A sleight of hand. A trick up the sleeve. A call for the dead. It’s all part of the game in this twisty tale by the bestselling author of After Alice Fell.

New Hampshire, 1877. Maud Price was once a celebrated child medium, a true believer in lifting the veil between the living and the dead. Now penniless, her guiding spirits gone, the so-called “Maid of Light” is desperate to regain her reputation—but doing so means putting her faith in deceiving others.

Clementine Watkins, known in spiritualist circles for her bag of tricks and utmost discretion, creates the sort of theatrics that can fill Maud’s parlor again, and with each misdirection, Maud’s fame is restored. But her guilt is a heavy burden. And the ruse has become a risk. Others are plotting to expose the fraud, and Clem can’t allow anyone—even Maud—to jeopardize the fortune the hoax has made her.

When the deception hints at a possible murder, Maud realizes how dangerous a game she’s playing. But to return to the light from which she’s strayed, she must first survive the darkness created by Clem’s smoke and mirrors.

Review:

Vivid, cunning, and mysterious!

The Deception is an eerie, sinister tale that transports you to New Hampshire during 1877 and into the lives of two main characters. Maud Price, a young woman who, after being a successful child medium, is struggling to make ends meet now that her connection to the afterlife has dwindled and her clientele are moving on, and Clementine Watkins, a selfish unscrupulous inventor driven by purely altruistic motives who finds the perfect partner to use, manipulate, and showcase her exceptional ability at creating illusions, theatrics, and misdirection.

The prose is tight and gritty. The characters are vulnerable, troubled, and resourceful. And the plot is a menacing tale about life, loss, tragedy, desperation, lies, manipulation, ruthless ambition, familial drama, secrets, and supernatural phenomena.

Overall, The Deception is a dark, gothic, intense novel by Blakemore that does a wonderful job of interweaving historical movements and compelling fiction into a suspenseful mystery that is deliciously atmospheric and highly entertaining.

This novel is available now.

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