AN ILLUSION OF MAGICIANS
 
fiction featuring magic and magicians
 
Midnight Riot

by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost.
 
first is a series
Magicians Impossible

by Brad Abraham

Discovering that he is descended from a line of magical spies, a 20-something slacker, reeling from his estranged father's suicide, is thrust into the middle of a centuries-old war involving a shadowy cabal of witches and warlocks who were responsible for his mother's death years earlier.
Mr. Vertigo

by Paul Auster

An octogenarian narrator recounts his extraordinary childhood during the second quarter of the century -- the era of Prohibition, Babe Ruth, and Lindbergh -- when Master Yehudi rescued him from the streets and taught him to fly and walk on water.
The Immortalists

by Chloe Benjamin
It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children--four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness--sneak out to hear their fortunes. The prophecies inform their next five decades.
 
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Something Wicked This Way Comes

by Ray Bradbury

On a chilly October night, Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway smell cotton candy and hear the eerie tones of a carousel calliope. A carnival has rolled into town, a type of which these 13-year-olds have never seen before
The City of Lost Fortunes

by Bryan Camp

Maintaining a low profile in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a street magician who inherited an ability to find lost things from his superhuman father, is drawn back into the world by a murder.
The City of Brass

by S. A. Chakraborty

Nahri has never believed in magic -- she's a con woman of unsurpassed talent, but the trades she uses to get by -- palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing -- are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive.  Until she accidentally summons a Djinn.
Sorcerer to the Crown

by Zen Cho
 

The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, one of the most respected organizations throughout all of England, has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty’s lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

by Susanna Clarke

In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England--until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight.
 
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The Confabulist

by Steven Galloway

A tale inspired by the life and sudden death of Harry Houdini interweaves the master magician's story with that of an unknown man whose fate seems tied to Houdini's in ways that reflect the illusory nature of perception..
The Zig Zag Girl

by Elly Griffiths

Investigating a murder committed in the style of a famous magic trick, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens reconnects with an illusionist friend from World War II to uncover links to their special ops service. 
 
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The Magicians

by Lev Grossman

After graduating from a secret, exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, Quentin Coldwater finds that a fictional land from a series of childhood fantasy novels is real, but is more darker and dangerous than he could have imagined.
 
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Djinn City

by Saad Z. Hossain

Ten-year-old Indelbed is a smart youngster living under the shadow of his eccentric father, Dr. Kaikobad. Dad keeps his son in the dark about most things, including school and the fate of his mother, whose death certificate says only "Death by Indelbed." 
Bluff

by Michael Kardos

Shunned by her fellow performers after a disastrous liaison with an older magician, card-trick prodigy Natalie Webb writes an article about the art of cheating at cards to supplement her meager income, only to be drawn into the world of a talented poker cheat who entices her to help orchestrate a lucrative trick.
The Magician's Lie

by Greer Macallister

When a notorious female illusionist uses a fire ax to saw a man in half in front of policeman Virgil Holt, the subsequent discovery of a dead body leads to an interrogation and an unbelievable, spellbinding story.
The Magician's Assistant

by Ann Patchett

Sabine worked as an assistant for the magician Parsifal for more than 20 years. She was always in love with him, but he loved another man, and she was content to be his friend. Grief-stricken after his death, she is amazed to learn that he had a mother and two sisters, whom he had never mentioned.
 
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A Darker Shade of Magic

by Victoria Schwab

A tale of four vastly different yet parallel Londons, separated by magic. The Travellers are the only people able to journey among the Londons, but when a clever thief meets one of these voyagers, they team up to fight a threat that may destroy all four worlds. .
The Invention of Hugo Cabret

by Brian Selznick

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But his world suddenly interlocks - like the gears of the clocks he keeps - with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man.
 
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The Illusionists

by Rosie Thomas

Artist's model Eliza Dunlop knows she was meant for something extraordinary, and a chance encounter with a pair of illusionists, the memorably named Devil Wix and his talented partner Carlo Bonomi, quickly draws her into the exciting world of Victorian theater.
Among Others

by Jo Walton

Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds - among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins, and the science fiction novels that were her closest companions.