Magician contends famed escape artist appeared 40 years after his death.
What if, Harry Houdini, world famous magician and escape artist, did not die on October 31, 1926, but faked his own death, reappearing forty years later in 1966.
Houdini always said he'd be back. Could it be he was planning a major comeback on the Jackie Gleason television show on Halloween night 40 years after his burial? This theory is presented as Houdini Lives! a novel by Al Blanchard & Adam Steinfeld, available online including at http://www.HoudiniLives.com.
"I posed my theory to mystery novelist Al Blanchard in April, 2002 in Aruba, where I presented my grand illusions magic show, Adam Steinfeld MagicLive! at a local beach casino," Steinfeld says. The act ended with the famous Houdini Water Torture tank. He would escape from 200 lbs of freezing cold water while locked in chains and steel
shackles.
"Blanchard handed me his business card. 'Send me more on the story,' he said. So began our two years of collaboration on Houdini Lives! a novel. Wherever I was performing in the world, we would exchange story drafts by e-mail," says Steinfeld. Al Blanchard is also author of the Steve Asher Mystery Series, the James Callahan Mysteries & a Collection of short stories called 'The Stalker and Other Tales of Love & Murder'.
The story, which is fiction based on fact, is a murder mystery, and combines humor and political drama, with a touch of romance. Houdini has been in hiding from his political enemies and is planning a dramatic comeback. Who are these enemies from the 1920's, and why are they still trying to kill him? No autopsy was performed. He was buried within a few days. His wife Beatrice, was poisoned, a week earlier before his death, but survived.
"I'm convinced a mysterious old rabbi with an old black robe, who showed me my first magic trick in Miami Beach was the legendary escape artist," Steinfeld says.
