The Vanishing Box

Book excerpt: In a nail-biting hunt for a missing loved one, DI Edgar Stephens and the magician Max Mephisto discover once again that the line between art, life, and death is all too easily blurred. It's the holiday season and Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby have landed a headlining gig at the Brighton Hippodrome, the biggest theater in the city, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savory supporting act: a tableau show of naked "living statues." But when one of the girls goes missing and turns up dead not long after, Max and Ruby realize there's something far more sinister than obscenity afoot in the theater. DI Edgar Stephens is on the case. As he searches for the killer, he begins to suspect that her fatal vanishing act may very well be related to another case, the death of a quiet local florist. But just as he's narrowing in on the missing link, Ruby goes missing, and he and Max must team up once again to find her.