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A Spector Locked-Room Mystery #4
The House at Devil's Neck
Not yet published
Expected 14 Jul 26
In this latest locked room mystery from the author of Cabaret Macabre, amateur sleuth Joseph Spector pits his knowledge of stage magic against the seemingly supernatural when a seance at an isolated old hospital turns deadly.
An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from twenty-five years ago, prompting Scotland Yard's George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery.
Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil’s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier.
Flint's and Spector's investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil's Neck that the truth is finally revealed. Tom Mead once again creates a brilliant homage to John Dickson Carr and the Golden Age of mysteries with this intricately plotted puzzle.
An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from twenty-five years ago, prompting Scotland Yard's George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery.
Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil’s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier.
Flint's and Spector's investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil's Neck that the truth is finally revealed. Tom Mead once again creates a brilliant homage to John Dickson Carr and the Golden Age of mysteries with this intricately plotted puzzle.
288 pages, Paperback
Expected publication July 14, 2026
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4747 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
August 16, 2025
Another delightful mystery from Tom Mead. I can’t get enough of Spector and Flint.
July 20, 2025
Delightfully complicated and appropriately eerie. There’s some comfort in reading a puzzling book that gets completely sorted out at the end. It gives me faith that even the most perplexing situations can be resolved. God I love a locked room.
May 5, 2025
Atmospheric, intricate, and packed with clever twists and historical flair, The House at Devil’s Neck gives a unique spin on the classic locked room mystery. Tom Mead expertly blends the entertaining aspects of mediums, spiritualism, and stage performance with the haunting realities of the interwar period, all set against the backdrop of a an isolated house with an eerie history of its own.
April 20, 2025
The title of Tom Mead's newest work might immediately bring to mind John Dickson Carr's The House at Satan's Elbow, but prospective readers may rest assured that it's definitely a better book than that one.
I've enjoyed the other three works in the Joseph Spector series, and there has been a noticeable improvement over them, a trend which is continued in this book, which I'd say along with Cabaret Macabre is the best of the series so far.
The book is set over dual plotlines, with Inspector Flint investigating the supposed suicide of one man, and Joseph Spector in the House at Devil's Neck for a seance, and while it's obvious from early on just how the lines are going to intersect, it was still enjoying seeing the two characters approaching the mystery from two different ends.
As for the impossible crimes, while I found some of the solutions to be either overly scientific/mechanical, there was also a sense of simplicity to others that I also enjoyed. However, I found the real highlight of the book to lie in the solution of the mystery itself, and just what exactly was behind the tangled skein of events. Some may find the revelations to be over-the-top and not necessary, but I quite enjoyed the final pages when Spector was explaining. Not that there were no unnecessary subplots, I found the hidden relationship between two characters to add almost nothing of value. Also liked the ending proper, and wonder if it'll bring about any changes to the series.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I've enjoyed the other three works in the Joseph Spector series, and there has been a noticeable improvement over them, a trend which is continued in this book, which I'd say along with Cabaret Macabre is the best of the series so far.
The book is set over dual plotlines, with Inspector Flint investigating the supposed suicide of one man, and Joseph Spector in the House at Devil's Neck for a seance, and while it's obvious from early on just how the lines are going to intersect, it was still enjoying seeing the two characters approaching the mystery from two different ends.
As for the impossible crimes, while I found some of the solutions to be either overly scientific/mechanical, there was also a sense of simplicity to others that I also enjoyed. However, I found the real highlight of the book to lie in the solution of the mystery itself, and just what exactly was behind the tangled skein of events. Some may find the revelations to be over-the-top and not necessary, but I quite enjoyed the final pages when Spector was explaining. Not that there were no unnecessary subplots, I found the hidden relationship between two characters to add almost nothing of value. Also liked the ending proper, and wonder if it'll bring about any changes to the series.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
July 19, 2025
Taking a page from the legendary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a brief period of time British author Tom Mead has not so quietly become master of the locked room mystery. Instead of Holmes and Lestrade we have former magician Joseph Spector and Scotland Yard Detective George Flint working the cases and THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is indeed something special and destined to be a future classic of the genre.
The Dramatis Personae listed at the front of the novel comes in incredibly handy, not just for keeping all the names straight but also for armchair sleuths to work with when trying to sniff out the murderer as well as those who are not whom they claim to be. What makes this new Joseph Spector mystery so intriguing is the fact that there are dual cases of locked room situations --- one that Flint is investigating and the second taking place on Devil’s Neck at the manor where Spector and a small group of others are visiting.
Flint is called to what appears to be a suicide by pistol where the true identity of the victim remains a mystery, in addition to the fact that if it was a murder there was no obvious way in or out of the room. All Flint is sure of is that the victim was linked to the infamous mystery of the Aitken Inheritance. That story began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 where first-class passenger, the wealthy Donald Edgecomb, was one of the countless victims of that tragedy. His inheritance would then fall to his 22-year-old son Rodney. Rodney’s own story was the stuff of legend, and tad confounding, and I will leave that to readers to suss out for themselves.
Of course, Spector’s own adventure will eventually cross paths with the mystery Flint was working on in the brilliant and indomitable fashion we have come to expect from Tom Mead. He finds himself on a coach with a group of random people, some who were known to him and others complete strangers. Imogen Drabble is a reporter; Francis Tulp a young believer in the spirit world; Madame Adaline La Motte a renowned spiritualist; Virginia Bailey an elderly mother; Walter Judd a private detective; and Fred Powell their driver. Their destination is the allegedly haunted home on Devil’s Neck which was once a hospital and now was the residence of Clive and Justine Lennox.
Spector knows the history of the house very well as do some of the others. The intention is not just to investigate the alleged hauntings at Devil’s Neck but also to participate in a séance conducted by Madame La Motte where, among others, the spirit of Virginia Bailey’s deceased son Maurice might be contacted. As a former magician, Spector is not exactly a non-believer in spiritual matters but is well-versed in the methods used by charlatans --- in much the same way that Houdini fought against fakers while his colleague Conan Doyle was a famous believer.
There is so much to savor within this twisty narrative, and equally as much that I do not wish to spoil. Leave it said that the séance does indeed occur and produces the expected effects with the contacting of Maurice Bailey, among others. Things take a radical twist when shortly after the séance Madame La Motte, who was sharing a room with Miss Drabble, turns up dead. What makes matters even more perplexing is that the doorknobs of each guest room were tied together in a pattern with a camera facing their hallway. This ensured that no one entered any room and the only way through the window would involve a very athletic and risky climb from the lower story where only the driver stayed.
Perhaps the creepiest thing was the addition of a once famous automaton called ‘The Stepney Lad’ --- a remarkably realistic looking robot/puppet with a porcelain humanlike face that was in the center of the room between the beds of the late Madame La Motte and Miss Drabble. There will be more murders at Devil’s Neck before the inevitable arrival of George Flint and his officers. During this time, George Spector takes charge and in typically brilliant fashion unwraps this extraordinarily complex tale of deceit and murder. Mead also throws in a touch of meta storytelling, in similar fashion to the terrific novel from earlier this year FAIR PLAY by Lousie Hegerty, which plays upon the classic tropes readers of classic mystery stories have grown to expect. In this fashion, he actually writes in a page of ‘Interlude’ to allow the home sleuths to gather up all the clues that have been revealed at one point during the story in an attempt to solve the mystery.
While Spector goes about the lengthy dénouement which reveals all, each clue he raises is listed to the previous page in the text where it was initially introduced. Just brilliant! THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is indeed another triumph for Tom Mead and his George Spector series which is one of the cleverest in the mystery genre today.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
The Dramatis Personae listed at the front of the novel comes in incredibly handy, not just for keeping all the names straight but also for armchair sleuths to work with when trying to sniff out the murderer as well as those who are not whom they claim to be. What makes this new Joseph Spector mystery so intriguing is the fact that there are dual cases of locked room situations --- one that Flint is investigating and the second taking place on Devil’s Neck at the manor where Spector and a small group of others are visiting.
