Categorizing the novels of Gigi Pandian (The Accidental Alchemist) as cozy mysteries belies the complexity of her plots and her intriguing characters. Under Lock & Skeleton Key, the first in her Secret Staircase Mystery series, centers on a hidden body, but the novel's underlying mysteries drive the story and set up questions guaranteeing sequels.
Young magician Tempest Raj's career comes to a halt when her Las Vegas performance ends in a dramatic, mysterious accident. Dejected and fearing the legendary Raj family curse has come to claim her, she heads back to her Bay Area home. Raj, who's known as the Tempestuous Tempest, is a fifth-generation magician in her South Indian family. Her parents founded Secret Staircase Construction, builders who "brought magic into homes" with such architectural tricks as secret rooms and hidden panels. Her mother vanished five years earlier while performing a water illusion, and her disappearance looms over Tempest and her family. When Tempest visits her dad's new job site, the body of the stage double she last saw at her fateful Vegas show tumbles from a long-sealed wall. Tempest decides to solve this mystery and also break the curse decreeing "the eldest child dies by magic."
The magician-turned-sleuth is bolstered by support from her Grandpa Ash, whose avocation is creating sumptuous Indian-inspired dishes; Abracadabra, her lop-eared bunny; and longtime friends who respect her faith in magic and join her quest with skills of their own. Literary references to classic detective fiction and Grandpa Ash's recipes invite readers to stay past the ah-ha conclusion, anticipating Tempest's next adventure. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.