Harry Houdini Mysteries: The Floating Lady Murder by Daniel StashowerDaniel Stashower’s Harry Houdini Mysteries are delightful cozies for readers who enjoy quiet but fast-paced mystery, delectable period detail, and excellent prose from an author who is deeply versed in the historical period he chooses. Mr. Stashower sets actual historic individuals into a setting of his own invention, rendering the locale, events, and persons as realistically as if they themselves stepped forward off the pages of history just to entertain contemporary readers.
In this “episode,” Harry Houdini, far fro the famous (or infamous) stage magician and escape artist he will eventually be, is working for a then-famous magician known as Kellar. Accompanied by wife Bess and younger brother Dash, Harry finds himself the sleuth in a case of unexpected, and unexplained death: Kellar’s noted “Floating Lady” trick goes awry, and the levitated assistant is killed-but by drowning, not by falling from a height!
These Mysteries are presented as recollections of Dash Houdini-now in his eighties-who recounts them, rather like a stage raconteur, for newspaper reporters who wish to fill up a column block on the anniversary of Harry Houdini’s unexpected and sad demise during a stage act. By doing so, Author Stashower brings to these tales a sense of immediacy not always found in historical suspense, and creates a delightful setting for the reader to indulge in excitement, wonder, and mystery.
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