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鈥溾€楲ooks as if someone鈥檚 sliced her into three,鈥� said Solomon Carter, the police surgeon, chattily. 鈥榃e鈥檙e just missing the middle bit.鈥�

I must not be sick, thought Edgar Stephens. That鈥檚 what he wants. Stay calm and professional at all times. You鈥檙e the policeman after all.鈥�

So this was what was meant by the 鈥渮ig-zag鈥� in the title. It put me in mind of my 鈥渏igsaw鈥� tool, which I used at Art college. It was an innocent enough name for what was in fact, a fairly lethal handheld electric band saw. And I had thought this a cute title, perhaps referring to a character鈥檚 style preference, such as a girl who liked to wear zig-zags on her clothes. I proceeded with caution 鈥�

However I need not have worried. The Zig-Zag Girl was evidently going to be written with a light touch. There was a nice bit of humour in this initial scene at the mortuary, and as the dismembered body parts turned up, it always felt remote, as if the body was artificial. Although what was referred to was grisly, it was never explicitly graphic, and it never felt as though we were reading about an actual person. It fitted neatly into the tradition of cosy murder mysteries. And indeed, many avid mystery readers had come to The Zig-Zag Girl after having enjoyed the books about Dr. Ruth Galloway.

The Zig-Zag Girl is the first book in the Brighton Mysteries - which are sometimes termed the 鈥淪tephens and Mephisto Mysteries鈥� - and now number seven books. The author is quite prolific, with two other ongoing crime series. In addition to the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries, there is the Justice Series, as well as four books set in Italy, which she had written initially.

Like many youngsters who enjoy reading, the author wrote her own stories, but stopped when she went to university. She read English at King鈥檚 College London, then worked in a library, for a magazine, and then as a publicity assistant at HarperCollins, eventually becoming an Editorial Director. Then in 1998, while still working in publishing, she wrote her first published novel The Italian Quarter by Domenica de Rosa.

At this point, you may be doing a double take and have a quick look back at the book details. The Zig-Zag Girl is by 鈥淓lly Griffiths鈥�, a name now familiar to those who read British crime mysteries. So it might come as a surprise to learn that Elly Griffiths is actually the pseudonym, not Domenica de Rosa.

Domenica de Rosa wrote three more books, all about Italy, families and identity, before the novel which started her on a new track. It had a Dr Ruth Galloway as its protagonist, and was called 鈥淭he Crossing Places鈥�. Apparently the author didn鈥檛 think that this new book was significantly different from her others, but her agent said, 鈥淭his is crime. You need a crime name,鈥� and 鈥淓lly Griffiths鈥� was born.

The Ruth Galloway books became very popular and in 2014, a new group of people and change of location were introduced. The Zig-Zag Girl has a standard mystery set-up, with a professional detective and an amateur sleuth, but the conjuring aspect is a quirky new take on it. Of this novel the author says:

鈥淢agic, murder and a mystery rooted in a murky wartime past. Meet DI Stephens and Max Mephisto.鈥�

The Zig-Zag Girl is set in Brighton in 1950, and also a little along the coast, in Hastings. I was impressed by the authentic feel, and wondered how a Londoner conveyed the sense of place quite so effectively. The answer is that although Domenica de Rosa was born in London, her family moved to Brighton when she was five:

鈥淚 loved Brighton and still do 鈥� the town, the surrounding countryside and, most of all, the sea.鈥�

It is a sobering thought for me that The Zig-Zag Girl is sometimes filed as 鈥渉istorical fiction鈥�. It makes me feel ancient, just as it does when I discover a much-loved toy from my childhood in a museum. So however old must Domenica de Rosa be, to write with such conviction about the 1950s? The answer lies, of course, in good research. 鈥淓lly Griffiths鈥� explains:

鈥淔or the Stephens and Mephisto books, I got to explore my home town of Brighton. They are set in the 1950s, which doesn鈥檛 seem that long ago, and many people were very generous with their time and memories. My grandfather was a music hall comedian so I have drawn very heavily on his experiences and on his collection of playbills.鈥�

and also:

