The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Former stage magician and current designer for Secret Staircase Construction Tempest Raj is invited to a recent client’s home for a housewarming of sorts.  This particular housewarming is more than a bit atypical:  Lavinia Kingsley wants to celebrate by having a séance to banish the spirit of her soon-to-be ex-husband Corbin.  Corbin isn’t dead, just obnoxious but that’s a minor detail.  She’s enlisted Tempest’s friend and fellow magician Sanjay to perform a symbolic séance complete with some appropriate illusions, to be followed by the burning of some of Corbin’s papers.  Lavina’s book club members will be in attendance along with a few others, including Tempest and her grandfather, Ash. 

As the séance begins, the group is gathered around the table, holding hands in the dark. There’s a sudden crash. The flickering light reveals a body in the center of the table.

Now they can do a real séance, because Corbin Kingsley is actually dead.

Someone in the room had to have killed him—but how?

This is the second in Pandian’s wonderful Secret Staircase Mystery series and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one.  It’s a classic locked room mystery series, and there are many references to Golden Age mystery authors such as John Dickson Carr and Agatha Christie. The illusion element is a fine addition:  as a magician herself, Tempest is well aware of misdirection and she doesn’t believe for a moment that anything supernatural has occurred.  The problem is proving it, a task that becomes more difficult as it turns out that the victim had apparently been in two places at once.

Pandian has created a cast of memorable characters, not to mention some truly wonderful settings.  The Secret Staircase Construction Company specializes in creating hidden rooms, sliding bookcases, and such, but more than that, they create a story. Gardens with gnomes, gates with dragons, or illusionary waters are all their stock in trade, but there are other wondrous places as well. My personal favorite is the faux train car that serves as a library for classic mystery fans.  All of which is to say that I found it wonderfully atmospheric.

While this one can be read and enjoyed as a standalone, there is an ongoing plot thread about the mysterious disappearance of Tempest’s mother and the family curse:  the eldest child will die by magic.