Flint is called to what appears to be a suicide by pistol where the true identity of the victim remains a mystery, in addition to the fact that if it was a murder there was no obvious way in or out of the room. All Flint is sure of is that the victim was linked to the infamous mystery of the Aitken Inheritance. That story began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 where first-class passenger, the wealthy Donald Edgecomb, was one of the countless victims of that tragedy. His inheritance would then fall to his 22-year-old son Rodney. Rodney’s own story was the stuff of legend, and tad confounding, and I will leave that to readers to suss out for themselves.
Of course, Spector’s own adventure will eventually cross paths with the mystery Flint was working on in the brilliant and indomitable fashion we have come to expect from Tom Mead. He finds himself on a coach with a group of random people, some who were known to him and others complete strangers. Imogen Drabble is a reporter; Francis Tulp a young believer in the spirit world; Madame Adaline La Motte a renowned spiritualist; Virginia Bailey an elderly mother; Walter Judd a private detective; and Fred Powell their driver. Their destination is the allegedly haunted home on Devil’s Neck which was once a hospital and now was the residence of Clive and Justine Lennox.
Spector knows the history of the house very well as do some of the others. The intention is not just to investigate the alleged hauntings at Devil’s Neck but also to participate in a séance conducted by Madame La Motte where, among others, the spirit of Virginia Bailey’s deceased son Maurice might be contacted. As a former magician, Spector is not exactly a non-believer in spiritual matters but is well-versed in the methods used by charlatans --- in much the same way that Houdini fought against fakers while his colleague Conan Doyle was a famous believer.
There is so much to savor within this twisty narrative, and equally as much that I do not wish to spoil. Leave it said that the séance does indeed occur and produces the expected effects with the contacting of Maurice Bailey, among others. Things take a radical twist when shortly after the séance Madame La Motte, who was sharing a room with Miss Drabble, turns up dead. What makes matters even more perplexing is that the doorknobs of each guest room were tied together in a pattern with a camera facing their hallway. This ensured that no one entered any room and the only way through the window would involve a very athletic and risky climb from the lower story where only the driver stayed.
Perhaps the creepiest thing was the addition of a once famous automaton called ‘The Stepney Lad’ --- a remarkably realistic looking robot/puppet with a porcelain humanlike face that was in the center of the room between the beds of the late Madame La Motte and Miss Drabble. There will be more murders at Devil’s Neck before the inevitable arrival of George Flint and his officers. During this time, George Spector takes charge and in typically brilliant fashion unwraps this extraordinarily complex tale of deceit and murder. Mead also throws in a touch of meta storytelling, in similar fashion to the terrific novel from earlier this year FAIR PLAY by Lousie Hegerty, which plays upon the classic tropes readers of classic mystery stories have grown to expect. In this fashion, he actually writes in a page of ‘Interlude’ to allow the home sleuths to gather up all the clues that have been revealed at one point during the story in an attempt to solve the mystery.
While Spector goes about the lengthy dénouement which reveals all, each clue he raises is listed to the previous page in the text where it was initially introduced. Just brilliant! THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is indeed another triumph for Tom Mead and his George Spector series which is one of the cleverest in the mystery genre today.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
August 12, 2025
The House at Devil’s Neck contains all the ingredients of a ‘Golden Age’ crime novel including a host of suspicious deaths, an inheritance and multiple suspects, some of whom may not be exactly who they profess to be. Add an enormous number of twists and unexpected reveals and you have a mystery that will confound every attempt to solve it – unless you’re Joseph Spector, of course.
The author introduces an air of the supernatural by setting the book in a sinister old manor house – the Devil’s Neck of the title – accessible only by a causeway when the tide is right and reputed to be haunted. It’s certainly haunted by its past use as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the First World War, many of whom suffered lifechanging disfigurement. The perfect place for a seance then. This strand of the story reflects the interest in spiritualism at the time with many grieving relatives seeking to make contact from beyond the grave with loved ones killed in the war. Unfortunately this made them easy prey for the unscrupulous.
Spector’s old ally Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard returns, attempting to use Spector’s own methods to come up with a solution to a mysterious and, initially, seemingly unconnected death in that staple of classic crime – the locked room which no-one was seen to enter or leave. Will Spector be impressed with his theory? The reader must wait to see.
I’m not even going to attempt to summarise the twists and turns of the plot, which would be beyond me in any case. All I will say is that the author has outdone himself when it comes to intricate plotting and I pity the copy editor who had to make sure there were no loose ends.
Like previous novels in the series, there’s a chapter near the end which invites the reader to put all the facts together and come up with a solution. (Good luck with that.) There are also footnotes directing you back to the page on which a relevant piece of information appeared. Or more realistically, the pages on which the pieces of information you totally overlooked appeared. If you indentified the culprit, the motive and the means before Spector revealed everything then all I can say is you’re a much, much cleverer person than me. Even if you didn’t solve the mystery, it’s a fun ride in the hands of an author who knows how to keep a reader turning the pages.
If you’re in the mood for a book that evokes those doyennes of the ‘Golden Age’ crime novel Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, then The House at Devil’s Neck is the book for you. Just don’t blame me if your brain is in a spin by the end.
The author introduces an air of the supernatural by setting the book in a sinister old manor house – the Devil’s Neck of the title – accessible only by a causeway when the tide is right and reputed to be haunted. It’s certainly haunted by its past use as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the First World War, many of whom suffered lifechanging disfigurement. The perfect place for a seance then. This strand of the story reflects the interest in spiritualism at the time with many grieving relatives seeking to make contact from beyond the grave with loved ones killed in the war. Unfortunately this made them easy prey for the unscrupulous.
Spector’s old ally Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard returns, attempting to use Spector’s own methods to come up with a solution to a mysterious and, initially, seemingly unconnected death in that staple of classic crime – the locked room which no-one was seen to enter or leave. Will Spector be impressed with his theory? The reader must wait to see.
I’m not even going to attempt to summarise the twists and turns of the plot, which would be beyond me in any case. All I will say is that the author has outdone himself when it comes to intricate plotting and I pity the copy editor who had to make sure there were no loose ends.
Like previous novels in the series, there’s a chapter near the end which invites the reader to put all the facts together and come up with a solution. (Good luck with that.) There are also footnotes directing you back to the page on which a relevant piece of information appeared. Or more realistically, the pages on which the pieces of information you totally overlooked appeared. If you indentified the culprit, the motive and the means before Spector revealed everything then all I can say is you’re a much, much cleverer person than me. Even if you didn’t solve the mystery, it’s a fun ride in the hands of an author who knows how to keep a reader turning the pages.
If you’re in the mood for a book that evokes those doyennes of the ‘Golden Age’ crime novel Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, then The House at Devil’s Neck is the book for you. Just don’t blame me if your brain is in a spin by the end.
February 10, 2025
Going into this book I thought it would be everything I enjoy in a mystery but unfortunately it failed to deliver. Set just before the outbreak of WW2, with split locations between London and our ominous house on the coast it has a classic cast of characters who are well introduced in the opening chapter. The charlatan of a medium with her young female companion, the young male believer, the old cynic and our mystery passenger are on board a coach to Devil’s Neck, while the police officers are busy with a locked room case in London.
The book sets up the mystery well but once we get into the second half of the book it all becomes overly complicated and convoluted. There is one big reveal, followed by another and I struggled to care about who was committing the crimes or why. It felt a little like it was trying to be too clever, and none of the characters felt fully fleshed out.
Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC.
The book sets up the mystery well but once we get into the second half of the book it all becomes overly complicated and convoluted. There is one big reveal, followed by another and I struggled to care about who was committing the crimes or why. It felt a little like it was trying to be too clever, and none of the characters felt fully fleshed out.
Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC.
August 29, 2025
An apparent suicide opens the fourth in the Joseph Spector series (I haven't read any of the previous novels). The death so closely mirrors another quarter of a century previously that Scotland Yard's George Flint is sent to investigate. Meanwhile, a coach carrying Spector heads towards the house at Devil's Neck for a spiritual weekend.
