Smoke and Mirrors, Volume 2

nAnother great series. -- San Jose Mercury News nA dazzlingly tricky mystery. -- Kirkus Reviews n n A tremendous skein of red herrings, sharp and thorough police work, and] mysterious connections. -- Bookgasm n n It's Christmastime in Brighton, and the city is abuzz about magician Max Mephisto's star turn in Aladdin. But the holiday cheer is lost on DI Edgar Stephens. He's investigating the murder of two children, Annie and Mark, who were found in the woods alongside a trail of candy--a horrifying scene eerily reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel. n Edgar has plenty of leads. Annie, a dark child, wrote gruesome plays based on the Grimms' fairy tales. Does the key to the case lie in her final script? Or does the macabre staging of the bodies point to the theater and the capricious cast of Aladdin? Edgar enlists Max's help in penetrating the shadowy world of the theater. But is this all just classic misdirection? n nExcellent . . . Evoking both the St. Mary Mead of Agatha Christie and the theater world of Ngaio Marsh. -- Booklist n