鈥淭he Magic Gang was led by the famous magician Jasper Maskelyne and for details of his war years I am indebted to a fascinating book called The War Magician by David Fisher (Cassell).鈥�

Her own creation, Max Mephisto is a magician - or more properly termed a conjuror - an illusionist. Indeed one of the characters later observes:

鈥淎ll life is an illusion 鈥︹€�

A thought-provoking saying, but nothing to do with philosophy; with David Hume or Jean-Paul Sartre - or even Eastern philosophy. I鈥檓 afraid you will have to read the book to find out just how deep the illusion is.

Max Mephisto has a good reputation; he is a top-ranking magician. Before the war his act had been enormously popular, and his name still draws the crowds. But 鈥渂efore the war鈥� is not the Brighton of 1950. The world has changed, and although Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls, he is well aware that variety is on the way out. A new-fangled device called the television is the key to the entertainment of the future. We too become immersed in this world of entertainment with its loyalties and petty betrayals; it seems a mixture of tawdry affairs and tinsel. But we are intrigued by the dismembered body parts, and know there must be a reason for carrying out such a peculiar and distinctive crime.

So when Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is presented with the body of a girl cut into three, he is reminded of a magic trick, the Zig-Zag Girl. It is an illusion where the magician鈥檚 assistant is apparently sawn into three, and had originally been invented by his old friend Max Mephisto. The two men had served together in the war, as part of a special unit called the Magic Men, stationed in Inverness, Scotland. Max Mephisto, the detective feels, has made a success of his life, unlike Edgar himself. What鈥檚 more, Max Mephisto is performing in Brighton. It seems a good idea to approach and ask him if he has any thoughts which might help.

Initially Max is reluctant to be involved in anything which distracts him from his act. He needs to maintain his position as top of the tree. But when the dead girl turns out to be someone he knew years ago, Max changes his mind, and the two set out to find the killer.

As the novel proceeds there is another violent death - and yet another - both as inventively gruesome as the first. What can be going on? The investigation is getting more and more complicated. Are these grisly murders connected? And if so how - and who will be next? What is it about magicians and the special army unit which might have triggered such heartless crimes? Or are Edgar and Max way off beam?

I listened to The Zig-Zag Girl as an audio book read by Daniel Philpott, in just over 8 hours. It is an excellent narration, in which the voice actor conjures up a variety of very expressive voices. However, I do think that this novel would be better read on the page, as it is a quick, light read. The ending seemed too protracted on audio.

Did I guess 鈥渨hodunnit鈥�? Yes, and very early on, which is most unusual for me. I also guessed the motivation. This was not due to any clever picking up of clues on my behalf though, but just that it conformed to the type. As the story proceeded, my own version became a little more embellished - although inaccurately! And I did not guess a final twist at all.

It is a good foundation for a series. The two main characters of Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto are well defined, and quite different in their outlook, whilst remaining good friends. There is also a wider circle of magic men, an old army officer, various assistants, family members and boarding house landladies, a couple of whom may well feature in later books. And right at the end we realise that a possible love interest may unite the two.

Yes, I believe that this was never written as a stand-alone novel, but was planned from the outset as the beginning of a new series. Maybe I鈥檒l never read any more myself, but it鈥檚 a competently written and enjoyable cosy mystery, with engaging characters and a solid base for more to come.

The critics of British newspapers were quite complimentary:

鈥淲ith a labyrinthine plot, a splendid reveal and superb evocation of the wafer-thin veneer of glamour at the bottom end of showbusiness, this is thoroughly enjoyable.鈥� - The Guardian

鈥溾€n extremely well-written and well-researched novel.鈥� - Literary Review

鈥淧ost-war Brighton and its Theatre Royal are beautifully captured in all their seedy glory鈥ubtle, charming and very good.鈥� - Daily Mail