The Shoemaker's Magician

By: Cynthia Pelayo

Narrated by: Sophia Willingham

"[A] delicious foray into the occult." - The New York Times

" This tale is a must-purchase for Pelayo’s gorgeously written love letter to horror movies and Chicago, a city brimming with eclectic tales, urban horrors, and palpable magic." - Library Journal, Starred Review

A fabled lost movie. An increasing body count. How much do you risk for art?

Paloma has been watching the Grand Vespertilio Show her entire life. Grand, America’s most beloved horror host showcases classic, low-budget and cult horror movies with a flourish, wearing his black tuxedo and hat, but Paloma has noticed something strange about Grand, stranger than his dark make-up and Gothic television set.

After Paloma’s husband, a homicide detective, discovers an obscure movie poster pinned on a mutilated corpse on stage at the Chicago Theater, she knows that the only person that can help solve this mystery is Grand. When another body appears at an abandoned historic movie palace the deaths prove to be connected to a silent film, lost to the ages, but somehow at the center of countless tragedies in Chicago.

The closer Paloma gets to Grand she discovers that his reach is far greater than her first love, horror movies, and even this film. And she soon becomes trapped between protecting a silent movie that’s contributed to so much death in her city and the life of her young son.

©2023 Cynthia Pelayo (P)2023 Spotify Audiobooks

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!! Must Read

This mystery / thriller book is fantastic! You get so wrapped up in the richness of the history of Chicago also with each Character and their individual battles. I love how this book takes you through time in which you get a deeper dive for the characters and the love and passion they have for the City of Chicago and their families. This author wrote this book from various points of views-Genius! Which will hook you into the story even more and be so invested you can’t tell the villains from the hero’s anymore. Definitely a thriller book that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Highly recommended!!!!

Best thriller of the year

I really enjoyed the multiple point of views, it wasn’t too many so you don’t lose track of what’s happening. Great history and suspense.