Eli Marks is a highly skilled magician but he’s made a name for himself as a debunker of psychics, showing how so much of what they do is nothing more than magicians tricks. This doesn’t make him very popular among the psychic community.

Eli debunks a popular psychic in a very public forum and then that same psychic is later discovered dead. At the scene of the crime is a playing card, the King of Diamonds – which happens to be the signature card for Eli’s most famous trick. More psychics are killed and more clues lead police to seriously consider Eli as a suspect.

It all gets more complicated for Eli when he falls in love with a psychic and then learns that she is targeted to be the next victim of the real killer.

Somewhere along the line, in all the various ways I get books, I got this as a free read. Because I have such a backlog of ARCs from publishers, I tend to put my free reads on the back burner. But once in awhile I get in the mood to crack one open and in this case, I’m really glad I did.

Author John Gaspard hooks the reader immediately with the first person narrative from the very likeable character of Eli Marks. He’s smart, clever, and just enough of a wise-ass to be fun and not a jerk. He’s also working in this book in locations in Minnesota and I recognized some of the locations presented.

Late edit: Because I enjoyed this, I bought the audio book for my wife and I to listen to while on an extended road trip. We both thought that this book suffered from some over-writing. A number of chapters included descriptions (of people, magic tricks, reflections, etc) that went on and on at great length. Generally these added nothing to the book – just massive amounts of descriptions. It does get much better in the second book.

I enjoy magic (magic tricks) which is probably why this appealed to me in the first place. Couple the magic with a solid mystery and a touch of romance, and we’ve got a really exciting, enjoyable read. I am looking forward to more of the Eli Marks adventures.

Looking for a good book? The Ambitious Card by John Gaspard is the first book in the Eli Marks mystery series. If the other books in the series are as good as this I have a wonderful series to look forward to. ( )

This is the first book in the magician Eli Marks mystery series. Eli is recently divorced. His District Attorney wife had an affair with a homicide detective and dumped Eli to marry him. Eli is back living with his recently widowed uncle Harry and working at his uncle's magic shop.

The story begins with Eli being on a television program set in the Wabasha Caves where he is to debunk a fake psychic. The show goes quite well with Eli showing how the psychic did his tricks without giving away secrets that are kept by magicians. Eli does a number of tricks including one known as the Ambitious Card where the same card keeps showing up no matter how the deck is cut or shuffled.

Things begin to go wrong the next day when the fake psychic is found murdered and the card that was the object of the Ambitious Card trick is found with him. Eli becomes a person of interest and the focus of the attention of his ex-wife's new husband. Since Eli had no previous connection to the victim, he is let go.

But when a number of other psychics are also found murdered and the same playing card is left at each scene, Eli needs to find out who the killer is in order to keep himself from being framed.

I loved the Minneapolis-St. Paul setting for the story. I really enjoyed the interesting assortment of characters. I'll be reading more in this entertaining series. ( )

My original THE AMBITIOUS CARD audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

The Ambitious Card is an ambitious book to my mind because it promptly reminded me of two other books, which forced comparison. But it comes comes out on top I think, in both counts. First of all, the magicians and psychics made me think of Christopher Priest’s The Prestige, which I didn’t particularly like. But Gaspard breaks that tie quickly by giving us characters that are actually likable, even lovable (I love Uncle Harry). Also a plot that is quite interesting. I am fascinated by magic and illusions and this book has quite a few references to the real stuff, and ties it in well, without info dumping. I also enjoyed all the references to the comedians and magicians of the mid twentieth century. I’ve got some new ones to look up.

The second book that came to mind was Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders, which I do particularly like. (I also particularly like the word “particularly” so expect to see it in my future reviews) That made me start speculating on the killer, but Gaspard managed to keep me guessing up to the end even with that hint.

Another thing this book actually reminded me of was Charles Dickens. Many of the characters have traits that are blown all out of proportion. I LOVED it. It was excellent, and it seemed realistic, partly because all these magicians and psychics are entertainers and are that way in real life, and partly because they were just hilariously, brilliantly done. I enjoyed them all thoroughly.

There is some sexual content that is graphic enough not to be appropriate children, as well as an implied lesbian relationship. It also deals with the subject of divorce and a couple of adulterous relationships.

Production-wise I have no complaints, the sound was excellent, consistent volume, no strange effects on any voices. I typically don’t like music in my audiobooks, but the intro and outro were kept short, and the the music just fit the book perfectly.

Jim Cunningham was fabulous. He captured the tone of the book in his delivery, and I loved all his voices. Particularly Harry and Frannie. Every word was clear, and all the characters were distinct. There was one point that I would have liked to have heard some effects on his voice because of what was happening in the story, but on the other hand, that could have been distracting, and potentially difficult to understand.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series..

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. ( )