ARDINI, the famous
Magician, was more pleased than surprised when his hand-picked
"volunteer" from the audience was replaced by 110 pounds of lovely
glamour running across his stage, chased by a bulky figure waving a pistol.
Before long his admiration changed to chagrin, and wonder . . . why did fate
have to hand him dynamite wrapped up in a package so alluring that he was
helpless to stay away? Before he knew it, Ardini was a suspect, spectator, and
detective in a case that startled New York; a case involving jewelry thefts,
mystery, magic . . . and murder. Magic, and a better-than-average power of
deduction, were on Ardini's side, though, and soon he was giving some
crime-busting lessons to the police. He even had time to take some lessons
himself, and he learned a thing or two about romance from a beautiful,
110-pound instructor with plenty to teach.
A Blonde For Murder
(Mystery)
By Walter B. Gibson
Mystery House www.FictionHousePress.com
ISBN #978-1505428568
Price $11.67
230 Pages
Rating 5-Stars
A Master Magician
Unravels A Murder Mystery.”
John Arden, better
known as the Great Ardini is performing to a theater crowd when a young girl
being chased by the police rushes on stage, then disappears in one of his
famous magic acts. Now the police think Ardini is a suspect in league with the
girl in the murder of a private detective working for an insurance company.
It’s up to the Great
Ardini to find the girl, uncover the plot, and reveal the true murderer. He’s
up again a spiritualist, another amateur magician, and gangsters, one of which
may be the real killer. Ardini brings the case to an explosive end with a séance.
This novel was
originally published by Vital Publications in 1948, but holds up well almost 70
years later. The author was a magician, and created several magician detectives,
including Norgil the Magician, though this was the first Ardini story I had
read. He is better known as the creator and author of The Shadow, Highly
recommended.
Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery
Stories
How many of these did he write? I really enjoy the magician detective sub-genre, and have the two volumes of Norgil The Magician.
ReplyDeleteThis was the only Ardini story I've come across. You would have to ask Anthony Tollin or Will Murray, they would know it there are more. I have all but a couple Norgil stories. Sanctum Books has been reprinting some of the missing Norgils that weren't in those two books, but there are still a couple that hasn't been reprinted.
ReplyDeleteI read this and enjoyed it, but it definitely seemed to belong to the pre-war era.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the publishing history, except this edition was taken from the 1948 printing. It could have appeared much earlier somewhere else.
ReplyDelete