In this second book of the Magic Men** series, two children are found dead in the snow, a line of candy leading to them as if in parody of Hansel and Gretel. Fairy tales play a major thematic part of the investigation, all the way back to a previous child murder from forty years ago.

This book was far more interesting than the first in the series, and there were so many different clues and misdirects that I had absolutely no idea where the mystery itself was going. I wouldn’t have even begun to guess who ended up being the murderer! I had tons of theories, growing increasingly wild, but none of them even got close. Like the previous book, it was a bit lighter and less thick than Griffiths’ other mysteries, but still fun!

**This series has multiple names: Magic Men, or the Brighton Mysteries, or the Stephens & Mephisto Mysteries. The first is the shortest to type, so I’m going with that. Heh.