Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a devourer of Golden Age Detective Fiction, and a writer of locked-room mysteries inspired by the classics. When it comes to old-school mystery writers, my favourites are John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, and of course Agatha Christie. What I love about that era is the brilliance of the puzzles, and the way those writers really engaged with the reader and (in some cases) addressed them directly, challenging them to solve the crime along with the detective. Additionally, Iā€™m fascinated by stage illusions (though Iā€™m terrible at performing them myself), and this has also had a major influence on my writing.


I wrote

The Murder Wheel: A Locked-Room Mystery

By Tom Mead,

Book cover of The Murder Wheel: A Locked-Room Mystery

What is my book about?

Illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector investigates a sinister conundrum at a 1930s theatre in this thrilling new mystery novel fromā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Rim of the Pit

Tom Mead Why did I love this book?

This book captures just about everything I love about the mystery genre.

Itā€™s a locked-room mystery set in a snowbound cabin, where a group of city slickers find themselves confronted with a seemingly supernatural entity: the Wendigo. Rim of the Pit has a tangible sense of dread, which is something you donā€™t often find in Golden Age mysteries, but at the same time itā€™s a masterclass in logic and misdirection.

It certainly taught me a lot about creating suspense but also about planting clues ā€“ lessons Iā€™ve put to use in my own books.  

By Hake Talbot,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rim of the Pit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The cult classic mystery that John Dickson Carr hailed as ā€œa marvel of ingenuity.ā€

ā€œI came here to make a dead man change his mind.ā€

So begins a creepy and unusual mystery celebrated to this day as one of the greatest ā€œimpossible crimeā€ novels of all time. When a familyā€™s promise to protect the beloved pine grove of their dead father creates a financial strain, a seance is suggested to summon the ghost of the late logger and ask its permission. A mixed group of skeptics and believers convene at a snow-bound lodge to call the spirit with a groupā€¦


Book cover of Death From a Top Hat: A Great Merlini Mystery

Tom Mead Why did I love this book?

The main character in Death From A Top Hat is the enigmatic magician, The Great Merlini, and he is certainly a beguiling and intriguing character!

The perfect amateur sleuth, with everything I love about this particular ā€œstock character.ā€ Heā€™s funny, heā€™s smart, and he has ā€“ quite literally ā€“ plenty of tricks up his sleeve. This book, along with the rest of the Merlini series, offers many brilliant insights into the world of professional illusion.

But most important of all, this book offers an irresistible mystery that certainly kept me guessing!

By Clayton Rawson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Death From a Top Hat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A detective steeped in the art of magic solves the mystifying murder of two occultists.

Now retired from the tour circuit on which he made his name, master magician The Great Merlini spends his days running a magic shop in New Yorkā€™s Times Square and his nights moonlighting as a consultant for the NYPD. The cops call him when faced with crimes so impossible that they can only be comprehended by a magicianā€™s mind. In the most recent case, two occultists are discovered dead in locked rooms, one spread out on a pentagram, both appearing to have been murdered underā€¦


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Book cover of Cold Warrior

Cold Warrior by Robert Tucker,

During the 1970s and 80s, the Soviet Union penetrated the corporate economy and financial systems of the United States to engage in industrial espionage.

Cold Warrior is the story of Kasia Kerenski, a street mime who is ā€œdiscoveredā€ to work as a Hollywood actress. Coerced into becoming a double agentā€¦

Book cover of Under Lock & Skeleton Key: A Secret Staircase Mystery

Tom Mead Why did I love this book?

If youā€™re interested in locked-room mysteries, cozy crime, or magic, then you need to read this book.

Gigi Pandian is one of the best in the business, and with Under Lock & Skeleton Key she launches a brand new and exciting series. Gigi is excellent at creating charming characters that the reader cannot help but care about ā€“ this makes the mysteries themselves all the more compelling ā€“ and this book captures everything thatā€™s great about her writing. 

