The Statue of Three Lies

When Jack Ramsden, a cabinet-maker and designer of stage props for magicians, was preparing his annual illusion for his wife's birthday, he was killed by a shot from a rifle on a stand. The problem was – he was alone in the room when the shot was fired and the door and windows were locked. A verdict of death by misadventure was declared at the inquest. Fourteen years later the official findings are being questioned by at least one member of his family. Professor Giles Dawson, a London historian specialising in magic and the great illusionists, receives a cryptic letter from Laura, Jack Ramsden's daughter whom he knew as a child. The letter urges him to return for her mother's 70th birthday celebrations to help prove that her father's death had been murder. Giles accepts the invitation and, during a weekend fraught with danger, he comes face to face with everyone who was present on the night Jack Ramsden died. Certain entries in the dead man's diary require explanation and...