Locked room mysteries are a plenty in Tom Mead's fourth installment of Joseph Spector novels.

Set in the pre-war London of 1939, the story begins with the body of Rodney Edgeware found in a locked room by Inspector Flint who having been heavily influenced by Joseph Spector in the previous three books doesn't take this apparent suicide at face-value and suspects foul play.

Meanwhile Joseph Spector, the former Conjuror, is on a coach heading to the titular House at Devil's Neck, a former army hospital built on a tidal island which has recently reopened as a haunted house. Amongst his fellow travelers are a 'ghost hunter', a psychic and her assistant, a private investigator and a lady who's son died at the house when it was a hospital.

The coach makes it across the causeway before the house is cut off from the main land by high tide, leaving all of the passengers and driver trapped along with the hosts Mr. and Mrs. Lennox. A nice setup for a few more locked room mysteries at the House at Devils Neck.

Tom Mead really does capture the mood and atmosphere of an old Agatha Christie novel. Joseph Spector is clearly based on Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot with Inspector Flint reminiscent of Watson or Hastings. Spector is a great character and I do enjoy how he reads a crime scene and explains his reasoning.

My main issue with this book was the plot became overly complicated. Too many lock room mysteries with ridiculously convoluted explanations. Its such a shame as the story comes together quite nicely up until we start tying a piece of string around 6 door handles to ring a bell. This was perhaps the most far-fetched part and when the story started to get to fanciful.

There is a nice note to the reader three quarters of the way through stating that you now have all of the clues to solve the mystery which I'm pleased to say I did. Although I didn't connect the hundreds of dots Spector did to get to the murderer.

The Means and Motive felt very unsatisfying for my little grey cells which was a shame as I had really enjoyed the journey for the most part.

I would like to convey my thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus, Aries Fiction for providing the opportunity to review this novel. All opinions are my own.

The House at Devils Neck is due to be released on 14th August 2025.

This locked room mystery set in the eponymous abandoned house and former hospital, Devils Neck, brings together a group of people connected tangentially to a single, elusive man Rodney Edgecombe. The master solver of the clues is Joseph Spector, a Mephistopheles like character, Illusionist turned sleuth who solves the murders with the support of inspector Flint of Scotland Yard. Identity, the horrors of World War One and greed are the key to this mystery that kept me guessing until the end. If you like puzzles, you will enjoy this. I prefer characters to have more emotional depth whereas this is all about tricks and solutions rather than character development hence my rating.

I was privileged to read this excellent book on NetGalley. There’s something rather special about the way this author writes that draws you instantly into the intricacies and intrigue of the locked-room mystery. I am enthralled with the book which rattles along at pace and throws up so many questions! It takes the brilliance of the main character Joseph Spector to fully make sense of the action.
I love the way the detective who is investigating believes he’s solved everything based on what he’s previously learnt from Spector, only to be proved wrong and gently corrected in the end by his friend. I don’t presume to have an inkling all the way through! Such fun to read! I cannot wait for more from Tom Mead! A well-deserved and easy 5 stars!

Excellent golden-age-esque locked room mystery, the fourth in this series. Atmospheric and littered with references to classic horror and weird fiction, this is a haunted house tale on an island accessible only by a causeway, all linked to a suicide (murder) in London. With parallel events - Spector in devil’s neck and inspector flint back in London - the clues are carefully set out (made clear in footnotes through the dazzlingly complex resolution) and - by this reader at least - almost entirely missed. Excellently complex mystery - even if I admit to being a bit lost during the final explanations at first read!

I have not read any of the previous books featuring these characters. It was a very convoluted and intriguing plot, it must have taken a lot of work to plan it so precisely.
Very much a locked room mystery, set on a very stormy night....really anything was possible.
An absorbing read.

The House at Devil’s Neck is a classic locked-room mystery with a great eerie setting and clever puzzles that will satisfy fans of detective fiction. Tom Mead crafts an intriguing atmosphere, and the main investigator Joseph Spector remains a compelling presence. However, the pacing can be uneven, and some of the secondary characters feel underdeveloped. While not quite as gripping as others in it's genre it still offers a solid, cerebral mystery experience.

The House at Devil’s Neck is a gripping locked-room mystery that combines suspense, supernatural intrigue, and clever twists. Set in a spooky, isolated manor, this novel sees illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector investigating a series of eerie deaths tied to the haunted house at Devil's Neck.
The story begins with rumors of a phantom soldier causing mischief at the old mansion, a former First World War field hospital. Spector, familiar with the house’s dark history, joins a group of visitors hoping to uncover the truth behind the ghostly tales. But as the weather turns and floods cut off access to the outside world, the guests find themselves trapped and killed off one by one.
The author does a brilliant job of building tension as the isolated group is picked off, with Spector and his ally, Inspector Flint, racing against time to solve the mystery before the house claims them all. The atmosphere is haunting, and the complex web of clues and connections keeps you guessing until the very end.
What sets this book apart is its perfect blend of psychological suspense and eerie, supernatural elements. While the pacing is deliberate, it adds to the growing sense of dread and claustrophobia as the characters realize that the house itself might be as dangerous as the killer among them.
If you enjoy locked-room mysteries with a spooky, atmospheric setting and a strong, intelligent lead, The House at Devil’s Neck is definitely worth picking up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

A very exciting and keep you guessing kind of book. With plenty of twists an turns. It had me guessing right to the very end. A very enjoyable atmospheric read.

