Under Lock & Skeleton Key
A Secret Staircase Mystery
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
"Wildly entertaining." —The New York Times Book Review
A Lefty Nominee for Best Mystery Novel
Known for her wonderfully addictive characters, multiple award-winning author Gigi Pandian introduces her newest heroine in this heartfelt series debut. Under Lock & Skeleton Key layers stunning architecture with mouthwatering food in an ode to classic locked-room mysteries that will leave readers enchanted.
An impossible crime. A family legacy. The intrigue of hidden rooms and secret staircases.
After a disastrous accident derails Tempest Raj’s career, and life, she heads back to her childhood home in California to comfort herself with her grandfather’s Indian home-cooked meals. Though she resists, every day brings her closer to the inevitable: working for her father’s company. Secret Staircase Construction specializes in bringing the magic of childhood to all by transforming clients’ homes with sliding bookcases, intricate locks, backyard treehouses, and hidden reading nooks.
When Tempest visits her dad’s latest renovation project, her former stage double is discovered dead inside a wall that’s supposedly been sealed for more than a century. Fearing she was the intended victim, it’s up to Tempest to solve this seemingly impossible crime. But as she delves further into the mystery, Tempest can’t help but wonder if the Raj family curse that’s plagued her family for generations—something she used to swear didn’t exist—has finally come for her.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Unravel an enchanting mystery in this flashy whodunit—the first book in Gigi Pandian’s Secret Staircase Mysteries series. After almost losing her life in front of a Las Vegas audience during a magic trick gone wrong, Tempest Raj has returned to her whimsical childhood home to recover her confidence. When Tempest’s father recruits her to help on a new job at a perplexing mansion with his company, Secret Staircase Construction, the job takes an unexpected turn after the body of her conniving stage double falls out of a hidden wall. Filled with unforgettable characters—like Tempest’s Scottish Indian grandparents who live in a chic treehouse and her 15-pound rabbit, Abracadabra—this caper takes you on a wild ride through strange twists and family curses. If you love a mystery full of clever misdirection and dazzling reveals, Under Lock & Skeleton Key is just the trick.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pandian (the Accidental Alchemist mysteries) is in top form in this thoroughly enjoyable series launch starring 26-year-old Tempest Raj, a Las Vegas, Nev., magician, who returns home to California after a stage accident—engineered, she's sure, by her stunt double, Cassidy Sparrow—destroyed her career. Tempest's family runs a business, Secret Staircase Construction, which specializes in constructing houses with secret passageways, sliding bookcases, and hidden entrances, and on the site of her father's latest job she discovers Cassidy's body inside a wall that's been sealed for decades. Could Tempest have been the intended victim? As Tempest struggles to solve the puzzle of Cassidy's death, she reconnects with her family—largely through her grandfather's cooking and a host of lovingly described plant-based recipes that will make even a non-vegan's mouth water. Pandian negotiates the fine line between the magician's pledge not to reveal their secrets and the mystery writer's equally important promise to play fair with the reader by keeping most of the magic tricks offstage. Never mind that the solution of the impossible murder isn't more central to the story. Lovers of traditional mysteries with quirky characters will be well rewarded.
