Magic, Magicians and Detective Fiction

Magic, and especially performance magic, has been a part of crime fiction since its inception: both art forms surged in popularity in Western Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century and influenced each other in profound ways. This collection of essays provides an in-depth look at this phenomenon and covers a variety of writers, across multiple languages, cultures, and traditions as well as multiple subgenres (Victorian autobiography, classic detective tales, pulp fiction, fantasy mystery, etc.). From historical studies examining the rise in popularity of magician narratives in mystery and detective fiction, to essays documenting the number of professional magicians who double as crime fiction writers, to theoretical studies analyzing the narrative and functional overlap between illusion, prestidigitation, and literary criminals and detectives, this collection of essays provides readers with a range of perspectives and approaches from a variety of scholarly backgrounds.

Rebecca Josephy is an associate professor at Oakland University in Michigan. Her principal field of research is in 20th century comparative literature with a special emphasis on the Hebrew Bible and Jewish thought and philosophy in French literature and popular culture.

Edited by Rebecca Josephy
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 30 photos, appendix, notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8820-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5525-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments v
Introduction
Rebecca Josephy 1
Typologies of Magic and Detection
Magic and Detective Fiction: A Typological Approach
Zi-Ling Yan 13
Creating the Impossible: ­Magician-Authors and the ­Mystery-Making Process
Neil Tobin 40
Tricks with Mirrors: The ­Magician-Detective as Proxy in ­Magician-Written Mysteries
Neil Tobin 64
Magic and Detective Fiction: An Overlapping History
“My power to do good or evil”: The Magician as Criminal/Detective in Victorian Culture
Beatrice Ashton-Lelliott 93
“A prince among conjurers”: Performance Magic and Grant Allen’s An African Millionaire
Christopher Pittard 112
Arsène Lupin, ­Gentleman-Magician? The Art of Deception in Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin Series
Rebecca Josephy 131
Magic in Global Detective Fiction
Considering Magic and Technology in the Works of Edogawa Ranpo and Murakami Haruki
Robert Del Greco 157
Black Magic and Its Complete Unmasking? Magic, Reason, and Russian Sleuthing in Boris Akunin’s Adventures of Erast Fandorin Series
John P. Hope 177
Elvis Infante, from Occult Investigator to Shaman Detective: A New Manifestation of Criminal Fiction in F.G. Haghenbeck’s Novels and the Diablero Series
George Cole 195
Appendix: ­Magic-Related Detection in Books and Pulp Magazines, 1899–1948
Neil Tobin and ­Zi-Ling Yan 215
Bibliography: Important Texts in the Field 219
About the Contributors 223
Index 225

“[This book] is the first major scholarly work to make an extended and explicit connection between magic and detective fiction. By exploring the intricate interplay between magicians and detectives, this groundbreaking study offers fresh perspectives on classic detective literature and makes vital contributions to the emerging field of magic studies.”—Todd Herzog, professor of German studies and film studies and director of the Niehoff Center for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati;. author of Crime Stories: Criminalistic Fantasy and the Culture of Crisis in Weimar Germany