Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths – Book review

By now it’s no secret I love the Brighton Mysteries crime series by Elly Griffiths. Now You See Them is the fifth book (see my reviews of the previous four here) and moves the action from the 1950s (where the previous books were set) to the highly charismatic 1960s where the iconic Brighton mods and rockers do indeed give backdrop to the story.

Superintendent Edgar Stephens and magician (now actor) Max Mephisto once again join forces to solve a crime but there’s so many other layers in Now You See Them too that make it such a great read. Let me explain…

Brighton in the swinging sixties

By this point I feel like I know Edgar, his wife Emma, Max and his daughter Ruby very well. So that’s why I really loved how Now You See Them switched things up a little by taking a significant step forward in time, 10 years after the previous book The Vanishing Box.

By moving all the characters along in their life it gives a really fresh feel to the story. Max now lives in American with his movie-star wife and two young children, Edgar and Emma have three children and Ruby is now a TV star.

When girls begin disappearing, including Ruby, Edgar and Max spring to action. When one of them turns up murdered, they know its a race against time to find out what’s happening.

Times are changing

For me personally, the murder mystery element was the sub-plot as the characters lives were key for me. Especially Emma – Edgar’s wife Emma was once a police woman, but gave up her career once she married Edgar and had children (as was common in the 1950s). Now though, she is restless and misses her job.

She was excellent at what she did and feels frustration at having to give it up. This is an important and interesting angle as so many women would have felt this way. Her journey here makes me excited for where her story will go in the next book.

Also – special shout out to the scenes in historic Rottingdean, a delightful village just outside Brighton, love it there and the familiarity about reading about places I know so well.

I would say by this point that reading the previous four books in the series will give you so much more enjoyment, so go back and devour those first if you haven’t already!

I listened to Now You See Them on audiobook, once again narrated by the wonderful Luke Thompson who really embodies the characters.

• Audiobook narrated by Luke Thompson
• Running time: 7h 59 mins
• Get your copy of Now You See Them here;
• Published by Quercus 2019;
• 384 pages;
• My rating: