The Bookmarked Q&A... with Tom Mead

Author Tom Mead is the writer behind the compelling series of mystery novels featuring lead character Joseph Spector, a charismatic, highly observant retired magician-turned-amateur detective.

Taking inspiration from the Golden Age of crime novels and authors like Agatha Christie, Tom's Spector stories, beginning with Death and the Conjuror, are set in 1930s London, brilliantly evoking the wonder of the era as well as it's beauty and occasional dark underbelly.

With four novels already published in the Joseph Spector series, as well as a collection of short stories entitled The Indian Rope Trick (and other violent entertainments), Tom is currently working on the sixth Spector book, with the fifth to be published in 2027.

Below, Tom discusses his love of magic, the influence of Harry Houdini and the BBC show Jonathan Creek, and how becoming a successful author was a Covid-era act of escapism.

was being an author always the plan, and was there ever a back-up career?

Writing was always my passion, and I suppose I always hoped it would end up as my career too. For a while I worked in education, but I never stopped writing in my free time. It was always at the back of my mind.

What was it about writing and creating stories that grabbed you?

What I love about telling stories—mystery stories in particular—is that little moment of 'retrospective inevitability' that comes at the denouement, when all the puzzle pieces fall into place and you see what the writer has been doing all along. For me, that’s the most satisfying part as both a reader and a writer.

Above: Tom Mead's series of mystery books featuring Joseph Spector, the fifth of which will be published next year.

Were you a big reader as a child, and if so, what sort of books did you gravitate towards?

Yes, I was always a very big reader, and it’s probably not surprising that my favourite genres were mystery and horror. I grew up in a house full of Agatha Christie paperbacks, so she was my introduction to reading, as well as a 'gateway drug' of sorts for the whodunit genre.

Why did conjuring and illusions appeal to you as a central tenet of your stories, and do you have any background in that area?

A key influence on me when I was growing up was the BBC TV show Jonathan Creek, which combined murder mystery plots with clever theatrical illusions and gimmicks.

"While I was never much use as a magician, I’ve always been fascinated by how tricks work."

This got me into magic, and while I was never much use as a magician, I’ve always been fascinated by how tricks work. I’ve read tons of books on the subject, and try to apply some of the principles of stage illusion when I’m devising impossible crime plots.

Above: Comedian Alan Davies played a creative consultant to a magician in the mystery show, which was initially broadcast on the BBC in 1997.

Had you written before beginning Death and the Conjuror, and was there any trepidation about beginning the novel?

Yes, I’d written a number of short stories, some of which had appeared in anthologies and magazines. I was also trying to make inroads as a ghostwriter, having produced a number of romance novels, westerns, and things like that for a digital publisher. But my passion was always the whodunit, so I knew, when I eventually tried to tackle a more substantial project, it would be a mystery.

There was no trepidation to speak of, because I actually drafted Death and the Conjuror and The Murder Wheel back-to-back during the Covid lockdowns of 2020, whilst I was working from home. They were really written as an exercise in escapism, as a distillation of all the classic crime novels I was reading at the time. I didn’t have serious ambitions to publish at that point; that was something that came later. At the time, just writing them was enough.

From where did the character of Joseph Spector spring, and how much – if at all - is he based on real-world figures?

There are certainly elements of real-life figures in the characterisation of Joseph Spector. He is modelled on the stage persona of certain Victorian illusionists like Harry Houdini and David Devant. I like the idea of a magician who uses logic to explain the impossible, because this was, of course, something that Harry Houdini did in real life: he exposed fraudulent psychics.

"[Spector] is modelled on the stage persona of certain Victorian illusionists like Harry Houdini and David Devant."

In a similar vein, I’ve always been fascinated by the work of James Randi, who previously performed magic as 'The Amazing Randi' before making a name for himself as a full-time sceptic, exposing the tricks used by the likes of Uri Geller.

Randi made many TV appearances in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, and always struck me as a rather theatrical personality. That combination of logic and theatrics found its way into Spector too. And more generally speaking, he’s a mish-mash of various horror icons: someone with the stature of Christopher Lee, the soft-spoken charisma of Peter Cushing, and the gleeful, tongue-in-cheek, Grand Guignol stylings of Vincent Price.

Above: Harry Houdini [left] and James Randi were inspirations for Tom's character, Joseph Spector.

The 1930s London setting is brilliantly vivid; why did you want to set your Spector stories in that era?

Probably because I have learned quite a lot about that era from reading so much fiction from that time. It feels like a natural fit for a locked-room mystery, and it allows me to pack the stories with references and 'Easter eggs' for other mystery buffs.

How influential have authors such as Agatha Christie and other Golden Age writers been?

Massively influential. I love the style, the economy of language, the cleverness of the plots.

The methods of the crimes in your books are obviously important; do you start with the ‘how’ of a crime, then work out the ‘why’ afterwards, and how challenging is it to come up with new, mysterious ways of killing people?

I don’t actually have a set process; sometimes I will start with the trick and work backwards, and other times I start with the mystery and set about devising a trick that could be used to achieve that effect. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s also the part of the job that I enjoy the most!

