The Floating Light Bulb: An Eli Marks Mystery cover art

The Floating Light Bulb: An Eli Marks Mystery

The Eli Marks Mysteries, Book 5

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The Floating Light Bulb: An Eli Marks Mystery

By: John Gaspard
Narrated by: Jim Cunningham
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About this listen

Murder at the Mall of America

When a magician is murdered in the midst of his act at the Mall of America, Eli Marks is asked to step in and take over the daily shows - while also keeping his eyes and ears open for clues about this bizarre homicide.

As Eli combs the maze-like corridors beneath the Mall of America's massive amusement park looking for leads, he also struggles to learn and perform an entirely new magic act. Meanwhile, the longtime watering hole for Uncle Harry and his Mystics pals is closing, so in addition to the murder investigation and the new act, Eli must help the grumpy (and picky) seniors find a suitable new hangout.

©2018 John Gaspard (P)2018 Spoken Realms Cosy Mystery Fiction Crime Murder Cosy Mysteries

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I just loved this book, well to tell the truth I have loved every single book in the series, so far. Although each book is full of magic (and I don't mean the witches and fairies kind) each book is fresh and totally different from the last but just as entertaining. What I like is the fact that the killer and motive is so obvious and you wonder why Eli can't solve it but then the author manages to pull off a twist that you don't see coming, just like a real magician he makes it feel effortless. I normally wish the author would stick to the investigation and forget about the love life or home life drama but with this series that part of the story is just as captivating. The writer knows how to create interesting likeable characters and funny or memorable situations. I just can't get enough.
With the police to busy dealing with an influx of drugs Eli's ex wife asks him to go undercover. The magician at the Mall of America has been murdered and nobody will talk to the cops. Eli is perfect for the job, he just has to perform the old magicians routine, with his cranky assistant and ask questions. What could go wrong? It seems a lot, especially when another body is found and he is no closer to finding the killer. Then his fiancee starts work at the Mall and his favourite bar is closing down. Can Eli concentrate long enough to pull a dove out of his pocket or will he be the next victim?
I really like the narrator. He does some really good voices for each of the characters.

A surprising act

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This series honestly just keeps getting better. Absolutely love it. I want to say thank you to the author and narrator.

Amazing

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Eli Marks and his Uncle Harry are in the audience at a magic show in the Mall of America in Minnesota. The final illusion, the Metamorphosis, reaches its climax – the spotlight swings towards the door where Billy Blume, the magician, should enter, but . . . he doesn’t appear. Billy has been killed, shot as he made his way round the back of the theatre for his big finale. Because of Eli’s skills as a stage magician and his history of getting involved in investigations, the Assistant DA, Deirdre Sutton-Hutton, who happens to be Eli’s ex-wife, and her new husband, Homicide Detective Fred Hutton, who happens to be in charge of the case, ask him to apply for the vacancy at the Mall and see if he can sniff out who might have had a motive to kill Billy. What they don’t tell him is that Billy’s wasn’t the first mysterious death in the Mall and, as it turns out, it won’t be the last…

A few years ago I had great fun reading the first few books in this series, and then I didn’t see any for a while and I’m afraid I assumed Gaspard had stopped writing them. Then I stumbled across this one on Audible and discovered there are actually now eight books in the series! The whole series is now available on Audible, all narrated by Jim Cunningham who does a great job, getting the humorous tone just right.

Over the course of the series, the little group of regulars has expanded, and it was great meeting up with them all again. Eli tells the stories himself in first person, and as well as occasional stage work he has now taken over his uncle’s magic shop, which just about breaks even. Uncle Harry has retired but is still going strong, now engaged to Franny, a once-professional psychic also now retired. Eli’s own romance with Megan (also a psychic) is now a settled thing, and they’re about ready to set a date for the wedding. Eli’s relationship with Deirdre and Fred is better now that he’s settled with Megan. And Uncle Harry’s group of elderly magician friends still meet regularly and are always on hand to give Eli advice about how the great magicians of the past performed their tricks.

Looking back at my old reviews, I have to say this book seemed considerably more on the cosy side than I said about the earlier ones. The mystery takes a real back seat to all the relationships between the characters, and a lot of time is given over to descriptions of life as an employee in the Mall, big enough to rank almost as a small town in its own right. Eli has to design a show and inherits an assistant, Nimisha, and a stage manager, Morgan, and we see their relationships developing as they all learn to work with each other. There are lots of other Mall employees we meet, who might be new friends or might be suspects, but it’s quite late on in the book before the plot takes centre stage. When it does it’s a lot of fun, though I had to turn off my credibility monitor to silence its frantic bleeping!

One of the things I always love is that each book involves a classic magic trick, which Gaspard discusses without ever breaking the magician’s code of not revealing how it’s done. In this one he describes the Floating Light Bulb, made famous by Harry Blackstone, Jr. As always, this led me to spend (too much) time on youtube, watching not just that but various versions of the Metamorphosis trick that had ended so badly in chapter 1.

I’m so pleased to have re-discovered this series and to know that there are more available. Light-hearted fun with a group of enjoyable characters who have come to feel like old friends. If they take your fancy, I recommend reading them in order, starting with The Ambitious Card, since all the relationships develop as the series goes along. I won’t leave it so long next time before spending a few more hours in the company of Eli and his friends!

(NB One of the problems with listening rather than reading is that I have to guess at the spellings of characters’ names, so please forgive any errors!)

Magic in the Mall…

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Jim Cunningham is amazing as a narrator. I have listened to him all day literally, I binged this story in one day. I am very unwell at the moment so listening to audible is helping me relax. I am loving the series it's just so much fun, I am invested in the characters and their relationships. I love Eli and Harry and the ladies are so funny. The setup for the story is fantastic, and slightly creepy too? I think it's the... no can't mention that or the, no can't mention that either... Just listen to the story. I think I can say confidently this is my favourite book of the series so far, so many things happen that are either random or I saw coming but not like that, and I was not expecting that but so glad it did. I really hope John Gaspard keeps writing these wonderful books!

I really enjoyed this book, great fun!

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a nice continuation to the character and with interesting insights into magic acts. quite a reasonable narrator.

enjoyable story,

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I am used to a more convoluted story now. it was really ok, and it was easy to put the stretching of reality to one side.

still improving

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