Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Magician Murders 
SERIES: The Art of Murder #3
AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon
NARRATOR: Kale Williams
PUBLISHER: JustJoshin Publishing Inc.
RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2018
LENGTH: 6 hours, 37 minutes
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, who is 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:
The Magician Murders is the third (but not last) book in this series about Jason West a special agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Team and Sam Kennedy the BAU chief, a legend with in the bureau for hunting and stopping serial killers.
Relationship-wise The Magician Murders was off to a promising start. Jason and Sam were actually spending time together face to face, in the same room and did at times attempt some form of relationship and there even was some communication – colour me shocked. I’m not saying there was some huge identity switch or anything where they talked about their feelings and wants and such, because come on, this is Jason and Sam…But they tried.
However that didn’t last all that long. When Jason is injured in an attempted kidnapping Sam brings him back to his mother in Wyoming. And once again this couple spends the majority of the book in different places and don’t have much on page time together. Going a bit stir crazy being cooped up Jason is eager to help out when he’s asked to consult on a local homicide of a magician. A magician with many enemies and a missing art collection.
In the meantime, Sam is trying to figure out who wants to hurt Jason, and is hunting down every lead he can – near and far. Doing everything in his power to make sure he won’t lose another lover. I might not ever count Sam as one of my all-time favourite characters, he ends up in that mostly tolerated one. But that’s okay too. You can’t love everyone and this also shows that personal chemistry is as present in books as in real life. And me not liking Sam is never something that will keep me from picking up this series.
The mystery itself (I won’t go into any details, because spoiling a mystery is a big no for me) wasn’t as good as some of Lanyon’s previous works. However, it did keep me interested and I did enjoy it, but I also wished for a bit more. There were still avenues left to explore
Kale Williams fits this series. He is this series and these characters. He brings you into the story and keeps you there, captive and in search for clues and answers. I very much enjoyed listening to his narration of this book and am looking forward to listen to many more of his works to come.
For the most part audiobooks are just as good (or better) as the printed version of the book. Sometimes the audiobook highlights pacing issues that don’t quite work stilted conversations and the like. Don’t worry there’s nothing like this with this book. That last page however (I’m assuming it was a page, maybe a little more or a little less, but you get my drift), that last page was painful to listen to. It wasn’t in any way angsty or sad. There was nothing at all wrong with as such it and I can’t honestly say that I would change it, because it fits, it needs to be there. But in this case, that last page is infinitely better in the printed version rather than audio. And it also made me wonder at Kale Williams’ reactions and feelings while narrating it…. Personally it would’ve driven me bat shit, but that’s just me :p
There are things that have been brewing since the beginning of the series, we’ve gotten hints every now and then throughout and now things seems to have reaches the boiling point by the end of this book. Unfortunately it also seems like we’re in for a very loong wait (read winter 2019) to find out what happened next, to maybe, hopefully, get some more answers. I also find myself wanting to ask the question: “Where are you?”
RATING: 
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