Sleight of Hand audiobook

4 Stars. DC private investigator Dana Cutler can get into some strange situations. We follow her through one of them - asking questions all the way! The mysterious Margo Laurent spins a tale to her of Sultan Mehmet II, his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and a gold sceptre now lost. It had been in Margo's family; can Dana help get it back? It may be in Washington State she says. At the same time we meet defence attorney and part-time magician, Charles Benedict. Did I mention his side occupation is as a hit-man for Nikolai Orlansky and the Russian mob? And that his legal practice almost entirely revolves around defending them in court, often using magic to make evidence disappear? While in that court, he develops a fancy for the young and beautiful prosecutor, Carrie Blair, wife of multi-millionaire Horace Blair. Benedict sees a blackmail opportunity. But murder happens instead. Fresh from chasing the sceptre, Cutler finds herself drawn into the defence of Blair for killing his wife. You'll enjoy the surprise ending as the actual guilty one falls on their own sword, so to speak! (March 2020)

Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic ANALYSIS: After discovering Phillip Margolin via Wild Justice nearly a decade ago, I have made sure never to miss any of his amazing mystery-thriller books. Phillip Margolin is a master storyteller and often comes up with complicated plots that feature a vast character cast. With this new standalone book, hebrings back a character from his previous published Washington trilogy. Dana Cutler is the main protagonist of this tale, which borrows some plot points from the classic Maltese Falcon storyline and is the author's ode to it as well. The storyline characteristically begins in Margolin fashion with various disticnt plot threads; the first one focusses on Dana who is still doing what she does best and trying to stay out of mortifying cases as shown in the previous trilogy volumes. Fate and the author it seems have other plans for her as she soon finds out. The storyline also features a very fascinating character in the form of Charles Benedict who is a defense attorney to many shady characters but does it with such suave and charm that it often belies his deadly wiles. The second plotline deals with Carrie Blair who is the wife of Horace Blair and soon to receive twenty million dollars with their impending separation. Things however never go as planned and of course the stage is set for a confrontation of minds between Dana and Charles. Their entanglement occurs in ways that are very unpredictable and almost entirely unexpected. The plot is twisted and of course laden with several surprises that will keep the reader motivated to flip the pages and figure out the main mystery. This is the main aspect of Phillip’s writing that I so adore, besides Jeffrey Deaver, its only Phillip Margolin who consistently comes up with these fantastic plots that have me guessing while not seeming to be rehashes of his previous books (John Grisham I’m looking at you). When dealing with a large character cast, characterization is very vital to the success of its plot and this book is no deviation from that successful formula. Besides Dana and one minor character, everyone else is a new character and a fully rounded one at that. In regards to character cast, reader, who have read the previous books wherein Dana was featured will love this new twist in her professional life whereas for new readers the author gives enough background details for them to understand her and her psyche. Also the author takes care not to spoil the previous books beyond what was mentioned in their blurbs and even so only some details of the first book of the trilogy gets mentioned. I quite liked this aspect as this way for older readers, there was no rehash of previous events which they are familiar with and for new readers the previous books remain unspoiled. In regards to Charles Benedict, the character while fascinating does some things which would be hard to believe in a real-life court of law. In this regard I think the author was just trying to create a flamboyant character and so I can overlook some of these discrepancies in regards to his tricks. Lastly there’s the pace of the plot, which makes the read a lively one and constantly prods the reader forward. I thought that this book was one of his better paced ones as the author had complete control over his story with all the twists and revelations. No page seems to be wasted with any side digressions and everything that is revealed is of importance to the end climax. Readers hopefully should enjoy this twisted ode to Dashiell Hammett’s masterpiece which while not fascinating as the original still delivers as a thrilling story. In regards to any negatives with this story, it reminded me a bit of Proof Positive in regards to the final climax and plot resolution. Perhaps some readers might feel that it is a generic storyline and so experienced readers might not find it entirely to their liking. Overall though there’s not much for me to complain or point faults at with this book. Readers have to keep in mind that this is no literary novel but a mystery thriller that has aims to keep the readers guessing till the end and entertain them wholly. On this front the book and author have succeeded entirely. CONCLUSION: I thoroughly enjoyed this story and while Dana Cutler wasn’t one of my favorite characters in the author’s previous work. In this book I thought she was a good protagonist to anchor the storyline. Sleight Of Hand simply confirms Phillip Margolin's place among the top rung of Mystery/Thriller writers with the addendum that he's also one of the most under-appreciated ones.