As Flint and his sidekick, Hook, try to unravel the locked room mystery, the group at Devil's Neck begins to be picked off by a ghostly assailant.
Flint, having solved the murder, makes his way through increasingly stormy weather to Devil's Neck, where the truth of the deaths will be revealed.
I'll be honest, I found this story incredibly confusing. I've read lots of different locked room mysteries over the years - they're one of my favourite genres - including several Dickson Carr's. I can honestly say that this is the first one that I've been as utterly bewildered at the end as at the start.
The writing is good, but there are so many characters, and the action jumps about all over the place. I wish I'd taken notes. If this is an homage to John Dickson Carr, then it's most definitely "next generation". I've never been this befuddled except perhaps by Seishi Yokomizo.
If you've got a very twisty mind, then you'll probably love it. I knocked a star off because this book gave me a headache.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the advance review copy.
As Flint and his sidekick, Hook, try to unravel the locked room mystery, the group at Devil's Neck begins to be picked off by a ghostly assailant.
Flint, having solved the murder, makes his way through increasingly stormy weather to Devil's Neck, where the truth of the deaths will be revealed.
I'll be honest, I found this story incredibly confusing. I've read lots of different locked room mysteries over the years - they're one of my favourite genres - including several Dickson Carr's. I can honestly say that this is the first one that I've been as utterly bewildered at the end as at the start.
The writing is good, but there are so many characters, and the action jumps about all over the place. I wish I'd taken notes. If this is an homage to John Dickson Carr, then it's most definitely "next generation". I've never been this befuddled except perhaps by Seishi Yokomizo.
If you've got a very twisty mind, then you'll probably love it. I knocked a star off because this book gave me a headache.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the advance review copy.
November 9, 2025
At first I was intrigued. Several locked room murder mysteries primarily taking place in a haunted mansion. However the last 25% lost me. When our Sherlock-esque character gathers everyone together to reveal who the murderer was it takes roughly 70 pages to explain it all. I was so bored, just spit it out already. The outcome became extremely convoluted and I just stopped caring.
August 18, 2025
This is the fourth book in Tom Mead’s Joseph Spector mystery series, but if you haven’t read any of them, don’t worry – they all stand alone and if you wanted to start here, that wouldn’t be a problem. The books are set in the 1930s and are written in the style of Golden Age ‘locked room’ or ‘impossible crime’ novels, with the influence of John Dickson Carr being particularly strong. The series features two detectives: a professional one – Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard – and an amateur one – Joseph Spector, a retired magician.
The House at Devil’s Neck begins in August 1939 with a group of people boarding a coach, ready for a trip to Devil’s Neck, a supposedly haunted house. The house, which can be reached by a causeway at low tide, has a long and dramatic history, but was most recently used as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers during the Great War. The current owner has now opened up the house to tourists and the first party is about to arrive. The guests include Madame la Motte, a medium, and her companion Imogen; a ‘ghost hunter’, Francis Tulp; and a magician – Joseph Spector. No sooner have they reached Devil’s Neck and settled into their rooms, however, than one of the party is found dead.
Back in London meanwhile, Inspector Flint is investigating what appears to be a suicide. The victim is Rodney Edgecomb, a man who, many years earlier, was involved in a high-profile inheritance dispute following the sinking of the Titanic. The circumstances of his death lead Flint to believe this is murder rather than suicide. When he eventually discovers links between Edgecomb and the house at Devil’s Neck, Flint and Spector are able to team up once again to solve the mystery.
I won’t go into the plot in any more detail because it’s such a complex one with so many twists I’m impressed that Tom Mead managed to keep track of it all himself! The murder methods are also very complicated, but the solutions do make sense once Spector explains them. As with his other books, Mead inserts a brief chapter towards the end to warn us that the solution is coming in case we want a chance to try to solve the mystery for ourselves. I think the average reader would find that very difficult – I certainly had no chance at all of solving it! – but the clues are all there and there are references at the end linking back to where you can find them in the text.
What interested me more than the mystery itself was the setting. The descriptions of the house at Devil’s Neck – ‘a hulking shape, a creature waiting at the valley’s nadir’ – are very atmospheric, as the guests arrive in pouring rain and the house quickly becomes cut off from the mainland by the rising water. The house’s history is also fascinating and allows Mead to explore the fate of wounded soldiers and how those left with permanent disabilities struggled to integrate back into society. Spiritualism, the tricks used by mediums and methods of ghost hunting are also subjects touched on in the book.
I loved most of this novel, until I started to feel lost near the end as it became more and more complex! I think the first and third books – Death and the Conjuror and Cabaret Macabre – are still my favourites.
The House at Devil’s Neck begins in August 1939 with a group of people boarding a coach, ready for a trip to Devil’s Neck, a supposedly haunted house. The house, which can be reached by a causeway at low tide, has a long and dramatic history, but was most recently used as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers during the Great War. The current owner has now opened up the house to tourists and the first party is about to arrive. The guests include Madame la Motte, a medium, and her companion Imogen; a ‘ghost hunter’, Francis Tulp; and a magician – Joseph Spector. No sooner have they reached Devil’s Neck and settled into their rooms, however, than one of the party is found dead.
Back in London meanwhile, Inspector Flint is investigating what appears to be a suicide. The victim is Rodney Edgecomb, a man who, many years earlier, was involved in a high-profile inheritance dispute following the sinking of the Titanic. The circumstances of his death lead Flint to believe this is murder rather than suicide. When he eventually discovers links between Edgecomb and the house at Devil’s Neck, Flint and Spector are able to team up once again to solve the mystery.
I won’t go into the plot in any more detail because it’s such a complex one with so many twists I’m impressed that Tom Mead managed to keep track of it all himself! The murder methods are also very complicated, but the solutions do make sense once Spector explains them. As with his other books, Mead inserts a brief chapter towards the end to warn us that the solution is coming in case we want a chance to try to solve the mystery for ourselves. I think the average reader would find that very difficult – I certainly had no chance at all of solving it! – but the clues are all there and there are references at the end linking back to where you can find them in the text.
What interested me more than the mystery itself was the setting. The descriptions of the house at Devil’s Neck – ‘a hulking shape, a creature waiting at the valley’s nadir’ – are very atmospheric, as the guests arrive in pouring rain and the house quickly becomes cut off from the mainland by the rising water. The house’s history is also fascinating and allows Mead to explore the fate of wounded soldiers and how those left with permanent disabilities struggled to integrate back into society. Spiritualism, the tricks used by mediums and methods of ghost hunting are also subjects touched on in the book.
I loved most of this novel, until I started to feel lost near the end as it became more and more complex! I think the first and third books – Death and the Conjuror and Cabaret Macabre – are still my favourites.
August 19, 2025
This was a very good mystery a la Hercule Poirot. A bunch of guests gathered for a seance in a former WW1 field hospital, and a murder ensues. The culprit MUST be one of the guests, as rooms were locked and there is a terrible storm. I am proud of myself for figuring out who dunit before Spector did. 4 stars because there is some really high fallutin vocabulary that is just not necessary and I found it off putting. Don't think I will read more in this series--one was enough.
October 27, 2025
One of the most twistiest impossible crime books I've read. In the style of John Dickson Carr, this 1930s set mystery is strong on atmosphere and is great fun!
October 27, 2025
as always an amazing read
February 17, 2025
A suicide eerily echoing one from twenty years ago and a séance gone awry at an abandoned World War II hospital for severely wounded soldiers—at first glance, these two events seem entirely unrelated. But as always, there's far more than meets the eye.
Every Joseph Spector mystery is one I devour in just one or two days, no matter how busy I am. Mead's writing draws me in from the very first sentence, and now, with the fourth book in the series, my immediate thought as I open each new installment is always, "I’m so glad to be back." The atmosphere of Devil's Neck is as captivating as it is chilling. Isolated from society to the point where help feels just out of reach, the tension builds from the moment you step onto the island. Meanwhile, Inspector George Flint is grappling with a suicide that mirrors one he investigated when he first joined Scotland Yard two decades ago.