By Gigi Pandian,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Under Lock & Skeleton Key as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Wildly entertaining." ā€”The New York Times Book Review

Known for her wonderfully addictive characters, multiple award-winning author Gigi Pandian introduces her newest heroine in this heartfelt series debut. Under Lock & Skeleton Key layers stunning architecture with mouthwatering food in an ode to classic locked-room mysteries that will leave readers enchanted.

An impossible crime. A family legacy. The intrigue of hidden rooms and secret staircases.

After a disastrous accident derails Tempest Rajā€™s career, and life, she heads back to her childhood home in California to comfort herself with her grandfatherā€™s Indian home-cooked meals. Though she resists, every day brings herā€¦


Book cover of You'll Die Laughing

Tom Mead Why did I love this book?

This is a bizarre and obscure one-hit wonder that definitely needs to be rediscovered.

The style is crisp and witty, with nicely barbed dialogue. The puzzle is utterly bizarre ā€“ just the way I like them. And while the book itself doesnā€™t feature magical themes per se, itā€™s actually written by a magician.

I admire Youā€™ll Die Laughing for its sheer originality; having read many murder mysteries, I can honestly say Iā€™ve never read one that repeats the trick at the heart of this decidedly idiosyncratic novel. 

By Bruce Elliott,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked You'll Die Laughing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"I think I'll die ... ho ho ... laughing!" So exclaimed the practical-joking host of the elegant weekend party, after the siren that was attached to the flush lever on the commode went off. That set the mood for the rest of the weekend as the high-powered guests, including the mysterious analyst Dr. Guelph and a bunch of show-biz personalities, "enjoyed" the hospitality of the Grimsby brothers, Ben and the obnoxious Jesse. After choking down octopus and a dessert made of raw eggs, the party-goers were ready to murder Jesse, and each of them told him as much. Well, itā€¦


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Book cover of The Last Whaler

The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves,

This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail toā€¦

Book cover of The Harry Houdini Mysteries: The Dime Museum Murders

Tom Mead Why did I love this book?

I simply had to include one of Daniel Stashowerā€™s brilliant mysteries, as this all-too-brief series features one of the greatest and most famous illusionists of them all: Harry Houdini.

The story is narrated by Houdiniā€™s brother, Dash, who serves as a kind of ā€œWatsonā€ to Houdiniā€™s boisterous ā€œHolmes,ā€ and the two find themselves embroiled in numerous mysteries peppered with old-fashioned derring-do.

What I love about this book is the meticulous research that has clearly gone into it ā€“ but Stashower wears his learning lightly; this is a brisk adventure where the pace never sags.

By Daniel Stashower,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Harry Houdini Mysteries as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Harry Houdini and his brother, Dash, are called to solve the murder of a toy tycoon in this first locked room mystery starring the legendary real-life magicians
 
New York City, 1897: Young escapologist Harry Houdini is struggling to get the recognition he craves from the ruthless entertainment industry. But when toy tycoon Branford Wintour is found murdered in his Fifth Avenue mansion, detectives call upon Houdini to help solve this mysterious crime, ushering in a new era of Houdiniā€™s career: amateur sleuth.
 
When Harry and his brother Dash reach the scene of the murder, they discover Wintour was found deadā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

The Murder Wheel: A Locked-Room Mystery

By Tom Mead,

Book cover of The Murder Wheel: A Locked-Room Mystery

What is my book about?

Illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector investigates a sinister conundrum at a 1930s theatre in this thrilling new mystery novel from Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror, one of Publishers Weeklyā€™s Mysteries of the Year 2022.

In London, 1938, young and idealistic lawyer Edmund Ibbs is trying to find any shred of evidence that his client Carla Dean wasnā€™t the one who shot her husband dead at the top of a Ferris Wheel. But the deeper he digs, the more complex the case becomes, and Edmund soon finds himself drawn into a nightmarish web of conspiracy and murder. Before long he himself is implicated in not one but two seemingly impossible crimes.

Book cover of Rim of the Pit
Book cover of Death From a Top Hat: A Great Merlini Mystery
Book cover of Under Lock & Skeleton Key: A Secret Staircase Mystery

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