Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: The Magician Murders
SERIES: The Art of Murder #3
AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon
PUBLISHER: JustJoshin Publishing
LENGTH: 248 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2018
BLURB:
Nothing up his sleeves. Nothing but murder…
Jason West, hot-shot special agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Team, is at the Wyoming home of Behavioral Analysis Unit Chief Sam Kennedy, recuperating from a recent hit-and-run accident, when he’s asked to consult on the theft of a priceless collection of vintage magic posters.
But before Jason can say “presto change-o,” the owner of the art collection turns up murdered in a National Forest.
When the dead man is revealed to be the Kubla Khanjurer, a much-hated part-time magician accused of revealing the highly guarded secrets of professional illusionists, it seems clear this is a simple revenge killing—until Jason realizes an earlier suspicious death at the trendy magic club Top Hat White Rabbit might be part of the same larger and more sinister pattern.
REVIEW:
So it turns out the trying to review two Josh Lanyon books at the same time was a bit of a mistake. Mostly proved by the fact that I got two paragraphs into this review before realizing that in fact this story did not involve any side trips to Scotland or fawning book-groupies. It does however have more than its fair share of dodgy magicians and FBI agents who really suck at communication.
In their third book, FBI agents Jason West and Sam Kennedy are finally looking like they might get their shit together long enough to become something more than a possibility of a relationship. Then, of course, Jason goes and gets attacked outside a take-out place and suddenly the duo are sent to Wyoming to go to ground till they know why, or at least who, was after Jason. Which puts them right in the path of a magician murderer…and even more terrifying, Sam’s mother.
I think I’m going to leave a lot of the plot out of this review, mainly to not spoil anything, but I’d love to talk about it in a more general sense. As well as covering what I feel about this series as a whole so far.
While I don’t think this ranks in the top five–or even maybe the top ten, since Lanyon has written quite a few–of her mystery stories, offering up a group of suspects not commonly featured in this type (or most types) of story did a good job of making it fun to read. I do think that it didn’t nearly go as deep with the idea as it could have, though, which is a shame. You have this group of people who make a living out of misdirection and escaping the impossible, which should make for many a great twist, but it is only used on a very surface level here. Mostly the stage-magician aspect was used as set dressing on a fairly typical murder mystery plot. Had it fleshed out that aspect a bit more, I certainly would have ended up loving this story, instead of just liking it.
I do however like that it didn’t quite take a typical approach to the investigation, though. I have greatly enjoyed this series and its somewhat out-of-the-box take on mysteries, by having the focus be on the more arty aspects of crime even when they end up swirling around a more common dead center. While death is never far off in the stories, having this somewhat alternate view point with which to view it, makes it feel fresh and interesting. Jason being someone who usually deals in the more white-collar of crimes, paired with Sam who has made a life around catching the worst of humanity, is a very odd dynamic that yet somehow works.
The pair don’t spend nearly enough time together on page…though that might just be me wanting them to always be together since they have great chemistry. In fact, while these books might not really compete for my favorite mysteries out of Lanyon, Sam and Jason do rank up there with my favorite couples. Something about their story arc just really works for me. It is not your typical romance, or relationship, yet for all the struggles–or, hell, maybe because of all those struggles–I find myself utterly fascinated by them. Lanyon’s ability to draw out, expand, and deepen a relationship over a series of novels is one of her major selling points, in my opinion. I dearly love her mysteries, but her characters always make me want just one more book so I can learn that little bit more about the characters in them.
Overall this is a decent story that mainly focuses its effort on growing the characters instead of digging through the clues. Not that those aren’t in the story, but I got the feeling that the mystery was a bit secondary to nudging our guys along in their rather stutter-and-stop relationship. Not the best book to jump into the series on, but I have a feeling it is going to be a necessary stepping stone to get to the next book. In which I dearly hope we at least get some major movement on the subplot that has been building in the background since book one–and going by that last page of the story, I think we have a rather good shot at it.
RATING: 
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