The web of clues is incredibly intricate. Mead’s ability to craft a mystery that is both complex and thoroughly engaging is nothing short of remarkable. Each clue is carefully layered, so subtly woven into the narrative that even on a second read, you might miss them. They feel natural, never forced, making the mystery all the more immersive. Mead has proven himself to be a true master of the genre, and with each book, he solidifies his place as one of my favorite authors.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Mysterious Press for my review copy!
Every Joseph Spector mystery is one I devour in just one or two days, no matter how busy I am. Mead's writing draws me in from the very first sentence, and now, with the fourth book in the series, my immediate thought as I open each new installment is always, "I’m so glad to be back." The atmosphere of Devil's Neck is as captivating as it is chilling. Isolated from society to the point where help feels just out of reach, the tension builds from the moment you step onto the island. Meanwhile, Inspector George Flint is grappling with a suicide that mirrors one he investigated when he first joined Scotland Yard two decades ago.
The web of clues is incredibly intricate. Mead’s ability to craft a mystery that is both complex and thoroughly engaging is nothing short of remarkable. Each clue is carefully layered, so subtly woven into the narrative that even on a second read, you might miss them. They feel natural, never forced, making the mystery all the more immersive. Mead has proven himself to be a true master of the genre, and with each book, he solidifies his place as one of my favorite authors.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Mysterious Press for my review copy!
August 15, 2025
Wow that was quite a ride! My mind is completely boggled after finishing it. What a clever, twisty, locked room(s) murder mystery which kept me guessing. All of my questions were answered at the end in quite the enlightening summary from Spector! I did not have a clue how it would end. And thank you Tom, I’m going to have nightmares about The Stepney Lad!
With Joseph Spector in situ, nothing can slip through the net. Having been an illusionist who has turned his hand to solving murders, he approaches the scene of the crime with a different eye to that of his old ally, Inspector Flint.
With what appears at first to be a suicide in a house in London, and a murder in a remote old house cut off by a causeway, both Spector and Flint have their work cut out to find the connection. Can this have anything to do with the Aitken inheritance and a similar murder suicide set up two decades earlier?
Buckle up for a heck of a ride, and take nothing at face value!
If you love Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes you’re going to enjoy Tom’s novels. This is the fourth in the series and I have enjoyed every one. They don’t need to be read in order each can be read as a stand alone.
Delighted to be sharing my review on the blog tour, thanks to Sophie at Ransom PR
With Joseph Spector in situ, nothing can slip through the net. Having been an illusionist who has turned his hand to solving murders, he approaches the scene of the crime with a different eye to that of his old ally, Inspector Flint.
With what appears at first to be a suicide in a house in London, and a murder in a remote old house cut off by a causeway, both Spector and Flint have their work cut out to find the connection. Can this have anything to do with the Aitken inheritance and a similar murder suicide set up two decades earlier?
Buckle up for a heck of a ride, and take nothing at face value!
If you love Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes you’re going to enjoy Tom’s novels. This is the fourth in the series and I have enjoyed every one. They don’t need to be read in order each can be read as a stand alone.
Delighted to be sharing my review on the blog tour, thanks to Sophie at Ransom PR
July 26, 2025
3.5 stars. My first time with this series and it kept my attention. I’m not a huge fan of historical mysteries but I am a sucker for a locked room murder and there were multiple of those on this book. While I had issues with how complicated the reveal gets, I absolutely loved the footnotes during the big reveal that pointed readers to where the clues were dropped.
A dead man in a locked room in London is connected to a dead man in a locked room in a place called Devil’s Neck. Illusionist John Spector is at one site and inspector Flint is at another and set across the backdrop of the end of WWI these two must solve these seemingly impossible murders
I usually love a final reveal in the sitting room with all the suspects but man this was very drawn out and even I was urging Spector to complete his monologue. Then we get past the big reveal and there’s another twist and I had to read it three times to make sure I actually understood what was happening. It’s a well plotted mystery to but felt very contrived
A dead man in a locked room in London is connected to a dead man in a locked room in a place called Devil’s Neck. Illusionist John Spector is at one site and inspector Flint is at another and set across the backdrop of the end of WWI these two must solve these seemingly impossible murders
I usually love a final reveal in the sitting room with all the suspects but man this was very drawn out and even I was urging Spector to complete his monologue. Then we get past the big reveal and there’s another twist and I had to read it three times to make sure I actually understood what was happening. It’s a well plotted mystery to but felt very contrived
August 12, 2025
Entertaining and fiendishly compelling The House at Devil’s Neck is another brilliant masterpiece from Tom Mead. Locked room mysteries, clairvoyancy, and ghostly sightings all add up to make this such an entertaining read.
I love Spector and Flint together - their skills and history make such interesting bedfellows and seeing them work on the same case but from different angles was a good spin on this one.
The history of the house added a macabre element to the story and as per all Tom’s books, each character were introduced to has their own interesting.
The sleight of hand and twists throughout made me revisit several pages previously read to see where I’d missed clues and that reveal - just perfect.
I love Spector and Flint together - their skills and history make such interesting bedfellows and seeing them work on the same case but from different angles was a good spin on this one.
The history of the house added a macabre element to the story and as per all Tom’s books, each character were introduced to has their own interesting.
The sleight of hand and twists throughout made me revisit several pages previously read to see where I’d missed clues and that reveal - just perfect.
Read
May 11, 2025Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for an eArC. Wild locked-room mystery shenanigans mixed with truly sinister ambience. A group of people trapped in a storm. Ghosts and creepy automatons. And looming over this suspenseful mystery, the shadows of life trapped between two world wars. This may be my favorite in the series!
August 1, 2025
Atmospheric and intriguing setting, with a very good cast of characters. The mystery was well set up and progressed in an interesting way. Very good classic locked room mystery.
The end of the book was incredibly tedious to me. Multiple convoluted explanations of who murdered who, who was who - after a while I no longer cared. Rather reminded me of the movie Clue, except it wasn’t funny at all.
The end of the book was incredibly tedious to me. Multiple convoluted explanations of who murdered who, who was who - after a while I no longer cared. Rather reminded me of the movie Clue, except it wasn’t funny at all.
August 6, 2025
I really enjoyed this installment. The layered paranormal narrative made it all the more fun. Like the first novel, this was tightly wound and that made it much more impossible.
August 10, 2025
Tom Mead is a modern-day writer who writes in the classic style of the golden age of British crime novels. This is the first of his books I've read and I found it very interesting, with a good supply of twist, turns. and the unexpected. I'm looking forward to reading some of his other stories.
January 7, 2026
At its heart, a mystery novel is a puzzle. Who did it? How did they do it? Why did they do it? How are the authorities going to catch them? As the book progresses, readers seek answers to those questions, just as the protagonist or the police do. Further, a mystery novel has one inherent advantage over a jigsaw or crossword puzzle. If I don’t solve those puzzles after a session, they sit there (as does my current jigsaw puzzle). However, readers can always “solve” a mystery in a novel simply by persevering. In recent years, pure puzzle novels have fallen out of favor. Authors instead seek character development, mood, atmosphere, technological wizardry, and social commentary. I enjoy complex crime fiction, but sometimes I just want a well-constructed puzzle. Author Tom Mead is among the best current practitioners of the puzzle mystery. His latest novel, “The House at Devil’s Neck,” is a delight for genre fans.
“The House at Devil’s Neck” is the fourth in the author’s series featuring Joseph Spector, a 1930s stage magician (or “conjuror” as he refers to himself). Spector knows all the tricks of the magician’s trade so that he can unravel the series specialty, the so-called “impossible crime.” The 1930s timeframe is deliberate; forensic science hasn’t developed to the stage where technology can solve many cases. (Modern-day DNA analysis in particular would make the discovery of hitherto unknown relatives very easy.) The era between the World Wars is often referred to as the “Golden Era” of crime fiction, when authors like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers delighted and confounded readers.