I love Phillip Margolin’s books and can’t resist his Dana Cutler stories. This book starts out with what seems to be two separate, unrelated stories. Although both were interesting, I kept wondering how they would come together.One story involves Dana Cutler who is a private investigator hired to track down a stolen relic that turns out to be a dead end. When she returns to Virginia, Dana becomes involved in the second story that involves the murder of Carrie Blair just days before she would receive millions of dollars from her husband Horace according to the terms of their prenuptual agreement and he is charged with her murder. In a series of twists and turns, Margolin pulls the two seemingly unrelated incidences together. The two cases turn out to have a common thread and Dana is pitted against Horace Blair's defense attorney Charles Benedict. Dana uncovers evidence that Horace may have been framed for the murder, but Benedict blocks her attempts to get the answers she needs. This story gets really suspenseful when Dana becomes a target of the real killer as she hunts for the truth.Margolin creates a masterful book and captivates readers from the first page. This novel was very well written and the storyline was intricately put together. The character development in this story is quite in depth. You get to know a great deal about the main characters, their lives, and their histories.Sleight of Hand is very well set up. It progresses in a logical fashion from beginning to end while keeping the reader completely captivated with the many different twists found in the story. As usual, I was impressed with Margolin’s ability to take multiple story lines and complex characters and bring them together in a way that held my attention.

My review,This book kept me up late at night, reading chapter after chapter to see what happened next...The book was more of an adult book with a little profanity and some inappropriate scenes that may not be your type of book. Getting past that, this novel was a book of suspense and mystery, if you are into solving the puzzle I'd highly suggest this. Dana Cutler, an undercover agent/lawyer has been through a lot in the past, but when she goes undercover and travels far away to find a very valuable item, to win this case she forgets her past and gets the job done. I liked Dana because with her tough past and lonely life she's able to get up in the morning and do her job really good... Charles Benedict, another main character in the book is also a lawyer, but behind the cases, he has skeletons in the closet. A lot of them.. In my opinion, I don't really like Charles. He is a bad man with bad intentions. He creeps up on someone when they're at their worst to take advantage of them and use it to his pleasure. This book has a lot of parts to it, so it doesn't really stick to one thing that's going on. It has multiple areas with different characters, which at the beginning I didn't really like but getting more into the book it all comes together which I enjoyed. Overall the book was really good, towards solving these puzzles a lot of weight is off your shoulders. I thought it was a relief to finally know what happened and how it all went down.. But if you're looking to find out more about this book, just read it, you won't regret it.

Charles Benedict is a criminal defense attorney, professional hit man and part-time magician. His newest client is billionaire Horace Blair. Horace has been arrested for murdering his wife. The murder is perfect as it comes right before Horace was to pay his wife for 10 years of marriage as part of their pre-nup. Dana Cutler a private investigator has been contacted be a client who is trying to track down a priceless gold scepter. Dana’s investigation leads her to Charles. I have not read any of Mr. Margolin’s books. Sleight of Hand has made me an instant fan of his. All of the characters were interesting. However the most intriguing people were Charles Benedict and Dana Cutler. First I will start with Charles. Just the way he thought of things and was cool under pressure had me impressed. Also, his sleight of hand tricks were a nice touch to his character and added mystery to him. Then there was Dana. She is very smart. Quick to think on her feet and has a good sense of humor. She put all the pieces of the puzzle together so quickly that it almost had my head spinning. I was like wow that is amazing. This book was not so much about the murder but more about the crime and all the ins and outs on how to possibly get away with the “perfect” crime. However during one of my crime shows I was watching on Identity Discovery (ID) Channel a detective said “There is no such thing as a perfect crime”. Sleight of Hand is a must, must read! Even a second and third read!

Might be my favorite of his books that I've read so far. Almost read it in one day.

Another good read from Philip Margolin centering on a crooked layer (Imagine)

Cat & Mouse Mystery where the main protagonist is a Magician. He actually uses magic and misdirection to commit his crimes, and he uses card tricks and misdirection in his social life so that people don't realize he actually is a criminal. The other main protagonist is a Kick-Butt woman who used to be a cop and is now a private detective. This was a fun mystery to read, it was a bit Noir with the thrills and action of a current mystery. Don't want to give up too much of the story line because the story itself includes misdirection. Enjoy.

This book had me from the first page. I didn't understand why Dana went off to Seattle and what that had to do with the rest of the story until about half way through. I appreciate that Dana is flawed and because of her flaws she may approach things differently. However, she acts more like a police officer at times instead of a private investigator. Which is okay, because she seems to be able to get her man so to speak. This was a fast paced and very easy read, so I am giving this one 5 out of 5 stars.

Sometimes the perfect crime is orchestrated in such a Psychological way, no one can even fathom, that others have this kind of evil in their soul. This just might be my favorite thriller book of the year! I absolutely was engrossed in it from the beginning to the end! What an in your face nail-biter.

What is not to like about a Phillip Margolin book? I almost gave this 5 stars as it was hard to put down beginning to end, contained no discrepancies that I found, and I liked the main characters a lot. The story had several unusual twists and moved quickly.

Benedict is the best character ever! i love how he plays three roles in his life and how he can benefit from every one of them to help him in law. Slight of Hand has it all: drama, action, crime and twists! when i was finished with just the first chapter i fell in love with the book.

I thought the other books in this series needed more Dana. This book is actually somewhat separate from those and could be a stand-alone and it features only Dana. She's awesome and I hope this isn't the last we see of her.

Page Turner! Dana Cutler may sound a little like Supersleuth but the twists and turns make one anxious to figure out what comes next!

Wow, he did it again he locks you in & puts you in the book you're watching everything as if it's a movie, you laugh, cry, cheer as if you're right there. Amazing.