Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing.
A Midnight Puzzle
A Secret Staircase Novel
Gigi Pandian
Minotaur Books
Book three of the series is just as good as one and two. The mystery within a mystery comes to completion and I for one hope that this is not the last in this series. Secret Staircase Construction company faces not only a law suit but also ghosts of the past. This is a stand alone cozy but you really should start at the beginning to get all the nuisances related to Moriarty. That being said, my mind was completely blown by the reveal. Ms. Pandian does an expert job of crafting this story with misdirection and magic, not a paranormal sort of magic, just good old fashioned LA style Magic Castle magic. This one starts out with an attempted murder, a lawsuit, a career ending accident, two deaths, missing files both international and local, and Pop-Up justice. Great plot build and so many skillfully laid red herrings that I was creating a suspect list that was not getting anymore narrow until the pieces started falling into place for Tempest. A little bittersweet in some parts and I would really like for her to pick a guy because her two suitors and similar yet very different. This one was definitely a puzzle with so many pieces, similar to a mystery puzzle where you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like until all of the pieces are in place. This puzzle kept me going page by page and piece by piece until the big reveal that was absolutely jaw-dropping. Kudos to the narrator as well for doing such a great job with the voices for each character, it really brought the story to "life" for me. I am also a fan of the recipes supplied at the conclusion of the story and look forward to trying one or two out.
