The Midnight Hour: Twisty mystery from the bestselling author of The Locked Room (The Brighton Mysteries Book 6)

Another great story, can't wait for the next one👍

It’s always good to greet a new novel by Elly Griffiths, and The Midnight Hour doesn’t disappoint, especially if, like me, you were born in Brighton and were very much alive and well at the time of the book’s setting.The Midnight Hour is not Griffiths best book, or even her best Brighton book, but it is nevertheless well worth the read, and there are numerous old friends to catch up with, which is always a pleasure. More please, Elly. Keep them coming.

all elly griffith booksare excellent

You can't go wrong with an Ellie Griffith's book.. Loved the Brighton mysteries series and can't wait to read the new "coming soon," books in this series.

The "Stephens and Mephisto" series was my favourite of Elly Griffith's series, I enjoyed the two main characters juxtaposed personalities, one the serious policeman, the other the aging free spirited magician, all set in the world of the declining variety circuit. After the first four books it has become "the Brighton Mysteries" that might as well be called "Holmes and Connolly Investigate" only Holmes and Connolly are almost identical and the disparate Stephens and Mephisto are just background characters, it's like it's become a spin-off series within itself, set in a bland seaside town. It's gone from these interesting characters in a fresh setting with exciting plots to something that's functional but a bit, well, bland.The story itself is fine, you can workout what happend and why and who the accomplices were, but you can't figure out who the main culprit is, only because they aren't in the story enough for them to be a viable suspect. It struck me as a bit unfair doing it that way.

In this sixth Brighton mystery by Elly Griffiths, the plot centres on the role of women. Bert Billington, the murder victim, had shown little respect for the women in his life so there are several possible female suspects. Having little faith in the police force, his flamboyant wife, Verity Malone, decides to employ a team of female detectives, Emma and Sam. The only problem is that the talented Emma Holmes is married to the Police Superintendent, Edgar Stephens. Relishing the opportunity to return to crime fighting, she is glad to escape her life as a wife and mother occasionally, and she is lucky that Edgar supports her in this.Soon the private detectives and the local police are co-operating on the case and Emma takes a special interest in young policewoman, Meg Connolly. When the two women need to hire a car, they refuse to give up after being told to ask their husband’s permission to do so. Meg is an excellent driver, but as a policewoman in the mid-1960s she is not allowed to drive on duty.As in the previous books of the series we enter the world of show business and catch up with Max Mephisto, now a successful film actor with a glamorous Hollywood wife. The investigation harks back to the pre-war world of Variety when young women were often taken advantage of by the male stars.While Emma’s partner, Sam, briefly returns to her former occupation as a journalist, we are reminded of the horrifying case of the Moors Murders, so it is a relief that this Brighton mystery is less upsetting. I enjoyed seeing Emma proving herself as a skilled investigator once more, but I preferred the earlier volumes when she was able to work alongside Edgar.

an elly griffiths fan started reading it as soon as the book arrived:) . glad to have discovered "Emma" a great success

I love this author and usually buy her books new but on this occasion decided to buy secondhand. The condition was as stated.

A very engaging mystery, I love all of Elly Griffith's mysteries, various series, they'll all excellent.

I really enjoy Max Mephisto and a glimpse back stage into a theatrical / movie world that doesn't exist anymore. The characters in the series are developing, having to adapt to the swinging sixties and being British everyone seems a little depressed, must be the rain. The murder plot itself was a bit convoluted, as they tend to be, and I didn't have a clue until the end. Fun

It met all my expectations

A good mystery with some good characters . It is fun to read about that time period,too. To understand all the characters and their dynamics a reader should start from the beginning of the series.

While I am a keen fan of Elly Griffiths' Dr. Ruth Galloway books I have found the Brighton Mysteries rather difficult to get into.I thought I'd try again with her newest book, The Midnight Hour, in the hope that I would enjoy it more than one of the other Brighton Mysteries I have tried and hoped I would be happy to begin the whole series, but sadly, I have found that The Midnight Hour has far too many characters in it, and they are difficult to follow because there is no real emotion in any of them. They tend to be something like cut out figures all very much the same.I'm an avid reader so was surprised to find I couldn't get a good hold on exactly what was going on and then found I didn't care all that much.Maybe the trouble is that because most of the characters are in show business they all have similar outlooks on life. The young constable Meg was a bright light amongst them all but the rest were tired and the story was taken up so much in their past and their relationships it became tedious.I have given it four stars because I know others enjoy this series and Elly Griffiths is, nevertheless, one of my favourite authors.