LRI continues its Spring Offensive with the second of the four books promised: Paul Halter’s The Invisible Circle. You can think of it as The Knights of the Round Table meet The Ten Little Indians….
Seven people receive invitations to a ‘singular experience’ during a weekend in Cornwall in a castle reputedly built on the site of King Arthur’s, and situated on an island tenuously connected to the mainland. The sinister host announces that a murder will be committed that night, shows them a sword embedded in a stone (which none of them is able to pull out) and a golden chalice which he claims is the Holy Grail sought by the Knights of the Round Table.
Thus begins a nightmarish series of events including impossible murders, the disappearance of the Grail, and communication with the mainland cut off. Has the vengeful king indeed returned? And is there any connection to the recent release of the host’s homicidal half-brother? The plot, one of Paul Halter’s most convoluted, is great fun.
As is our wont, Paul and I conversed almost weekly on the text, because I needed to understand the layout of the island, which is crucial to the plot. Eventually, in desperation, the maestro sent me a hand-drawn sketch which I will include in every order of a signed and lettered (S&L) copy.
Now on to the Derek Smith Omnibus and The Tokyo Zodiac Murders….
