It made such a refreshing change to read something so different. It really had it all, and his characters are so well 'fleshed out' that you can picture them with ease. The twisted and complex puzzle totally foxed me, and although I hate to admit it, I really didn't have a clue whodunnit! Entertaining, even if it did give me one heck of a headache trying to work out the fiendishly clever answer to both the locked room mystery and the body in the lake!

Joy Ellis, #1 bestselling author

A delightful Golden Age puzzle... There are Agatha Christie-like twists aplenty and a final scene that Patricia Highsmith might have imagined. All in all, if you're looking for diversion, this latest novel in Mead's Joseph Spector series will do the trick.

Michael Dirda, Washington Post

Lovingly wrought and fiendishly plotted... Terrific fun with just the right amount of malice aforethought

Mail on Sunday

For the lover of locked room mysteries, for the devotee of Golden Age tales, for the book connoisseur whose heart leaps at the sight of maps and diagrams, and-above all-for the reader who won't be satisfied with anything less than a twisty and ingenious plot: Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you the incomparable Tom Mead.

G.M. Malliet, Agatha Award-winning author of the St Just and Max Tudor mysteries

A tour de force of devious plotting and malicious wit.

Judith Cutler, author of the Matthew Rowsley Victorian Mysteries

Cabaret Macabre, the third book in Tom Mead's Joseph Spector series, is absolutely stunning-a locked room mystery that's so masterfully executed, “twisty” doesn't begin to describe it. With its atmospheric setting and characters as real as your next-door neighbors, this book is a pure delight.

Karen Dionne, author of the #1 international bestseller THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER and THE WICKED SISTER