DANIEL STASHOWER – Elephants in the Distance. Morrow, hardcover, 1989. Felony & Mayhem, trade paperback, 2007.

   As far as fun, enjoyable reading goes, this one is the real McCoy (whoever McCoy was). Mysteries and magicians always go together, no matter what. And in this case, like good science fiction, “what” means that there’s one implausibility that must be believed, with the rest following like a foregone conclusion.

   Paul Galliard’s father was also a magician, and he died on live television attempting bullet-catching trick. Now, 30 years later, Paul is going to re-create the feat, again on live TV. (Well, in the age of Geraldo, that’s may not be too hard to swallow after all.)

   And, yes, there is a mystery involved. All of Paul’s father’s old friend’s have recently received warnings of some sort, and some of them have died, under mysterious circumstances. Clearly Paul does not know as uch as he should about his father’s death, and his attempts to learn more serve only to show him how much danger he is in.

   The climax comes at page-turning intensity, even after you learn how the trick is done — and it’s disappointingly easy, just as anti-climactic in its way as the solution to a ripsnorting detective story often is — and sorry to say, this book’s no exception. Nevertheless, if you like magic in your mysteries, this book has a hatful to the brim.

   (I’m not sure if Paul Galliard will become a continuing character. I’d like to read another of his adventures, but as you can imagine, as it usually works out, this first appearance is very personal; any ordinary case that might follow would be hard pressed to match the emotional level of this one.)

–Reprinted from Mystery*File #15, September 1989 (somewhat revised).



UPDATE:   As it turned out, this was the only incident in Paul Galliard’s life that Stashower has decided to tell us about. See below:

   BIBLIOGRAPHY    (fiction only, as taken from Wikipedia’s page for Stashower) —

Stashower, Daniel (1985). The Adventure of the Ectoplasmic Man. William Morrow and Company.
Stashower, Daniel (1989). Elephants in the Distance. William Morrow.
Stashower, Daniel (1998). “A Deliberate Form of Frenzy”. In Foxwell, Elizabeth (ed.). Malice Domestic 7. Avon Books.
Stashower, Daniel (1999). The Dime Museum Murders: A Harry Houdini Mystery. Avon Books.
Stashower, Daniel (2000). The Floating Lady Murder: A Harry Houdini Mystery. Avon Books.
Stashower, Daniel (2001). The Houdini Specter: A Harry Houdini Mystery. Avon Books.
Greenberg, Martin H.; Lellenberg, Jon; Stashower, Daniel, eds. (2002). Murder in Baker Street: New Tales of Sherlock Holmes. Carroll & Graf.
Greenberg, Martin H.; Lellenberg, Jon; Stashower, Daniel, eds. (2002). Murder, My Dear Watson: New Tales of Sherlock Holmes. Carroll & Graf.
Greenberg, Martin H.; Lellenberg, Jon; Stashower, Daniel, eds. (2006). Ghosts in Baker Street: New Tales of Sherlock Holmes. Carroll & Graf.
Greenberg, Martin H.; Lellenberg, Jon; Stashower, Daniel, eds. (2009). Sherlock Holmes in America. Skyhorse Publishing.
Doyle, Arthur Conan (2011). Lellenberg, Jon; Stashower, Daniel; Foss, Rachel (eds.). The Narrative of John Smith. British Library.