Mystery of the Magician by Elizabeth Howard Series: My Name is Paris #2
Published by Random House on March 12, 1988
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Girls & Women, Young Adult Fiction / Historical / Europe, Young Adult Fiction / Mysteries & Detective Stories
Pages: 138
Format: Paperback
Source: Ebay
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Investigating the death of her uncle in Paris at the turn of the century, an American teenager meets the famous magician, Harry Houdini.
This is the second book the “My Name is Paris” series that I started because of nostalgia. I intend to read all four books in the series. Sometimes you read things to finally say, “Yes, I did that.” Even if no one else really cares if you did. Some things are for you, right?
I was wondering if this one would be any good because there were flaws in the first book that felt like subsequent books may also suffer from a few of those flaws. I worried that moving forward they couldn’t sustain a narrative that would be interesting. Well guess what? I was wrong. This one, to me, was better than the first.
While we are still working in elements from the first book, including the “villain” character. Here it feels stronger, as we are not forced into aspects of the story to create the world that Elizabeth Howard was trying to place us into. We are already in that world and we have established why our main character is in Paris (Yes, remember that she is in Paris and her name is Paris. Woo hoo right!). We are reminded of aspects of the first book and a string that was left hanging in it is quickly resolved within the pages of this 2nd volume. This made both books just a bit more enjoyable. I had honestly thought they just left the thread to not be resolved, so I was glad Howard didn’t do that to us since there was a second book.
What makes this book a bit stronger is that the mystery aspects feel stronger and less forced. Yes, they include an element that I despise. This is when characters “meet a famous person” which in this one it is Houdini. The reason I think I was fine with it here, Howard made him a character in the story, but only interwoven him in certain moments instead of forcing him into the overall narrative. This is a feat considering the name of the book, but she does great in allowing her characters to shine. I also like that we are introduced to a new character in this volume, which creates a bit of a love triangle that will be fun to see in the next 2 volumes of the series (it is only 4 books). Howard was smart to do this, but also smart not to force a lot of new characters on us that feel like they will be in every single book.
Also finally, I just need to comment on the cover. It is stunning. Look at it be in pure heaven. All four of these books’ covers are just gorgeous.
Book 3 of the series is entitled “A Scent of Murder” and I will eventually get around to reading this book as well and review it for ya’ll.
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