Golden Age mysteries were often called “fair play” stories, since the authors scrupulously provided all the clues readers needed to solve the puzzles (though those clues were usually ingeniously obscured by misdirection). “The House at Devil’s Neck,” like all of Tom Mead’s work, is a brilliant modern example of the fair play mystery. He even includes several floor plans of the house and rooms where various crimes occur. At the book’s conclusion, when Spector explains how the crimes were committed, the author even inserts footnotes in the text that direct readers to the pages where important clues are revealed.
The narrative structure of “The House at Devil’s Neck” is somewhat unusual, as the author tells the story in chapters that alternate between the titular house on the English coast and another house in downtown London. On August 31, 1939, Spector’s police associates investigate a seeming suicide in the home of Rodney Edgecombe. Inspector Flint (a series regular) has been called by the household staff to investigate a disturbance in which Edgecombe had barricaded himself in a locked room. Flint hears a gunshot, breaks down the door, and discovers Edgecombe dead in an apparent suicide. However, Flint has worked with Spector on other “locked room” cases and knows these things are rarely what they first seem. He investigates and uncovers clues that reveal what actually happened in the room.
Meanwhile, Spector and several others are traveling by bus to the titular house. It’s on a spit of land just off the English coast, connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. The house dates from 1630, but was later used as a hospital during World War I for wounded British soldiers. It had been abandoned for over a decade before being bought by Edgecombe, who recuperated there from wounds received during the Great War (the link between the two cases). Now, a noted psychic has gone to the house to conduct a seance to contact the spirit of another soldier who died in the hospital. Much like Harry Houdini, who debunked several real-life “psychics” as frauds, Spector is on hand to expose any con artistry by the medium. Soon after the party arrives, a heavy storm raises the sea level, making a return to the mainland temporarily impossible. And soon after that, the first of two mysterious deaths occurs in the house for Spector to solve.
The plot structure and backstory of “The House at Devil’s Neck” are highly complex, but the author makes the storyline easy to follow. In London, Flint and the police uncover information that makes it easier for readers (but not Spector, who isn’t privy to that information) to understand what’s happening at Devil’s Neck. The flooded causeway that strands Spector and the others on the island turns the novel into a variant of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” which had a similar isolated location. The author also recounts key events that occurred in the 17th century (including an English variant on the Salem Witch Trials), shortly before and during World War I, and in the “present” day of 1939. (Students of history will recognize the significance of the date on which the various deaths occur.)
What impressed me most about “The House at Devil’s Neck” was the clarity of the author’s writing. The novel’s backstory was complex but easy to follow. The author relied on readers’ intelligence to grasp what he described in a few sentences. Other mystery authors might take several chapters to explain these various events. As in many locked room or impossible crime stories, the solution here relies to an extent on rudimentary yet improbable gadgetry, gimmickry, and physical contortions. However, I could understand (I think) what happened without excessive pondering over the details. Mysteries like “The House at Devil’s Neck” are very much a matter of personal taste, even for genre fans, so this book will not appeal to some readers. However, for those who enjoy this type of puzzle solving, even if they are baffled by the mystery, “The House at Devil’s Neck” is an entertaining example.
The author’s writing in this book is lean and succinct, mostly. He includes introductory quotes from various sources in most chapters and some obligatory excess verbiage to establish red herrings and camouflage important clues. He also includes an “Interlude Wherein the Reader’s Attention Is Respectfully Requested.” This interlude is a challenge to the reader (taken from similar challenges in early Ellery Queen novels) to solve the mystery, now that they possess all the information necessary to do so. It’s a gimmick, but one I think most genre fans will enjoy.
What I didn’t enjoy was Spector’s excessive pontificating on specific points as he explained the mystery. That character quirk is also borrowed from classical mysteries, whose detectives engaged in similar pontificating, but the gimmick’s authenticity doesn’t make it any more enjoyable. During his explanation, Spector made several obscure references to obscure objects like the “magic lantern,” which is a necessary part of the mystery’s solution. The lantern is necessary; the aside Spector makes about the lantern being “devised by Christiaan Huygens in the seventeenth century—that ingenious Dutchman who also gave us the pendulum clock” is not. Throwing several of these relatively uninteresting side references in the middle of Spector’s explanation of the mystery’s solution was a needless, irritating distraction.
Tom Mead has clearly done a great deal of research into stage magic, trickery of all sorts, Golden Age mysteries, and the various historical events referenced in “The House at Devil’s Neck.” At times, he includes too many extraneous, distracting, and somewhat uninteresting details in the text. Still, the book is a quick read (avid readers will devour it in one night) and a great example of the subgenre. “The House at Devil’s Neck” proves to be a devilishly good mystery that Golden Age fans and many mystery fans in general will thoroughly enjoy.
NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.
“The House at Devil’s Neck” is the fourth in the author’s series featuring Joseph Spector, a 1930s stage magician (or “conjuror” as he refers to himself). Spector knows all the tricks of the magician’s trade so that he can unravel the series specialty, the so-called “impossible crime.” The 1930s timeframe is deliberate; forensic science hasn’t developed to the stage where technology can solve many cases. (Modern-day DNA analysis in particular would make the discovery of hitherto unknown relatives very easy.) The era between the World Wars is often referred to as the “Golden Era” of crime fiction, when authors like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers delighted and confounded readers.
Golden Age mysteries were often called “fair play” stories, since the authors scrupulously provided all the clues readers needed to solve the puzzles (though those clues were usually ingeniously obscured by misdirection). “The House at Devil’s Neck,” like all of Tom Mead’s work, is a brilliant modern example of the fair play mystery. He even includes several floor plans of the house and rooms where various crimes occur. At the book’s conclusion, when Spector explains how the crimes were committed, the author even inserts footnotes in the text that direct readers to the pages where important clues are revealed.
The narrative structure of “The House at Devil’s Neck” is somewhat unusual, as the author tells the story in chapters that alternate between the titular house on the English coast and another house in downtown London. On August 31, 1939, Spector’s police associates investigate a seeming suicide in the home of Rodney Edgecombe. Inspector Flint (a series regular) has been called by the household staff to investigate a disturbance in which Edgecombe had barricaded himself in a locked room. Flint hears a gunshot, breaks down the door, and discovers Edgecombe dead in an apparent suicide. However, Flint has worked with Spector on other “locked room” cases and knows these things are rarely what they first seem. He investigates and uncovers clues that reveal what actually happened in the room.
Meanwhile, Spector and several others are traveling by bus to the titular house. It’s on a spit of land just off the English coast, connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. The house dates from 1630, but was later used as a hospital during World War I for wounded British soldiers. It had been abandoned for over a decade before being bought by Edgecombe, who recuperated there from wounds received during the Great War (the link between the two cases). Now, a noted psychic has gone to the house to conduct a seance to contact the spirit of another soldier who died in the hospital. Much like Harry Houdini, who debunked several real-life “psychics” as frauds, Spector is on hand to expose any con artistry by the medium. Soon after the party arrives, a heavy storm raises the sea level, making a return to the mainland temporarily impossible. And soon after that, the first of two mysterious deaths occurs in the house for Spector to solve.
The plot structure and backstory of “The House at Devil’s Neck” are highly complex, but the author makes the storyline easy to follow. In London, Flint and the police uncover information that makes it easier for readers (but not Spector, who isn’t privy to that information) to understand what’s happening at Devil’s Neck. The flooded causeway that strands Spector and the others on the island turns the novel into a variant of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” which had a similar isolated location. The author also recounts key events that occurred in the 17th century (including an English variant on the Salem Witch Trials), shortly before and during World War I, and in the “present” day of 1939. (Students of history will recognize the significance of the date on which the various deaths occur.)
What impressed me most about “The House at Devil’s Neck” was the clarity of the author’s writing. The novel’s backstory was complex but easy to follow. The author relied on readers’ intelligence to grasp what he described in a few sentences. Other mystery authors might take several chapters to explain these various events. As in many locked room or impossible crime stories, the solution here relies to an extent on rudimentary yet improbable gadgetry, gimmickry, and physical contortions. However, I could understand (I think) what happened without excessive pondering over the details. Mysteries like “The House at Devil’s Neck” are very much a matter of personal taste, even for genre fans, so this book will not appeal to some readers. However, for those who enjoy this type of puzzle solving, even if they are baffled by the mystery, “The House at Devil’s Neck” is an entertaining example.
