The Ambitious Card and The Bullet Catch by John Gaspard

As much as I love to read and watch magic effect and theory books and videos, sometimes I just need a break. Not too long ago I started reading a series of books by John Gaspard that I found while looking for magic stuff on Amazon.

I have read the first two of three books about magician Eli Marks, and the questionable scenarios he seems to get himself into.

The first book is called “The Ambitious Card”. The story revolves around Eli Marks who is a magician who lives above, and works in his uncle’s magic shop. After debunking a “psychic” on TV he runs around trying to solve the murder of that psychic to clear his name as the primary suspect.

The second book is called “The Bullet Catch”. In this volume Eli is running through multiple plot lines. One, trying to solve a mystery around the death of a high school acquaintance, and another as a magic consultant on a movie set. Are the two plots connected? You will have to read to find out.

The books are a good read, and I enjoy waiting to see what odd turn our magician and amateur sleuth takes as he tries to solve the mysteries ahead of him.

I was surprised to see that the author, John Gaspard, is not a magician. With all of the references to magic, magicians, and the magic dialogue from everyday magician conversation, I just assumed the author was a magician and was heavily entrenched in the magic community. In the second book there is a discussion on the “Too Perfect Theory” and a mention of Darwin Ortiz, and other magicians throughout both books. There are even discussions in the books about filling in for children’s birthday parties that seem like pretty much every conversation I have ever participated in.

John Gaspard must have done some pretty awesome research to be able to replicate the conversations that happen at monthly Ring, and Assembly meeting across the country.

I have really enjoyed both books and I look forward to reading the third volume, “The Miser’s Dream”.

You can check all of these out on amazon.com in both print, and digital format.

If you have read any of these I would love to hear your thoughts on them.