Gigi Pandian

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.

A Secret Staircase Mystery

Under Lock & Skeleton Key

I do like a long list of mystery, whodunnit, & sleuthing novel recommendations 🕵️‍♀️📚🔐 

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

Tempest and Ivy had initially bonded over their love of Scooby-Doo, which led them to classic kids' books: Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew (Ivy's idol), Trixie Belden (Tempest's fave), the Three Investigators. As soon as their ages hit the double digits, they moved on to classic mysteries. Mystery forerunners Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe led to the Golden Age of detective fiction, including Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Edmund Crispin, Anthony Berkeley, Ellery Queen, Clayton Rawson (who created Tempest's beloved magician sleuth The Great Merlini), and John Dickson Carr (who wrote Ivy's hero Dr. Fell).

This book was WEIRD. Too much going on and also boring? I was confused for most of it. Some things that were obvious were treated like big mysteries and the actual mystery was kind of dismissed. 

Megan BV

DNF @ 123 pages. This was fine, but none of the characters could hold my interest. Lots of telling instead of showing, and throwing a big cast at us with tons of exposition.

Lots of effort was put into the world-building, and painstaking care in planning the hidden passages and secret structures. But with so much exposition of who’s-who, it read weird when big events were kept mysterious - like what happened to Tempest and Ivy’s friendship, or what cataclysmic event ended Tempest’s career.

I think this book would have benefited from first person narration; it was close 3rd POV but I had a hard time feeling for Tempest. I liked Gideon. I wish there had been more character interaction and less backstory explanation.

DNF @ 123 pages. This was fine, but none of the characters could hold my interest. Lots of telling instead of showing, and throwing a big cast at us with tons of exposition.

Lots of effort was put into the world-building, and painstaking care in planning the hidden passages and secret structures. But with so much exposition of who’s-who, it read weird when big events were kept mysterious - like what happened to Tempest and Ivy’s friendship, or what cataclysmic event ended Tempest’s career.

I think this book would have benefited from first person narration; it was close 3rd POV but I had a hard time feeling for Tempest. I liked Gideon. I wish there had been more character interaction and less backstory explanation.

Lynn Braden

Magician Tempest Raj has returned home in disgrace after her last trick during in her show in Las Vegas almost killed her. Then she was accused of performing a dangerous trick for the glory she might earn from it.  Even though Tempest is innocent, she doesn't have it in her to try and prove it, so she becomes a consultant for her father's company, Secret Staircase Construction, which creates hidden rooms and unique spaces.  However, on her first project, the dead body of her assistant, Cassidy, who worked with Tempest on her Las Vegas show is found sealed in an old wall that hasn't been disturbed for many years.  Cassidy's death raises questions of who killed her and if her death is related to a curse that has followed Tempest's family for generations.

Under Lock & Skeleton Key is an interesting mystery with lots of complicated clues and suspects - too many to follow throughout the story.  In addition, so much information is provided for the reader that has nothing to do with the mystery that it slows the pace of the book and makes it difficult to keep all of the details straight.  Also, character development is minimal making it even tougher to separate motives and evidence connected to them.  Even though the plot does have many weaknesses, there are also parts of the story that shine.  The hidden rooms, secret passages, magic tricks, and classic mysteries all stand out as strengths of this novel.  Overall, Under Lock & Skeleton Key has a unique premise with ideas that get a bit muddled in the execution.

nuha ✨️

this was such a struggle to get through. there was just way too much telling that i couldn't finish this. 

Under Lock & Skeleton Key A Secret Staircase Mystery

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