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Elephants in the Distance
Paul Galliard, the son of a famous illusionist killed while performing a trick thirty years before, investigates the present-day deaths of his father's friends
301 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
72 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Stashower
42 books223 followersDaniel Stashower is the author of The Boy Genius and The Mogul as well as the Edgar Award-winning Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. He is also the author of five mystery novels, the most recent of which is The Houdini Specter. Stashower is a recipient of The Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship in Detective and Crime Fiction Writing, and spent a year as a Visiting Fellow at Wadham College, Oxford. A freelance journalist since 1986, Stashower's articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic Traveller and Connoisseur. He lives with his wife and two sons in Washington, D.C.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 15, 2015
Daniel Stashower's prose is terrific, and his story about murder and a bunch of magicians is hard to put down. Easily worth five stars for its genre, but I was just a bit disappointed with the end, which seemed a little forced to me. Of course, "forcing" something is a magic technique so that might make it ok. A really, really, really great little book.
October 18, 2022
I loved everything about this book except the ending. The story revolves around Paul Galliard, a young magician in NYC in the '80s (when the book was written). Paul's father was a famous magician also, who was killed when Paul was very young, performing the famous bullet catch trick on live TV. Now Paul has been asked to perform the same trick on a live TV variety show. He's not sure he wants to do so; but then things start happening, to him and to a group of magicians who were his father's peers and colleagues...
The atmosphere in this novel is tremendous. Stashower captures the rarefied milieu of the magic show with what feels to this layperson like perfect felicity. The novel is narrated by Paul, and he's a marvelous character--self-deprecating, funny, and a little bit conflicted about his dad. The magician characters are richly drawn, and others populating the tale--Paul's girlfriend and her son, the policeman who may assist Paul in his bullet catch, the TV folk involved with the show--are all splendidly etched.
The excitement and pace never let up--it's not a violent story, but there's a thrill in every chapter, and Stashower ratchets things up in the second half, making the book really hard to put down.
My only quibble is that the ending didn't quite satisfy, for a few reasons. Mainly I think what's problematic about it is that it feels a bit rushed: after all the vivid suspense, I would have liked a bit more of a climax and denouement.
All that said, there are great surprises all over the book; it's just a grand, rollicking, highly entertaining ride.
Stashower seems to have abandoned writing fiction, which I think is too bad, because I enjoyed this book and am enjoying the Houdini series as well.
The atmosphere in this novel is tremendous. Stashower captures the rarefied milieu of the magic show with what feels to this layperson like perfect felicity. The novel is narrated by Paul, and he's a marvelous character--self-deprecating, funny, and a little bit conflicted about his dad. The magician characters are richly drawn, and others populating the tale--Paul's girlfriend and her son, the policeman who may assist Paul in his bullet catch, the TV folk involved with the show--are all splendidly etched.
The excitement and pace never let up--it's not a violent story, but there's a thrill in every chapter, and Stashower ratchets things up in the second half, making the book really hard to put down.
My only quibble is that the ending didn't quite satisfy, for a few reasons. Mainly I think what's problematic about it is that it feels a bit rushed: after all the vivid suspense, I would have liked a bit more of a climax and denouement.
All that said, there are great surprises all over the book; it's just a grand, rollicking, highly entertaining ride.
Stashower seems to have abandoned writing fiction, which I think is too bad, because I enjoyed this book and am enjoying the Houdini series as well.
November 6, 2021
3.5 stars
I'm not a big fan of mystery stories, but this is a very interesting premise, though the back story is less believable. I enjoyed it as a quick read.
I'm not a big fan of mystery stories, but this is a very interesting premise, though the back story is less believable. I enjoyed it as a quick read.
November 20, 2012
A good mystery has to have enough details in it so that as everything unfolds you help solve the crime as does the sleuth. There are clues along the way, but then there are Sherlockian leaps, that the internal voice of our hero never dwells on.
Sherlock Holmes might get away with this. Conan Doyle was a very good writer that created this genre and made it his own. Stashower has a lot he adds that is good, but he has a sarcastic voice in his dialogue that even a Raymond Chandler detective might find hard to stomach.
That was the crux. I wanted to know more about the magic, but the hero was just unlikeable. I didn't care whether he was actually killed by the stunt he was recreating or not. He had a poor way of showing his affection to the women in his life, and then when questioned why he was linked to so many deaths, again with the attitude.
If I was the police I probably would have thrown him in jail for littering since he was being anything but helpful in their investigations. The end, as well, where we know what is going on, but the rest of the world seems a little oblivious too, makes you want to say that it really wasn't worth all the bother. A Magician based sleuth is something that would be rather special, but this was not one you want to follow.
Sherlock Holmes might get away with this. Conan Doyle was a very good writer that created this genre and made it his own. Stashower has a lot he adds that is good, but he has a sarcastic voice in his dialogue that even a Raymond Chandler detective might find hard to stomach.
That was the crux. I wanted to know more about the magic, but the hero was just unlikeable. I didn't care whether he was actually killed by the stunt he was recreating or not. He had a poor way of showing his affection to the women in his life, and then when questioned why he was linked to so many deaths, again with the attitude.
If I was the police I probably would have thrown him in jail for littering since he was being anything but helpful in their investigations. The end, as well, where we know what is going on, but the rest of the world seems a little oblivious too, makes you want to say that it really wasn't worth all the bother. A Magician based sleuth is something that would be rather special, but this was not one you want to follow.
June 3, 2015
What an unexpected surprise. I don't know how I came upon this book title, but I'm very glad I did.
The basic story/mystery is a good one and is well presented.
But the dialog is wonderful!
* Conversation between a medical friend and the pig she is dissecting.
* The main character talking with a little girl about her birthday party when the magician entertaining them keeled over and managing to get the information he wants without upsetting her.
A clever bit of writing.
The basic story/mystery is a good one and is well presented.
But the dialog is wonderful!
* Conversation between a medical friend and the pig she is dissecting.
* The main character talking with a little girl about her birthday party when the magician entertaining them keeled over and managing to get the information he wants without upsetting her.
A clever bit of writing.
June 23, 2010
A fun premise, a good mystery, and an entertaining read.
January 7, 2011
All in all a good read, but the resolution was a little weak. I did like the main character, the magician Paul Galliard. The dialog was snappy, and the premise was intriguing.
September 21, 2012
This is a fun read with likeable characters and some good twists. I read it years ago and completely forgot the surprises at the end when I reread it.
July 30, 2013
This was a good little mystery featuring some magic which made it very interesting. I liked the main character very much.
August 13, 2013
Another fun and entertaining little magic mystery by Stashower! More authors should take a "page from his book"; they have a hard time telling as good a story in twice as many pages.
September 4, 2013
Great little mystery. Magical characters. I love when a mystery writer surprises me!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews