Joan Leotta Reviews: Under Lock & Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian

Hardcover $21.99 on Amazon

Kindle $13.99

Publisher : ‎ Minotaur Books (March 15, 2022)

341 pages

Review by Joan Leotta

 

Gigi Pandian’s newest release, Under Lock & Skeleton Key  is a read you will find hard to put down. Pandian has a reputation as the “Queen of the Impossible Mystery.” This latest entry into her canon is another proof that this reputation is well deserved. 

I asked Pandian why these “impossible” mysteries like the locked room variety, fascinate her. She responded, “An impossible crime is the ultimate mystery. It brings another level to a story.” She added that the best of them combine fantastic atmosphere and entertaining characters like John Dickson Carr with his character, Dr. Fell. It’s a high bar, but one that she manages to reach with facility. Her writing is a joyful amalgamation of deftly drawn portraits of people, dialog that is bright, fresh, and entertaining, locale descriptions that build the mystery and cleverly constructed, mind-bending plot lines. 

Tempest Raj, a new character for Pandian, like other protagonists in her short stories and novels, often share this love of impossible mysteries which leads  to that character recommending or mentioning classic impossible mysteries to other characters (and thereby also to the reader). It’s through these references that I discovered the work of Carr and others. This new character, Raj brings yet another element of to the mystery—magic. 

In an article on the site, novelsuspects.com Pandian explains that from childhood she has also been fascinated with magic and the idea of a magician who solves mysteries. In fact, she notes that her second published short story a locked-room mystery, features a stage magician (Sanjay Rai, who performs as The Hindi Houdini). She adds that stage magicians have “a perfect skill-set for solving seemingly impossible crimes.” These are the skills of the art of misdirection  key to a magician’s work. She does not mention the books used to fortify her research for this novel, but on request gave me these titles: Slight of Mind, Hiding the Elephant, and The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick. Pandian puts all of these interests, the locked room mystery, the art of misdirection, and a protagonist who is a stage magician together masterfully in Under Lock & Skeleton Key.

Tempest Raj, our protagonist, has been working as a stage magician in Las Vegas. A horrific accident on stage involving the woman who is both her stage double and rival, threat of lawsuits, forces her to take a career break and  move back to her childhood home in California. Although this financially necessary arrangement is necessary, moving in with parents as an adult has a set of potential plot points all its own. In the case of Raj, this move also  adds an element of the discovery of a family curse, reconnection with childhood friends, and renewal of her own relationship with the family’s construction business. 

Her loving family is a talented group of storytellers, cooks, artists, and builders whose construction company specializes in creating “mystery rooms” and other wonderful, fantastic features in homes and other buildings. These features are a part of their own family home. In fact,Tempest reaches her own childhood bedroom via a secret staircase. No wonder she became a magician. 

When the murder of her dead rival/double occurs on the family doorstep, Tempest wants to help solve it to both keep the police from suspecting her and also simply to solve the mystery. The theft of her beloved charm bracelet, a gift from her long -dead mother, adds to the mists of mystery and danger surrounding this young woman’s life. Along the way, she unravels secrets about the family curse and renews herself with the love and support of family and friends. The young detective assigned to the murder adds a of a love interest, but it is the twists and turns and the older friendships and family relationships that keep this plot rolling forward. I look forward to seeing what develops with the detective in future adventures of this young woman. Yes, this mystery is concluded cleverly and well—but I still want to know more about Tempest Raj! She is a fascinating young woman. Pandian told me she does plan to write more about her, so I will return this book to the library, secure in the knowledge that I can look forward to meeting with Tempest Raj again and embroiling myself in the art of magic and the solution of yet another impossible mystery with her and her creator, Gigi Pandian. 

Note: When you look this book up on Amazon you will see that the title is listed with a subtitle: A Secret Staircase Mystery. I did not ask Pandian if this was a subtle nod to Nancy Drew’s classic titles. I look forward to finding out when I see the next installment in the adventures of Tempest Raj.

 

 

Joan Leotta ©2022 

Joan Leotta plays with words on page and stage. Her poetry, essays, cnf, short stories, and articles are widely published. Mysteries are favorite things to read.. short and long.. and to write.