"The very presence of a mask tells us there is something behind it. And so, the very act of deception is itself a revelation."

This novel offers such a wonderfully classic mystery vibe, with a resolution that will make your head spin—in a good way. A haunted house where, one by one, the guests end up dying? A cast of suspicious characters with hidden motives? Murders committed in such a way that only those most knowledgeable in the art of locked-room mysteries can figure it out?
If you like novels like And Then There Were None, you will definitely enjoy this book.

"But whatever you do, don't let on that a member of their weekend party is a suspected murderer."

The story follows Imogen, one of the many guests visiting Devil's Neck, a building seemingly haunted by the ghost of a fallen soldier. Her fellow guest, Joseph Spector, firmly believes that whatever is going on isn't of supernatural origin at all and sets out to uncover the mystery. He's a traditional detective—think early Poirot—someone who has everything figured out while everybody else is confused and nowhere close to the truth. If you love those confident, seemingly all-knowing detectives, he's your guy.

I do feel like the time spent at Devil's Neck compared to the resolution is a bit unbalanced. Everything happens in a very short amount of time, and it felt like the latter half of the book was a monologue explaining exactly how the murders were committed. It did have a lot of twists and turns, and I really enjoyed the characters. I just wish we had gotten to see a bit more of them!

7/10 — I will definitely be checking out more Joseph Spector novels in the future. Recommended to anyone who loves classic mysteries.

3☆
This is the first book from this series that I ever read and I was pleasantly surprised and entertained (through most of the action) by both the plot and the gothic atmosphere.
The story starts off a bit character dumpy but evens out as the events unfold. We come face to face with strong female characters, creepy dols, individuals that are not who they say they are and an inheritance that is at the core of it all. The parallel narratives kept me hooked and guessing while the room maps from the crime scenes gave me a bit more insight in the mystery.
There were some phrases that felt awkward and, while the story was interesting, the plot was picking up then stopping abruptly- both things that took me out of the story a few times. Some character's thought processes were hard to follow as the information wasn't very well structured -certain things were over explained while others were not explained enough.
Approaching the end the pace evens out and the book sets us up for a logical explanation having been both thrilling and mysterious. I appreciated the unique view on automation, how it's used in illusion and magic shows and the role it had in the whole story. Can't wait to read more from this series✨️

My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The title of Tom Mead's newest work might immediately bring to mind John Dickson Carr's The House at Satan's Elbow, but prospective readers may rest assured that it's definitely a better book than that one.

I've enjoyed the other three works in the Joseph Spector series, and there has been a noticeable improvement over them, a trend which is continued in this book, which I'd say along with Cabaret Macabre is the best of the series so far.

The book is set over dual plotlines, with Inspector Flint investigating the supposed suicide of one man, and Joseph Spector in the House at Devil's Neck for a seance, and while it's obvious from early on just how the lines are going to intersect, it was still enjoying seeing the two characters approaching the mystery from two different ends.

As for the impossible crimes, while I found some of the solutions to be either overly scientific/mechanical, there was also a sense of simplicity to others that I also enjoyed. However, I found the real highlight of the book to lie in the solution of the mystery itself, and just what exactly was behind the tangled skein of events. Some may find the revelations to be over-the-top and not necessary, but I quite enjoyed the final pages when Spector was explaining. Not that there were no unnecessary subplots, I found the hidden relationship between two characters to add almost nothing of value. Also liked the ending proper, and wonder if it'll bring about any changes to the series.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I literally devoured this book in just a couple of days. And even though the ending might be a bit over the top with all the plot twists and really tested my suspension of disbelief, it still remains an enjoyable read that I will keep suggesting!

The plot is a clear homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, with the only difference being that part of the story takes place outside the closed and isolated location, and not all the characters die.

A group of people gathers in a former military hospital, now converted into a sort of guesthouse, to attend a séance. But not everyone is who they claim to be. Among them, a killer has a pressing need to eliminate certain individuals. Meanwhile, the police are investigating an unusual suicide that seems far too much like a murder. What ties these two events together?

The novel has an excellent pace, and like in classic mysteries (still the best kind), the plot twists hit at just the right moments. There’s no shortage of unsettling details, which keep the tension consistently high. As I mentioned, the only flaw of this book is that it pushes the envelope a bit too far with the final twists, offering multiple dramatic turnarounds. Even the murder dynamics, when you think about them rationally, are quite implausible—though the way they’re told in the novel makes them enjoyable nonetheless.

The characters are intriguing, each of them suspicious in turn. The two investigators—former magician Spector, a cross between Poirot and Sherlock Holmes with a slightly Mephistophelian flair, and Police Chief Flint—start off from different places and seemingly unrelated cases, only to converge as they unravel a single, deeply intricate plot that traces back many years...