The author’s writing in this book is lean and succinct, mostly. He includes introductory quotes from various sources in most chapters and some obligatory excess verbiage to establish red herrings and camouflage important clues. He also includes an “Interlude Wherein the Reader’s Attention Is Respectfully Requested.” This interlude is a challenge to the reader (taken from similar challenges in early Ellery Queen novels) to solve the mystery, now that they possess all the information necessary to do so. It’s a gimmick, but one I think most genre fans will enjoy.
What I didn’t enjoy was Spector’s excessive pontificating on specific points as he explained the mystery. That character quirk is also borrowed from classical mysteries, whose detectives engaged in similar pontificating, but the gimmick’s authenticity doesn’t make it any more enjoyable. During his explanation, Spector made several obscure references to obscure objects like the “magic lantern,” which is a necessary part of the mystery’s solution. The lantern is necessary; the aside Spector makes about the lantern being “devised by Christiaan Huygens in the seventeenth century—that ingenious Dutchman who also gave us the pendulum clock” is not. Throwing several of these relatively uninteresting side references in the middle of Spector’s explanation of the mystery’s solution was a needless, irritating distraction.
Tom Mead has clearly done a great deal of research into stage magic, trickery of all sorts, Golden Age mysteries, and the various historical events referenced in “The House at Devil’s Neck.” At times, he includes too many extraneous, distracting, and somewhat uninteresting details in the text. Still, the book is a quick read (avid readers will devour it in one night) and a great example of the subgenre. “The House at Devil’s Neck” proves to be a devilishly good mystery that Golden Age fans and many mystery fans in general will thoroughly enjoy.
NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.
September 20, 2025
I thought this would be a 5 star mystery with two locked room mysteries at the same time in distant places. One of them was a spooky house cut off from land in a heavy storm. BUT the solution was totally hokey. The author tried to convince you was it was not by during the reveal footnoting some things that happened earlier.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2025
Thank you to Netgalley, The Aria and Aries team and the author for the opportunity to read : The House at Devils Neck
Initially drawn in by the cover and title but stayed because the story was absolutely fantastic.
I'm a bit late to the Joseph Spector series but this could be read easily as a stand alone. Although there were a few references to other stories, they didn't make me feel excluded as a reader or hinder my enjoyment of the story. It encouraged a spark of curiosity about the other books.
The story moves between two locations and two groups. First, there is a suicide (or is it?) in a London townhouse with the investigation being led by Scotland Yard's George Flint. The incident has similarities to an mystery from 25 years ago.
Meanwhile, Joseph Spector and a couch party arrive at the isolated location of Devil's Neck .
Devil's Neck has a dark past and hides secrets of its own.
The visitors conduct a seance to reach the spirit of a soldier. But things start to get chilling as the guests begin to die one by one.
As flood water rises, the house is cut off turning it into an island. Theres no leaving. The party soon realise they are caught with the killer. One of their own or a phantom solider?
It was a superb cast of the characters and the writing made me feel like I was at Devil's Neck and very suspicious of them all.
I enjoyed reading for clues and piecing together. The mystery was so clever and the reveals and conclusions had me cheering out loud. I loved the intricacies and how the story was put together.
The ending, and how everything came together was just wonderfully satisfying.
The author's voice is that of a very good story teller and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading.
Initially drawn in by the cover and title but stayed because the story was absolutely fantastic.
I'm a bit late to the Joseph Spector series but this could be read easily as a stand alone. Although there were a few references to other stories, they didn't make me feel excluded as a reader or hinder my enjoyment of the story. It encouraged a spark of curiosity about the other books.
The story moves between two locations and two groups. First, there is a suicide (or is it?) in a London townhouse with the investigation being led by Scotland Yard's George Flint. The incident has similarities to an mystery from 25 years ago.
Meanwhile, Joseph Spector and a couch party arrive at the isolated location of Devil's Neck .
Devil's Neck has a dark past and hides secrets of its own.
The visitors conduct a seance to reach the spirit of a soldier. But things start to get chilling as the guests begin to die one by one.
As flood water rises, the house is cut off turning it into an island. Theres no leaving. The party soon realise they are caught with the killer. One of their own or a phantom solider?
It was a superb cast of the characters and the writing made me feel like I was at Devil's Neck and very suspicious of them all.
I enjoyed reading for clues and piecing together. The mystery was so clever and the reveals and conclusions had me cheering out loud. I loved the intricacies and how the story was put together.
The ending, and how everything came together was just wonderfully satisfying.
The author's voice is that of a very good story teller and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading.
June 23, 2025
This is a fantastic locked-room murder mystery with a ghost story woven into the mix.
Inspector Flint has been presented with a very unusual case. A man has died in a locked room scenario. Was it suicide, or murder?
His friend Joseph Spector is an illusionist turned sleuth, and is on his way to Devil's Neck, a spooky old house that has become a favourite location for ghost hunters. On the bus ride there, he meets the people he will be staying with - an eclectic group of people who are all heading to Devil's Neck for their own reasons.
When they reach the house, the murders start to happen. The murders are very elaborate, and Joseph Spector takes the lead in finding out the guilty party.
This is a wonderful murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. There are many twists and turns, and the conclusion will have your chin on the floor.
Inspector Flint has been presented with a very unusual case. A man has died in a locked room scenario. Was it suicide, or murder?
His friend Joseph Spector is an illusionist turned sleuth, and is on his way to Devil's Neck, a spooky old house that has become a favourite location for ghost hunters. On the bus ride there, he meets the people he will be staying with - an eclectic group of people who are all heading to Devil's Neck for their own reasons.
When they reach the house, the murders start to happen. The murders are very elaborate, and Joseph Spector takes the lead in finding out the guilty party.
This is a wonderful murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. There are many twists and turns, and the conclusion will have your chin on the floor.
March 5, 2025
This is a sort of late night review after having turn the last page. it's the best in this series, a series which improves with each new novel.
Fast paced, a page turner that kept reading till very late in the night.
There's gothic atmosphere, plenty of twists and turns, locked rooms, tricksters, plenty of surprises. It's fast paced and I couldn't stop reading if if I had to get up by 6.30 and it was nearly 2 am. Sleep deprived and happy
It also helped to solve my reading slump and I thoroughly enjoyed.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Fast paced, a page turner that kept reading till very late in the night.
There's gothic atmosphere, plenty of twists and turns, locked rooms, tricksters, plenty of surprises. It's fast paced and I couldn't stop reading if if I had to get up by 6.30 and it was nearly 2 am. Sleep deprived and happy
It also helped to solve my reading slump and I thoroughly enjoyed.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
August 28, 2025
I am far from being either a Golden Age of crime or a locked room mystery aficionado but I have read my fair share and so I feel able to confidently suggest that Tom Mead is up there with the very best. I have been a huge admirer of his Joseph Spector series since the start and eagerly look forward to each new instalment. The House at Devil's Neck is the fourth in the series and one of my most rightfully anticipated books this year. It's not necessary to have read the previous novels, although there are a few call backs to earlier cases which returning readers will appreciate more.
The story opens in August 1939 and finds a small group on board a bus as a man hurries through the rain to join them. His name is Walter Judd, although for reasons not explained at this point, he also gives another name to the driver. The other passengers include a medium, Madame La Motte with her young companion, Imogen Drabble who introduces herself to a fellow passenger, Francis Tulp as a writer. He in turn describes himself as an investigator of phenomena and a practitioner of spirit photography. Tulp tells Imogen he has formerly made the acquaintance of the old, cadaverous-looking man at the rear of the bus, and of course, not surprising that this should be Joseph Spector. A Mrs Bailey, whom both Imogen and Madame La Motte know makes up the group, who it turns out are headed to an old manor house which served as a hospital during the Great War.
