1945’s Magic for Murder was a random purchase, part of a group. We were eager to read it. Struggling writer Kenneth Adrie is hired to objectively document New York City millionaire Neil Lawrence and his cousin Julian Gilbert’s exploration of the mystical. For five hundred bucks the skeptical Adrie is all-in.
Lawrence and Gilbert, both of whom are highly experienced with occult matters, plan to project Lawrence’s astral self beyond the “great divide” to retrieve the Philosopher’s Stone, sought for centuries in every far corner of the Earth, but which they think resides in astral realms. The Stone was thought by ancient alchemists to be the key to transmuting lead into gold, mercury into silver, and glass into a flexible version of itself, as well as allowing lamps to burn eternally, plants to rejuvenate perpetually, and humans to live forever.
The experiments are to take place on Lawrence’s island off the coast of Maine. Adrie, Lawrence, and Gilbert, plus Lawrence’s daughter Janet yacht their way there, whereupon Adrie begins to suspect Lawrence will be transmuted from living to dead by means of a knife. Adrie is shown a vision in which it’s he who wields the weapon. But what’s actually going on? Is he truly going to murder his host? Are astral selves real? We’ll tell you, as enticement rather than spoilage, that the magic in Magic for Murder is real. Therefore, despite its old-fashioned structure, deliberate pacing, and remote characterizations, the uniqueness of the premise makes it a book to perhaps seek out. A little magic is always fun.
