Title: The Magician’s Angel
Series: The Christmas Angel Collection
Author: Jordan L. Hawk
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 108 Pages
Category: Historical, Holiday Romance
At a Glance: The romance is sweet, the story entertaining, and the way in which the little Christmas angel ends up saving the day is quite magical. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: Vaudeville stage magician Christopher Fiend lives for the spotlight. His chance at big time stardom awaits him in Chicago, the next stop on the circuit after the little town of Twelfth Junction.
Edward Smith wants nothing to do with his family’s theater. Until Christopher catches his eye on opening night, then treats him to a very special performance during intermission.
When a dead body turns up in the middle of Christopher’s act, suspicion immediately falls on him. If Christopher and Edward can’t work together to clear his name, Christopher won’t make it to Chicago in time. Edward knows he shouldn’t get attached to a man who will be gone in two days, but his heart—and a very special angel—have other ideas.
Review: And so my Christmas Angel series reviews begin with a bang—or should I say a whisper?—inside a backwater town theatre that is barely hanging on by a thread. Little did the Smith brothers ever expect that the vaudeville acts they had performing at their financially struggling theatre in Twelfth Junction would open and close on the same night, when one of the actors turns up dead. Edward Smith, the accountant in the family and the least enamored of the ancient theater that had been his father’s legacy, may be immune to the siren’s call of the stage but not to its headliner, a magician named Christopher Fiend. When a frantic intermission tryst between Edward and Fiend becomes the only means for the performer to clear his name of murder, he and Christopher join forces to unmask the culprit. Little do they imagine that murder would see their attraction to each other grow but also endanger their lives.
Jordan L. Hawk is known for delivering impeccably crafted stories, time and again, and they do not disappoint with this Christmas gem, The Magician’s Angel. The feelings of authenticity when it comes to time and era and commonly held prejudices makes this story even more interesting. The murder victim, while unwholesome and, in retrospect, deserving of his untimely end, has damning secrets on just about everyone except Christopher, it seems, and an eye towards blackmail. However, it is Christopher’s desperation to make the next stop on the tour, and hopefully secure his place in larger venues, ensuring his success, that drives him to help Edward find the murderer and allow Fiend to venture on to Chicago.
But as time goes on, the author cleverly uses the investigation to not only unearth the assailant but also provide much needed introspective time for Christopher to begin to realize why he is so enamored of becoming a touted success. All this happens while Edward, too, realizes how unhappy he has been and why the stage has always left him angry and empty inside, unlike his brother who loves the inheritance their father left behind. The two men grow and change in this short novella, finding love and nearly losing it. The romance is sweet, the story entertaining, and the way in which the little Christmas angel ends up saving the day is quite magical. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
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