Brighton Mysteries Books in Order

The Brighton Mysteries, sometimes called the Stephens and Mephisto or Magic Men series, move away from modern Norfolk to the neon and fog of 1950s and 60s Brighton. Here the leads are Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and stage magician Max Mephisto, old friends bound together by a secret wartime unit that used illusion to fool the enemy.

When the series opens in The Zig Zag Girl, it is 1950 and Britain is still in the long shadow of the Second World War. Edgar works for Brighton police, a thoughtful, methodical officer who has swapped camouflage tricks for paperwork and interviews. Max is still touring the variety circuit, sawing glamorous assistants in half and living out of shabby theatrical digs as television starts to steal his audience. A sensational murder staged like one of Max’s illusions forces them back into partnership and pulls in memories of the covert “Magic Men” unit they once served in.

Each book takes a different slice of mid century entertainment as its backdrop. There are Christmas pantomimes and end of the pier variety shows, fortune tellers, music hall veterans, television specials and early horror films. The crimes often echo stage tricks – vanishing acts, misdirection, elaborate set pieces – and suspects range from backstage crew to costume designers, impresarios and fellow magicians. The theatrical world is glamorous from a distance and threadbare close up, full of big egos, tight budgets and long grudges.

As time passes the series moves forward into the early and mid 1960s. Edgar rises through the ranks and marries his sharp ex sergeant, Emma Holmes, who later becomes a private detective in her own right. Max’s daughter Ruby becomes a television star, bringing a younger, more modern energy and a reminder that the old music hall ways are fading. Later books feature ambitious young constable Meg Connolly and journalist Sam Collins, showing how women and working class characters find their own paths in a changing world.

Brighton itself is a constant presence: boarding houses with thin walls, foggy seafronts, backstreet pubs, bohemian enclaves and respectable suburbs. The city is both playground and crime scene, with day trippers, local families, criminal gangs and show folk jostling together. Occasional trips to London or New York widen the canvas, but the heart of the series stays on the south coast.

Readers can expect intricate, fair-play mysteries, a strong sense of period and a slightly melancholy affection for performers whose careers are slipping away just as youth culture and television take over. Underneath the puzzles and theatrical colour, the books explore loyalty, ambition, friendship and what it means to reinvent yourself when the world moves on.