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Product by name:
Art and Artifice, Jim Steinmeyer
Secret Revelations, Criss Angel
The Magician and the cardsharp, Karl Johnson
Freak Out Your Friends, Pete Firman
Idiot's Guide to Street Magic, Tom Ogden
Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold
The Secret Life of Houdini, Kalush and Sloman
This engrossing detective story traces the quest of Dai Vernon, né David Verner (1894–1992), to find the man who perfected the art of dealing from the center of the deck. An accomplished card cheat, sleight-of-hand magician and silhouette portraitist, Vernon was so expert at duplicitous card techniques that he once fooled Houdini with tricks he'd learned as a child from S.W. Erdnase's classic The Expert at the Card Table. Proficient at dealing from the top and bottom of the deck, he was astounded to learn that someone in the Midwest had the ability to win by dealing from the center. Johnson, a former editor at New York's Daily News, details Vernon's long search for Allen Kennedy (1865–1961), a cardsharp who plied his trade with loaded dice and deceitful deck handling. By recounting the shadowy careers of these two men, the author successfully evokes the picturesque world of illegal gambling during the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Johnson vividly conveys how obsessed Vernon was with magic and card tricks, and how much time, energy and practice gamblers put into learning how to cheat at cards. |
Review of Karl Johnson's The Magician and the Cardsharp
This is an excellent book. From cover to cover, learn of Dai Vernon's life, his passion for card work and his search for the man who could deal from the center of the deck.
The great thing about The Magician and the Cardsharp
Dia Vernon, "The Professor", made his living cutting silouettes. He passion for card sleights kept him up all hours of the night; practicing over and over, teaching himself, reading from The Expert at the Card Table
Allen Kennedy, the cardsharp, lived in Pleasant Hill. He made his money at the poker table in Kansas City, or "Kaw town". He had mastered the center deal, allowing him to deal any card from the deck. He and Midnight Underwood would work together to take advantage of any man stopping into Kansas City for some action. Did Vernon ever find him?
If you don't know Dai Vernon, if you enjoy stories of back when, if you enjoy stories of magic or gambling, you will love this book. It's the kind of book you won't want to put down. Karl Johnson has definitely done his research. He presents the material in a compelling and detailed manner. Definitely read this book.
Coming Soon! In Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold subjects the past to the same wondrous transformations as the rabbit in a skilled illusionist's hat. Gold's debut novel opens with real-life magician Charles Carter executing a particularly grisly trick, using President Warren G. Harding as a volunteer. Shortly afterwards, Harding dies mysteriously in his San Francisco hotel room, and Carter is forced to flee the country. Or does he? It's only the first of many misdirections in a magical performance by Gold. In the course of subsequent pages, Carter finds himself pursued by the most hapless of FBI agents; falls in love with a beautiful, outspoken blind woman; and confronts an old nemesis bent on destroying him. Throw in countless stunning (and historically accurate) illusions, some beautifully rendered period detail, and historical figures like young inventor Philo T. Farnsworth and self-made millionaire Francis "Borax" Smith, and you have old-fashioned entertainment executed with a decidedly modern sensibility. |
