Looking For a Good Book

Secret Staircase Construction is doing well and Tempest Raj is enjoying the success of the family-owned business. Their latest project is transforming a home into a public library which aims to celebrate the detectives of literature.

Although the work isn’t complete, the home’s owner is looking to celebrate by hosting a murder-mystery dinner complete with a mystery drama. But during a rehearsal one of the actors is murdered and then the body disappears. The leading suspect would almost have to be a magician to pull this off, and as it happens, the police’s leading suspect if Tempest’s friend, Sanjay. But Tempest knows Sanjay and knows he couldn’t have done it, so she and her friends, Ivy and Gideon who work for the construction company, and Sanjay, are off to solve an impossible, locked room mystery.

While I’m not generally a fan of cozy mysteries, Gigi Pandian’s work would be one of my exceptions. I’ll not only read any of her works, I look forward to them. Pandian’s mysteries have a nice balance of memorable characters and clever stories.

First, I’ll state that I don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out who the murderer is when reading a cozy – I’m pretty sure the author will bring me there – but I noted that Pandian led us down some false paths which I was fully committed to believing until she (through Tempest) would let us know that this wasn’t the killer (and why).

The setting here is great, a secret room used as a stage, with a body that appears and then goes missing. Who wouldn’t want to read something like this?  And Tempest and Sanjay are delightful characters who almost feel like friends.

But there is one aspect that holds this book back for me. Urgency.

I never felt the urgency to solve this crime. From the discovery of the body to proving Sanjay’s innocence to revealing the murderer, everything seemed to move with molasses-like speed. Tempest has energy and we do see that, but no one else matched it or felt the need to get in gear.

Looking for a good book? The Library Game by Gigi Pandian is a fun, locked room mystery. A library, hidden rooms, and magicians. What more do you need?

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The Library Game

author: Gigi Pandian

series: Secret Staircase Mystery #4

publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 9781250880239

hardcover, 320 pages