The novel is part of a series featuring Spector and Flint, but it can easily be read as a standalone story.

I really enjoyed this book. Ghosts, seances, magic and intrigue, is anyone really who they seem to be. I know the story didn’t always flow and it’s possible to pick holes in some of the storyline but read it for what it is, an enjoyable story. I would definitely recommend.
My thanks to Net Galley and the author for an ARC

entertaining, with an engaging cast and a lovely period feel. . A little slow to start, but I will be seeking out other books in this series

We have a book with an intense “Golden Age of Mystery” flavor and I couldn't be more happier about it!

In this story we have our detective Joseph Spector, who I confess is the first time I've had contact with him, trying to unravel a series of deaths that take place in the Devil's Neck house.

I have to confess that when I started to get into the story I thought there would be a lot of occultism and spiritualism going on, but I was sorely mistaken. Tom managed to make that theme overshadow what was happening in the narrative.

For a reader of classic crime thrillers, I can tell you that there are several tropes here, such as locked room murder, mistaken identities, optical illusions, and suicides disguised as murders and vice versa. In fact, it's these tropes that enrich the story. However, I have to highlight the fact that The Reader's Challenge was so good to have in the story, reminiscent of Ellery Queen in his works.

The only negative point is that at the moment when the truth was revealed, I felt so confused by the names and all the detective's detailed explanations that I had to read that part more than once (note: I'm Portuguese, so maybe that's why it didn't work so well for me).

Finally, the whole narrative is written with detail, a wealth of vocabulary (so I'm Portuguese, I had some difficulty understanding them, but the dictionary helped), and, above all, by an author whose admiration for the Golden Age of Mystery is perfectly evident.

More Tom Mead in this contemporary age, please!

The House at Devil’s Neck by Tom Mead

Synopsis

An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from twenty-five years ago, prompting Scotland Yard’s George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery.

Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil’s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier.

Flint’s and Spector’s investigations are in fact closely linked, but it is only when the duo are reunited at the storm-lashed Devil’s Neck that the truth is finally revealed. Tom Mead once again creates a brilliant homage to John Dickson Carr and the Golden Age of mysteries with this intricately plotted puzzle.

Review

This Agatha–Christie-style locked-room murder mystery was a little of my reading comfort zone but entertaining all the same.

I loved the character list (dramatis personae) introducing the cast of protagonists of the mystery. It brilliantly added to the text’s theatricalism.

I did feel that the narrative was at times convoluted, and I found some of the terminology to be anachronistic. For instance, terms such as “oral fixation”, “expat”, and “hungover” are used.

Below are the plotted graphs for the diachronic usage of the above terms according to the Google Books Ngram Viewer. As you can see, although these terms do crop up in 1939, when this mystery takes place, they were barely in common usage.

While the third part of the novel does get much better and faster in pace, a level of suspension of disbelief is required as Flint’s deductions come seemingly out of nowhere.

The final reveal was very interesting although it did turn into a double twist, which, in my opinion, furthered the slightly over complicated nature of the novel.

Star rating
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus (Aries Fiction) for this advance reader copy.

This book is full of characters and mystery. It's part of a series that I didn't realise. However, it could easily be a standalone book.
I did find it hard to keep up with the characters and the storyline, however, very cleverly written, maybe too clever for me!

Thank you Head of Zeus for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book generally. I took notes to try and work out who the killer was, but found there were some fairly big leaps of logic to get to the conclusion. The epilogue was quite confusing due to the number of characters and crossed wires, but at face value it's a good atmospheric read.

On the last day of August 1939, a band of travellers make their way to Devil’s Neck House via coach. The house is reputed to be haunted, so on board the coach there is a believer, a sceptic, a writer/companion, a spiritualist and as yet some undisclosed interested parties. Plus, of course, the driver Mr Fred Powell. What makes their journey so interesting is that the house has never before been open to the public, but now under new ownership it is accepting paying guests. Whilst the merry (!) band are on their travels, Inspector George Flint of Scotland Yard is up to his ears in an unexplained death. Thought at first to be a suicide, Flint is of the opinion that it is a ‘locked room’ murder, and hopes for the assistance of Mr Joseph Spector, a one time music hall magician (otherwise known as a professional trickster), who has helped him in the past. Regrettably, Mr Spector is one of the mixed bag of passengers on the coach to Devil’s Neck.

This is the fourth book in the series, but is entirely acceptable as a standalone.

Full of purple prose, this book is a flashback to the writing style of the 30’s, with echoes of all the old favourites. Whilst I did enjoy reading something a little different, the laboured explanations and denouement were something of a turnoff. Not the most exciting of reads, though the characters were good. I liked the start of the story, but as it became more convoluted and twisty it lost its way. Sometimes less is more and being too clever doesn’t work for the reader.

As a lover of old time crime and thriller writers I think this was a good attempt at recreating those times, just need to be a bit snappier, less florid and definitely less precocious.

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus.

I love this series, it’s so very clever. This one, however, was a little too clever for me, the twists came so thick and fast that they left me dizzy.