The house was built in 1640 by the mystic, Adolphus Latimer and has a chilling past as detailed by Spector when he explains the origins of the rocky outcrop's name – Devil's Neck – to Imogen. Situated at the end of a precariously cobbled causeway, rising tides and the inclement weather cause the house to become cut off from the mainland, meaning those present, who as well as the passengers, include the driver, Fred Powell and the housekeepers, Clive and Justine Lennox, are trapped. The stage is set then for the first murder at the house but even before the grisly discovery of this victim's body, death has already stalked the pages of The House at Devil's Neck …
The book also welcomes the return of the stalwart Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard, and his sergeant, Jerome Hook. They have been called out to the apparent suicide of Rodney Edgecomb, a man already known to Flint thanks to a decades-old mystery involving a contested inheritance amidst possible murders. It's because of this that Flint immediately becomes suspicious of the circumstances in which they find the deceased's body. In contrast to the previous books. Flint has evidently learned from Spector not to take what he sees at face value and soon surmises that Edgecomb was, in fact, murdered. He even manages to come up with an explanation as to how the killer did it. As he and Flint begin to investigate, they cross paths again with Dr Rees, the psychiatrist at Dollis Hill who will be remembered by readers of Death and the Conjuror. All roads, of course, lead to Devil's Neck and keen to avail themselves of Spector's singularly perceptive prowess, Flint and Hook also make the long journey towards the house.
Meanwhile, events at the former field hospital have taken a terrifying turn. Even before the first body is found, tensions are ratcheted up following the apparent sighting of a ghostly figure and a dramatic séance which includes the presence of a rather sinister automaton known as The Stepney Lad. The suspense levels are raised further as the shaken guests take steps to protect themselves but inevitably their efforts are in vain and they awaken to another, more gruesome murder. As Spector studies the cryptic evidence and begins to draw his conclusions, he is less of a showman here; the house's tragic past and the fate of some of its former residents means there is a different, more melancholic tone to this book compared to the earlier novels. Likewise, Flint's recollections of a chaotic, hellhole of a field hospital on the Western Front are both a poignant reminder of the enduring psychological impact of the Great War and a sombre portent of the war clouds gathering again over Europe.
As always, there comes a point in the book where Tom Mead breaks the fourth wall and informs readers there have been clues littered throughout, inviting any would-be sleuths to enjoy the 'quiet glory of having triumphed at what a wise man once termed "the grandest game in the world."' For once I was able to bask in the glow of success, having figured out who was responsible for the deaths at Devil's Neck. However, a Tom Mead mystery is always far more serpentine than a mere whodunnit and before I sound too smug, the hows and whys remained a deliciously fiendish puzzle.
With its creepily atmospheric sense of place, the flawless evocation of the interwar period and Tom Mead's own literary sleights of hand, this intricately structured mystery is an engagingly suspenseful and confounding treat for all classic crime fiction fans. One of my top reads this year, I highly recommend it.
The story opens in August 1939 and finds a small group on board a bus as a man hurries through the rain to join them. His name is Walter Judd, although for reasons not explained at this point, he also gives another name to the driver. The other passengers include a medium, Madame La Motte with her young companion, Imogen Drabble who introduces herself to a fellow passenger, Francis Tulp as a writer. He in turn describes himself as an investigator of phenomena and a practitioner of spirit photography. Tulp tells Imogen he has formerly made the acquaintance of the old, cadaverous-looking man at the rear of the bus, and of course, not surprising that this should be Joseph Spector. A Mrs Bailey, whom both Imogen and Madame La Motte know makes up the group, who it turns out are headed to an old manor house which served as a hospital during the Great War.
The house was built in 1640 by the mystic, Adolphus Latimer and has a chilling past as detailed by Spector when he explains the origins of the rocky outcrop's name – Devil's Neck – to Imogen. Situated at the end of a precariously cobbled causeway, rising tides and the inclement weather cause the house to become cut off from the mainland, meaning those present, who as well as the passengers, include the driver, Fred Powell and the housekeepers, Clive and Justine Lennox, are trapped. The stage is set then for the first murder at the house but even before the grisly discovery of this victim's body, death has already stalked the pages of The House at Devil's Neck …
The book also welcomes the return of the stalwart Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard, and his sergeant, Jerome Hook. They have been called out to the apparent suicide of Rodney Edgecomb, a man already known to Flint thanks to a decades-old mystery involving a contested inheritance amidst possible murders. It's because of this that Flint immediately becomes suspicious of the circumstances in which they find the deceased's body. In contrast to the previous books. Flint has evidently learned from Spector not to take what he sees at face value and soon surmises that Edgecomb was, in fact, murdered. He even manages to come up with an explanation as to how the killer did it. As he and Flint begin to investigate, they cross paths again with Dr Rees, the psychiatrist at Dollis Hill who will be remembered by readers of Death and the Conjuror. All roads, of course, lead to Devil's Neck and keen to avail themselves of Spector's singularly perceptive prowess, Flint and Hook also make the long journey towards the house.
Meanwhile, events at the former field hospital have taken a terrifying turn. Even before the first body is found, tensions are ratcheted up following the apparent sighting of a ghostly figure and a dramatic séance which includes the presence of a rather sinister automaton known as The Stepney Lad. The suspense levels are raised further as the shaken guests take steps to protect themselves but inevitably their efforts are in vain and they awaken to another, more gruesome murder. As Spector studies the cryptic evidence and begins to draw his conclusions, he is less of a showman here; the house's tragic past and the fate of some of its former residents means there is a different, more melancholic tone to this book compared to the earlier novels. Likewise, Flint's recollections of a chaotic, hellhole of a field hospital on the Western Front are both a poignant reminder of the enduring psychological impact of the Great War and a sombre portent of the war clouds gathering again over Europe.
As always, there comes a point in the book where Tom Mead breaks the fourth wall and informs readers there have been clues littered throughout, inviting any would-be sleuths to enjoy the 'quiet glory of having triumphed at what a wise man once termed "the grandest game in the world."' For once I was able to bask in the glow of success, having figured out who was responsible for the deaths at Devil's Neck. However, a Tom Mead mystery is always far more serpentine than a mere whodunnit and before I sound too smug, the hows and whys remained a deliciously fiendish puzzle.
With its creepily atmospheric sense of place, the flawless evocation of the interwar period and Tom Mead's own literary sleights of hand, this intricately structured mystery is an engagingly suspenseful and confounding treat for all classic crime fiction fans. One of my top reads this year, I highly recommend it.
July 20, 2025
Taking a page from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in a brief period of time British author Tom Mead has not so quietly become master of the locked-room mystery. Instead of Holmes and Lestrade, we have amateur sleuth Joseph Spector and Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint working the cases. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is indeed something special and destined to be a future classic of the genre.
The Dramatis Personae listed at the front of the book comes in incredibly handy, not just for keeping all the names straight but also for armchair sleuths to work with when trying to sniff out the murderer, as well as those who are not who they claim to be. What makes this mystery so intriguing is that there are dual cases of locked-room situations.
Flint is called to what appears to be a suicide by pistol. If it was a murder, there was no obvious way in or out of the room. All Flint is sure of is that the man, whose identity is unknown, was linked to the infamous mystery of the Aitken Inheritance. It began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Among the countless victims was a first-class passenger, the wealthy Dominic Edgecomb, whose inheritance would fall to his 22-year-old brother, Rodney. Rodney’s own story is the stuff of legend and a tad confounding. I will leave it to readers to suss that out for themselves.
Spector finds himself on a coach with a few random individuals, some of whom he knows while others are complete strangers: Imogen Drabble, a reporter; Francis Tulp, a young believer in the spirit world; Madame Adaline La Motte, a spiritualist; Virginia Bailey, an elderly mother; Walter Judd, a detective; and Fred Powell, their driver. Their destination is the allegedly haunted house on Devil’s Neck, which once was a hospital and now is the residence of Clive and Justine Lennox.