How careful do you need to be around peppering the books with enough clues that the reader feels like they have a chance at working out the mystery, but not so many that the solution becomes too obvious?

Yes, this is a difficult balance. Agatha Christie was of course so adept at leaving a clue in plain sight and simply defying the reader not to spot it.

"I have a pool of early readers who can look at a draft and tell me if I’ve made the mystery too complicated or too easy."

I don’t have that same skill and confidence. That’s why I have a pool of early readers who can look at a draft and tell me if I’ve made the mystery too complicated or too easy. The edits and re-writing are where it all gets technical.

What's the first book you remember loving?

Probably The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for reasons best left undescribed, lest I be accused of the dreaded spoiler!

Which literary character would you most like to be?

I admire the unflappability of classic sleuths like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Like just about everybody else in the 21st century, I’m a perpetual worrier—it would be nice to enjoy the supreme confidence of a character who knows he’s always right.

What's your favourite movie/TV show adapted from a book?

Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Evil Under the Sun (1982) are pretty flawless screen adaptations of Christie in my opinion. Though the latter does take some liberties, I think it retains the elements that make the source material successful—that’s probably because the screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer, who penned some superb mysteries himself, notably Sleuth.

"Murder on the Orient Express and Evil Under the Sun are pretty flawless screen adaptations of Christie"

As for TV, I love Ellery Queen from the 1970s, starring Jim Hutton. It’s a Levinson & Link show (they are also responsible for another of my favourites, Columbo), though this one was unfortunately short-lived. Nonetheless, the Ellery Queen series yielded some 22 perfect episodes in its brief run.

Above: The 1974 film version of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, starring Albert Finney, Lauren Bacal and Sean Connery; and the TV series Ellery Queen.

Which book do you think should be adapted for the screen that, so far, hasn't been?

One of John Dickson Carr’s Henry Merrivale mysteries—possibly The Plague Court Murders.

Where's your favourite place to write?

Honestly, it depends on what I’m writing. Depending on how much progress I’ve made with a particular project, I tend to favour either my local library or one of the many coffee shops in my home town. I like writing with people all around—I think that’s probably because my early work was done during Covid, when I was very conscious of the isolation.

Describe your perfect writing set-up?

I draft everything long-hand, then type up myself. All I really need to begin with is a decent notebook and a good pen—plus earphones, in case of emergencies!

What was the last book you read, and would you recommend it?

The Case of the Chinese Gong by Christopher Bush, and yes I would definitely recommend it. It’s a perfect puzzle mystery, one of the cleverest I’ve read for some time, featuring his series sleuth Ludovic Travers.

Which book is next on your reading list?

Death’s Old Sweet Song, by Jonathan Stagge.

You can have dinner with four other authors, living or dead, who would you choose?

John Dickson Carr remains probably my favourite mystery writer, so I would have to include him. And I’m currently writing an introduction for a reissue of Clayton Rawson’s 1939 mystery Footprints on the Ceiling—Rawson was an accomplished magician, and a close friend of Carr, so I don’t doubt the pair of them would make for a lively evening’s conversation.

"I don’t doubt the pair of them would make for a lively evening’s conversation."

I’m going to cheat by including a real-life friend of mine, Barbara Nadel, who writes the superb Ikmen series (recently adapted for TV as The Turkish Detective). Barbara and I share a love of all things occult and weird, plus a fascination with the theatrical, and I can tell you for a fact that she’s a superb dinner companion!

And last but not least, I’ll choose an unsung heroine of classic crime, Christianna Brand. She died in 1986, so I know a number of people who were fortunate enough to meet her, and I hear she was a delightful person who also happened to write some of the very best whodunits I’ve ever read.

What book do you think you should have read, but still haven't?

Too many to name! It’s an uphill struggle. I’ll say At the Villa Rose, by A.E.W. Mason.

Which of your own books are you most proud of?

The very fact that the first two (Death and the Conjuror and The Murder Wheel) were published at all is still a source of enormous pride to me, since I wrote them purely to keep myself entertained during a tough time. But I’ve learned a lot with each subsequent book, so the latest, The House at Devil’s Neck, is the one I’m most confident about.

How do you organise your bookshelves?

If books 'feel' right together, they sit together on my shelf. So John Dickson Carr goes with Ellery Queen, Q. Patrick, Clayton Rawson, Hake Talbot, Paul Halter, etc. Helen McCloy goes with Fred Vargas. Paul Doherty goes with Ellis Peters and Michael Jecks. It’s one of those systems that’s impossible to explain to another person, yet it’s fully ingrained in my mind!

What are you working on next, and when might we see the next instalment in the Jospeh Spector series?

Soon I’ll be starting work on the sixth Spector book, the working title of which is The Second Hangman. The fifth Spector book has been written and submitted, pending edits from Mysterious Press. As for a potential publication date, that’s still TBD but I imagine it will be spring of 2027. Stay tuned!

To purchase Tom MEad's novels on Bookshop.org click here.

If you Are a published author and would like to be considered for a Bookmarked interview, drop me a line at maxelwoodwrites@gmail.com