The Magic Bullet

A Minnesota Mystery

By: Larry Millett

Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson

St. Paul, Minnesota. October 1, 1917. High above the city, a renowned local financier named Artemis Dodge lies facedown on the floor of his armored penthouse sanctuary, a single bullet hole in his head. Thirty stories up, in the city’s tallest building, and not a shred of evidence or sign pointing to anyone having broken into the wealthy man’s fortress. It is - to all appearances - an impossible crime.

Enter Shadwell Rafferty: Irishman, St. Paul saloonkeeper, sometime detective, and old friend of the celebrated sleuth Sherlock Holmes. Summoned by Louis B. Hill - son of railroad magnate James J. Hill - to investigate, Rafferty descends into a world dominated by greedy tycoons and awash in political intrigue and wartime fearmongering. Suspects lurk in every corner of the city - including Dodge’s beautiful young widow, his slippery assistant, and a shadowy anarchist - and Rafferty pursues them from the streets of Ramsey Hill and the rooms of the Ryan Hotel to the labyrinthine caves under the Schmidt brewery. Matching wits with his foes at the police department and his unsavory rival, the St. Paul detective Mordecai Jones, Rafferty knows that in order to bring a killer to justice he must first unravel the riddle of a single bullet fired in a locked room, three hundred feet above the streets of St. Paul.

Set during a bitter streetcar strike and amid the clandestine activities of a ruthless commission charged with enforcing wartime patriotism, Larry Millett has created a classic and perfectly executed locked-room mystery in the great tradition of John Dickson Carr. From locked rooms and civil unrest, to murder and wartime paranoia, The Magic Bullet presents Rafferty’s most challenging case, and its gripping conclusion - with a timely assist from Sherlock Holmes - finds both Rafferty and Millett at the top of their games.

©2011 Larry Millett (P)2021 Spoken Realms

Another wonderful tail.

Another wonderful tail. I'm sorry that the series will end after a few more books.

Great mystery!!!

I have really enjoyed this series from start to finish. It is a shame that Sherlock Holmes was not a part of the story as much as he has been featured in other works by the author, but it was nice to spend the majority of the adventure with Rafferty. I highly recommend this book!

Another great story

A more focused mystery on Rafeti very enjoyable. It is a good read. To change

The finest of Millets Series

I thought that this book was exceptional. Larry has done such a Great job developing Rafferty as a character throughout the last five books, and brings it home with this perpetually interesting locked room mystery. The reader is immediately drawn into the story by the well presented narrative. Sherlock homes makes a brief appearance, and readers of the series will understand the circumstances surrounding his noted absence.

Soooo Good!!!!

What an homage! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the weaving of actual historical events.

It made you think about the murders.

Needed more Sherlock Holmes but Rafferty and Wash are wonderful players. Please keep them coming!

Where’s Sherlock?

Although Sherlock was missing most of the time it was still a good book in and of itself. Hopefully the next book will have more Sherlock. But Rafferty is great!

Love Minnesota Stories !

The Rafferty character is my favorite. And I have been in most places they speak of historically .

Like Suicide Squad with the Joker

Only complaint was that Sherlock Holmes was barely in the story. other than that, not bad

Magnificent

I adore Sherlock Holmes and was doubtful that a pastiche would do his canon justice.
Six Larry Millet books later, I am a believer! His books are an artful, magnificent combination of Holmes’ peerless methods and personality, the singular voice of Watson, unforgettable new characters like Shadwell Rafferty and “Wash” Thomas and the fascinating historical detail and atmosphere Millet creates with his encyclopedic knowledge of Minnesota, St. Paul and Minneapolis. I am sad to have finished all six— perfectly narrated by Steve Hendrickson. I eagerly await Larry Millet’s most recent book— but am heartbroken that it is Shadwell Rafferty’s last case.