Reviewed by Joel A. Moskowitz, M D, FAPA, FAAP (retired)

Many people have heard of Houdini and even know something of his untimely death at age 52.  The man who had defied death succumbed to what today would be a treatable condition, a burst appendix.  Lore has it that a Montreal McGill University student, acting on Houdini's boast that his body was so hardy that blows would be inconsequential, surprised the famed Jewish magician with punches. A ripe infected appendix, which atypically was on his left side, burst. The subsequent infection killed the man who repeated escaped from worldly confines.

Fewer know that Houdini anticipated his death or that a psychic predicted his doom.  Even less are acquainted with the still unproven theory that Houdini was killed by vengeful mediums.  Don Bell, an antiquarian book seller and award-winning writer spent the last two decades of his life
investigating the mysterious circumstances of Houdini's demise.

Although Mr. Bell died in 2003, The Man Who Killed Houdini  was completed by his son and published posthumously.   The reader doesn't know what obsessed Mr. Bell to investigate cold leads.  The most fruitful revelations came from a man, now in his 80s, "Smiley" who was actually a McGill student (the puncher J. Gordan Whitehead seems not to have been actually a McGill student) and who was present when the blows were thrown.  

As one might expect, the insurance company that indemnified Harry Houdini's life had a significant monetary interest.  Double indemnity would apply if it were determined that the death was 'accidental'.  Their records support that premise.   But could it be that their posture was predicated on Houdini's fame - not wanting to deprive the much admired conjurer's
wife with possibly attendant bad publicity for their firm?

Bell conjectures that Houdini's death was the outcome of a conspiracy between mediums angered by Houdini's persistent campaign to prove them fakes and the McGill students who accosted Houdini while he  was sitting in a lounge at the Prince of Wales in Montreal . There, he was hit in the abdomen, and later, in his dressing room, he was struck again by J. Gordon Whitehead in what the latter described as a  test of strength . Could this have been a spiritualist balancing of accounts?  

Regrettably this is not a successful Cold Case TV story.   The late J.  Gordan Whitehead was a recluse, possibly a drug or alcohol addict, who died of  "malnutrition."  He was never charged with a crime.  Mr. Bell consulted with psychiatrists, psychoanalysts and graphologists, all of whom offered interesting theories. None, however,  had any first-hand contact with
Mr. Whitehead.

What is known is that following the death of his much beloved mother, Cecilia, Houdini had hoped to be able to communicate with her in the 'beyond'. Disappointment led to anger and an intense resolve to debunk those who pretended that they could communicate with the deceased.   Author Bell didn't address Houdini's paradoxical behavior - on the one hand, himself,
displaying "supernatural" abilities and, conversely, insisting that the public were gullible fools to believe the spiritualists.  For those who believe in  an afterlife, perhaps Don
Bell can ask Houdini what he thinks.

The pursuit of clues makes for an interesting read.  The Man Who Killed Houdini  by Don Bell is recommended.