Martin Strauss would have been intimately familiar with the major works related to the life of Houdini; particularly William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s The Secret Life of Houdini, Kenneth Silverman’s Houdini, and Ruth Brandon’s The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini. These texts were certainly invaluable to me, as were many others. The writings of Jim Steinmeyer are where I learned most of what I know about magic, and Greg King’s The Man Who Killed Rasputin was an invaluable source of Russian intrigue. Houdini himself wrote many books on both magic and spiritualism, all of which give good insight into both their subjects and their author.
Where possible I have attempted to use both Houdini’s and Arthur Conan Doyle’s words, sometimes slightly edited. Lady Doyle’s transcription of her Atlantic City séance with Houdini is one example; Houdini’s speech to the audience containing Martin and Clara in Montreal is another (though he didn’t say those words in Montreal).
Most of what you read in these pages is made up, though many of the people did exist in one form or another. Regarding the descriptions of methods of magic, I make no claims of veracity.
I am indebted to Kevin Baker, Joseph Boyden, David Chariandy, Andrew Davidson, Jennica Harper, Lee Henderson, Nancy Lee, Keith Maillard, Diane Martin, John K. Samson, Timothy Taylor, Miriam Toews, John Vigna, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and Katherine Wagner for suffering various drafts and offering invaluable comments, to Taylor Brown-Evans for some terrific researching, and to John Cox of wildabouthoudini.com for help with an issue regarding locks. To Kevin Patterson and the Sea Mouse Writers’ Trust: your hospitality is magnificent and helped me immensely. Thanks as well to all my colleagues at the University of British Columbia for providing me with the best place on earth to spend my days.
My editors and friends, Louise Dennys, Michael Heyward, Sarah McGrath, and Ravi Mirchandani have made me happy to be a writer; my agent, Henry Dunow, is simply the best guy around. Thanks to Anne Beilby, Nina Ber-Donkor, Marion Garner, Anthony Goff, Liz Hohenadel, Amanda Lewis, Nicola Makoway, Yishai Seidman, and Sarah Stein. It is a privilege to work with each of you.
Lara, Katharine, and Margaret Galloway have seen me vanish while writing this book, and have worked hard to forgive me and let me reappear. I hope to repay their faith.