Under Lock & Skeleton Key

Under Lock & Skeleton Key: A Secret Staircase Mystery by Gigi Pandian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tempest Raj loves being a magician. She comes from a long line of Indian magicians, and she never believed in the family curse, but her recent spate of misfortunes has her wondering whether there might be some truth to the legend. She's back home in the Bay Area after her assistant sabotaged their Las Vegas show, nearly killing Tempest in an attempt to discredit her and steal her show.

Since she's home, her dad has requested her assistance looking over the blueprints for the current project his company, Secret Staircase Construction, is working on, because something about them just doesn't quite add up, and Tempest is an expert in the art of building elaborate illusions. Unfortunately, not long after Tempest arrives on site, the bagged body of her backstabbing body double falls out of a wall that's been sealed for decades. How is that even possible, and was Cassidy the target, or was the killer aiming for Tempest?

As you might expect with a book about magicians, misdirection abounds. Tempest and her friends investigate, uncovering means, motives, and opportunities that conflict and overlap. One thing I most appreciated about the story was that there was never any question of Tempest being charged with the crime, unlike so many mysteries featuring amateur sleuths. She simply needed to know what was really going on, and how, and why.

My absolute most favorite things about this book were the hidden rooms and secret entrances, the magical nooks and crannies, sliding bookcases, tricks, and illusions. I want to live in her house or maybe in the treehouse with her grandparents!! I want to eat her grandfather's delicious cooking even though I am a wimp and cannot handle spicy Indian food, though maybe the Indian/Scottish blended recipes he's invented might be less fiery?

One issue I had was that I doubt so many people would have believed Tempest would ever have tried those dangerous tricks that destroyed her show. For one thing, her work ethic would have been obvious to everyone in her crew, so I had a hard time believing that anyone who knew her could have been convinced she was at fault. Along those lines, though Tempest feels like she belongs everywhere and nowhere as a result of her multicultural heritage, she's not antisocial or a jerk, so it was hard to see why she didn't seem to have any true friends aside from Sanjay, Ivy, & Gideon. Las Vegas must have been a painfully lonely place for her.

This series opener did nicely set up future plotlines or subplots regarding uncovering her mother's disappearance and who was behind it. Probably the answer will also tie directly to solving her aunt's murder. I'm also looking forward to seeing how this burgeoning love triangle plays out, and learning more about the backstory behind her estrangement from Ivy.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, setting is secondary. No sex or onscreen violence. Only a couple of swear words. Plenty of real-world magic and illusions, nothing supernatural.

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Bewitched

Bewitched by Darynda Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After a 6-month suspended animation nap, Defiance Dayne is once again awake and getting into and out of trouble. While she was sleeping, her dads and her best friend moved across the county to join her in Salem, MA, in her magical house, Percival, haunted by the ghost of her grandfather. Defiance tries at first to lie and say her magical powers have vanished, but that doesn't work, and soon she is tracking down all sorts of missing objects and people, trying desperately to figure out how to keep everyone alive, or at least keep them from dying again.

This volume in the series could have used some heavy editing, particularly the endless repetitions of how sexy Roan was and what his inked existence did to Defiance's "nether" or "girl" parts. That got old REALLY fast, and the book would have been much improved if we could have just skipped over most of that. Roan's backstory was a key subplot, so I wish Defiance had acted her age (45) and dialed back the lust in favor of really getting to know Roan for who he was and not just fixated on the heavily tattooed, kilted outer package. If readers are supposed to go for the pair as a serious couple by the end of the series, there has GOT to be more to the relationship than electricity. In both directions, though mercifully we are spared the recitation of Roan's lustful thoughts.

I LOVE Darynda Jones' books, but this is my least favorite. Some excellent parts, though! And I do still want to listen to the next book to see how the loose ends get tied up.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. Tons of sexual content, though really only one actual sex scene. Plenty of profanity, some violence and threats of violence, but not overly graphic. Trigger warnings for spousal and child abuse. LGBTQIA-adjacent, as Defiance was raised by her two dads, one of whom is Latinx. Her grandmother's love interest, the police chief, is African-American. Other characters are either white or not memorably specified.

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