn't got round to reading her other crime novels, set in 1950s Brighton and featuring police detective Edgar Stephens and stage magician Max Mephisto.The Zig Zag Girl is the first book in the Stephens & Mephisto series and opens with the surprisingly gruesome discovery of a dismembered woman, a former assistant of Max Mephisto's who has been cut into pieces in a grotesque real-life recreation of the famous 'sawing a woman in half' trick familiar to anyone who has ever seen a traditional stage magic act. Edgar knows Max from the days when they were both part of a war-time intelligence unit known as The Magic Men, creating illusions and decoys to fool the enemy. Their war-time escapades ended in tragedy and they've been estranged since then, but they form an uneasy partnership when it becomes clear that other members of The Magic Men are being drawn into the killer's vicious cat-and-mouse game.Although the crime plot of The Zig-Zag Girl is clever and engaging, the characters are the real strength of this book. Edgar and Max are fully fleshed-out, convincing characters with interesting back-stories and complex motivations, and while they are very different, this isn't a stereotypical 'odd couple' pairing. The supporting characters are also vividly realised - I particularly enjoyed Edgar's mother, for whom Edgar is somehow simultaneously a disappointment for doing too well (he went to Oxford) and for not doing well enough (he's a policeman), and the elderly conjuror Diablo, who gives Max a depressing glimpse of what his own future might be like if variety continues to lose audiences to straight theatre - a new play called The Mousetrap seems to be a bigger draw than comedians and magicians.Brighton's seafront, boarding houses and theatres all lend a strong sense of location to the action, and the period atmosphere is spot-on too. The plot - like those of the Ruth Galloway series - is a little crazy and perhaps not for you if you insist on non-stop gritty realism, but I thought it was great fun. There's a real vibrancy to this book and it feels fresh and original. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

For me, part of the enjoyment is that I live reasonably close to Brighton and know of many of the landmarks that Griffiths describes in her book – that said, it would be a rather lame reason to tuck into any book, unless the plotting, characterisation and worldbuilding weren’t also spot on. Fortunately, Griffiths is a solidly good writer, so they are. I thoroughly enjoyed the worldbuilding – the rather subdued atmosphere where everyone is still recovering from WWII is brilliantly done, along with a host of nicely added details, making this setting thoroughly believable.The plotting is also excellent – as it should be, given that Griffiths is an experienced author of a best-selling murder mystery series. I quickly became caught up in the unfolding drama and flew through this book as the pages more or less turned themselves – always a sign that I am caught up in the world and its problems. But for me, Griffiths’ superpower is her characterisation. This book is mostly from the viewpoint of both Mephisto and Stephens, two very different people with a totally different world view. While I initially preferred Edgar, as the book wore on, I became increasingly intrigued by Max and what actually drives him.The way both characters developed and expanded into complex, three-dimensional characters with occasional flashes of humour in amongst the serious business of tracking down a serial killer, worked very well. I have found myself thinking of this one since I finished reading and I’m delighted to discover that Himself has also bought the second book in the series – the man is a treasure! Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys engrossing, well plotted whodunits set in an enjoyably detailed historical seaside town.9/10

I have trouble understanding the level of praise heaped on this book by reviewers in the media. Three stars is generous, earned by how well the author recreates the excellent backdrop of post-WW2 English variety theatre.The characterisations are awfully twee, very Midsomer Murders English, and in the main uninspiring. The plot isn't complex, it's endless, way overdone and filled with needlessly descriptive, angst-driven passages that this reader learned to flick through in search of something that actually drove the plot forward.The identity of the dastardly criminal, the 'who' in the 'whodunnit', was flagged so clearly in the early chapters that it surely surprised nobody. And the wrapping up of all the loose ends was soooo cutey nice nice, happily ever after mush. We were even left reassured, repeatedly, that the simple sweet man whose wife had been brutally murdered a few weeks before was already on the mend and sure to find another loving wife soon.This author won't feature in my reading lists again.

As an ardent fan of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries by Elly Griffiths I was slightly reluctant to start reading this series which she has set in Brighton in the early 1950s. The setting and the time appealed to me, but would these new characters meet my expectations?DI Edgar Stephens is an intelligent, hard-working detective who treats his colleagues with respect and has a limited social life. But the appearance of a girl’s body in three separate cases prompts him to make contact with his old friend, Max Mephisto, who was part of a group of “Magic Men” working for the army during the war. Max is a tall, charismatic figure with a good heart but a reputation for moving from one lady friend to another. He and Edgar are good for each other and combining their skills they begin to solve the murder mystery.It took me time to get to know these characters but gradually I came to like Edgar Stephens and to hope for his happiness as well as a solution to the crime.

Reviews for The Zig Zag Girl on Amazon are rather mixed and I think there are a few reasons for this.The novel has a slightly complex and unrealistic plot (but describing it as being unrealistic is not a criticism as I thought it quite clever if somewhat contrived). The villain is fairly easy to 'guess' but their motive is not revealed until virtually the end of the story.The setting is 1950 Brighton but somehow the atmosphere of living and working in this post-war period does not really come across (although I liked the references to some of the products from that era - e.g. the Wolseley police cars).The characterisation is also a little varied; it is very easy to visualise and get a feeling that you would know what makes Max Mephisto tick if you met him on the street, but DI Edgar Stephens strikes me as a slightly more unrealistic figure, being full of contradictions (e.g. sometimes strong and forceful as one might expect from a detective inspector, while at other times indecisive and unwilling to be confrontational in certain situations).Overall the Zig Zag Girl is an easy book to read and while I would not categorise it as a 'cosy' murder mystery, it certainly doesn't contain any particularly gruesome or gratuitous passages, making it suitable to readers of all ages. Hopefully the next book in the series (Smoke and Mirrors), which I have already downloaded, will be a little more reflective of the period.