Spector knows the history of the house very well, as do some of the others. The intention is not just to investigate the alleged hauntings at Devil’s Neck, but also to participate in a séance conducted by Madame La Motte. The spirit of Virginia’s deceased son, Maurice, might be contacted. As a former magician, Spector is not exactly a non-believer in spiritual matters but is well-versed in the methods used by charlatans.
There is a lot to savor in this twisty narrative, and equally as much that I do not wish to spoil. The séance does indeed occur and produces the expected effects with the contacting of Maurice, among others. Shortly thereafter, someone shockingly turns up dead. What makes matters even more perplexing is that the door knobs of each guest room are tied together in a pattern, and a camera faces the hallway. This ensures that no one enters any room, and the only way through the window would involve a very athletic and risky climb from the lower story where only the driver stayed.
There will be more killings at Devil’s Neck before the arrival of Flint and his officers. During this time, Spector takes charge and in typically brilliant fashion unwraps this extraordinarily complex tale of deceit and murder. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is another triumph for Tom Mead and this series, which is one of the cleverest in the mystery genre today.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
The Dramatis Personae listed at the front of the book comes in incredibly handy, not just for keeping all the names straight but also for armchair sleuths to work with when trying to sniff out the murderer, as well as those who are not who they claim to be. What makes this mystery so intriguing is that there are dual cases of locked-room situations.
Flint is called to what appears to be a suicide by pistol. If it was a murder, there was no obvious way in or out of the room. All Flint is sure of is that the man, whose identity is unknown, was linked to the infamous mystery of the Aitken Inheritance. It began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Among the countless victims was a first-class passenger, the wealthy Dominic Edgecomb, whose inheritance would fall to his 22-year-old brother, Rodney. Rodney’s own story is the stuff of legend and a tad confounding. I will leave it to readers to suss that out for themselves.
Spector finds himself on a coach with a few random individuals, some of whom he knows while others are complete strangers: Imogen Drabble, a reporter; Francis Tulp, a young believer in the spirit world; Madame Adaline La Motte, a spiritualist; Virginia Bailey, an elderly mother; Walter Judd, a detective; and Fred Powell, their driver. Their destination is the allegedly haunted house on Devil’s Neck, which once was a hospital and now is the residence of Clive and Justine Lennox.
Spector knows the history of the house very well, as do some of the others. The intention is not just to investigate the alleged hauntings at Devil’s Neck, but also to participate in a séance conducted by Madame La Motte. The spirit of Virginia’s deceased son, Maurice, might be contacted. As a former magician, Spector is not exactly a non-believer in spiritual matters but is well-versed in the methods used by charlatans.
There is a lot to savor in this twisty narrative, and equally as much that I do not wish to spoil. The séance does indeed occur and produces the expected effects with the contacting of Maurice, among others. Shortly thereafter, someone shockingly turns up dead. What makes matters even more perplexing is that the door knobs of each guest room are tied together in a pattern, and a camera faces the hallway. This ensures that no one enters any room, and the only way through the window would involve a very athletic and risky climb from the lower story where only the driver stayed.
There will be more killings at Devil’s Neck before the arrival of Flint and his officers. During this time, Spector takes charge and in typically brilliant fashion unwraps this extraordinarily complex tale of deceit and murder. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is another triumph for Tom Mead and this series, which is one of the cleverest in the mystery genre today.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
July 20, 2025
Taking a page from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in a brief period of time British author Tom Mead has not so quietly become master of the locked-room mystery. Instead of Holmes and Lestrade, we have amateur sleuth Joseph Spector and Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint working the cases. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is indeed something special and destined to be a future classic of the genre.
The Dramatis Personae listed at the front of the book comes in incredibly handy, not just for keeping all the names straight but also for armchair sleuths to work with when trying to sniff out the murderer, as well as those who are not who they claim to be. What makes this mystery so intriguing is that there are dual cases of locked-room situations.
Flint is called to what appears to be a suicide by pistol. If it was a murder, there was no obvious way in or out of the room. All Flint is sure of is that the man, whose identity is unknown, was linked to the infamous mystery of the Aitken Inheritance. It began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Among the countless victims was a first-class passenger, the wealthy Dominic Edgecomb, whose inheritance would fall to his 22-year-old brother, Rodney. Rodney’s own story is the stuff of legend and a tad confounding. I will leave it to readers to suss that out for themselves.
Spector finds himself on a coach with a few random individuals, some of whom he knows while others are complete strangers: Imogen Drabble, a reporter; Francis Tulp, a young believer in the spirit world; Madame Adaline La Motte, a spiritualist; Virginia Bailey, an elderly mother; Walter Judd, a detective; and Fred Powell, their driver. Their destination is the allegedly haunted house on Devil’s Neck, which once was a hospital and now is the residence of Clive and Justine Lennox.
Spector knows the history of the house very well, as do some of the others. The intention is not just to investigate the alleged hauntings at Devil’s Neck, but also to participate in a séance conducted by Madame La Motte. The spirit of Virginia’s deceased son, Maurice, might be contacted. As a former magician, Spector is not exactly a non-believer in spiritual matters but is well-versed in the methods used by charlatans.
There is a lot to savor in this twisty narrative, and equally as much that I do not wish to spoil. The séance does indeed occur and produces the expected effects with the contacting of Maurice, among others. Shortly thereafter, someone shockingly turns up dead. What makes matters even more perplexing is that the door knobs of each guest room are tied together in a pattern, and a camera faces the hallway. This ensures that no one enters any room, and the only way through the window would involve a very athletic and risky climb from the lower story where only the driver stayed.
There will be more killings at Devil’s Neck before the arrival of Flint and his officers. During this time, Spector takes charge and in typically brilliant fashion unwraps this extraordinarily complex tale of deceit and murder. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is another triumph for Tom Mead and this series, which is one of the cleverest in the mystery genre today.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
The Dramatis Personae listed at the front of the book comes in incredibly handy, not just for keeping all the names straight but also for armchair sleuths to work with when trying to sniff out the murderer, as well as those who are not who they claim to be. What makes this mystery so intriguing is that there are dual cases of locked-room situations.
Flint is called to what appears to be a suicide by pistol. If it was a murder, there was no obvious way in or out of the room. All Flint is sure of is that the man, whose identity is unknown, was linked to the infamous mystery of the Aitken Inheritance. It began with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Among the countless victims was a first-class passenger, the wealthy Dominic Edgecomb, whose inheritance would fall to his 22-year-old brother, Rodney. Rodney’s own story is the stuff of legend and a tad confounding. I will leave it to readers to suss that out for themselves.
Spector finds himself on a coach with a few random individuals, some of whom he knows while others are complete strangers: Imogen Drabble, a reporter; Francis Tulp, a young believer in the spirit world; Madame Adaline La Motte, a spiritualist; Virginia Bailey, an elderly mother; Walter Judd, a detective; and Fred Powell, their driver. Their destination is the allegedly haunted house on Devil’s Neck, which once was a hospital and now is the residence of Clive and Justine Lennox.
Spector knows the history of the house very well, as do some of the others. The intention is not just to investigate the alleged hauntings at Devil’s Neck, but also to participate in a séance conducted by Madame La Motte. The spirit of Virginia’s deceased son, Maurice, might be contacted. As a former magician, Spector is not exactly a non-believer in spiritual matters but is well-versed in the methods used by charlatans.
There is a lot to savor in this twisty narrative, and equally as much that I do not wish to spoil. The séance does indeed occur and produces the expected effects with the contacting of Maurice, among others. Shortly thereafter, someone shockingly turns up dead. What makes matters even more perplexing is that the door knobs of each guest room are tied together in a pattern, and a camera faces the hallway. This ensures that no one enters any room, and the only way through the window would involve a very athletic and risky climb from the lower story where only the driver stayed.
There will be more killings at Devil’s Neck before the arrival of Flint and his officers. During this time, Spector takes charge and in typically brilliant fashion unwraps this extraordinarily complex tale of deceit and murder. THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK is another triumph for Tom Mead and this series, which is one of the cleverest in the mystery genre today.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
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