Under Lock & Skeleton Key is an engaging cozy mystery series starter full of illusions and stage magic by Gigi Pandian. Released 15th March 2022 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
I love stage magic and illusions and I'm completely crazy about old houses with hidden rooms and architectural easter-eggs like bookcases which are secret doors and mantlepieces with hidden catches to open secret panels. This book is full of them. The plot turns around an ensemble cast of specialty builders, stonemasons, and woodworkers who design and install secret rooms and hidden staircases. This is a locked room cozy with hidden rooms aplenty and skullduggery abounding.
Although it's a murder mystery, it felt as though it were written more for a younger (YA/NA) audience. It's very much action driven with characters racing from one scene to the next at a frenetic pace. There's a fair amount of BFF drama between the main protagonist and her former BF with lots of heartfelt emotional dialogue between the two. There's also a literal locked room murder mystery with a recently dead corpse (and doppelganger of the MC) tumbling out of a wall which was just opened - no way in or out. It has a definite Nancy Drew vibe with a little whiff of Scooby Doo.
Throw in lots and lots of stage magic, a family curse (the eldest child shall die by magic), hidden motives, and crazy architectural prestidigitation, and stir well. Although I'm a few decades beyond the presumable intended audience, I found it engaging and entertaining. I was impressed over the author's expertise describing architecture and scenery; technically that's very challenging and she does it very well. Some of the dialogue is a bit choppy and some of the scenery dressing and illusions are a bit over the top and "Scooby-Doo-ish" but it's all good fun.
I also liked that the protagonist's family is multi-ethnic and the requisite cozy recipes at the back of the book reflect her Indian/Scottish background.
Four stars. Looking forward to what's coming next.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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