I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first book. I felt the mystery was not as interesting. I did enjoy being back with these characters though.

Thank you to Netgally, the publishers, and Gigi Pandian

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was apart of a series, one that requires you to read the previous books for this one to make sense. I am unable to read all the previous books along with this one before the publish date. Therefore, I will rate this a fair 3/5 stars and will adjust the rating and review when I am able to read all the books in the series along with this one.

Pandian's Secret Staircase Mysteries just aren't my thing. I downloaded the ebooks and the audiobooks, but couldn't get into them. Maybe at another time, but the mysteries didn't pull me in.

I made the mistake of not realizing this was a sequel when I accepted the advanced copy of this book. I found it a little hard to follow, but I think it’s because I didn’t have the accurate background knowledge from book one. I think that this book would be a great follow up if you enjoyed the first book in the series.

While I did not like this one as much as the first, I still enjoyed traveling along with Tempest as she unraveled another impossible murder, this time with mysterious ravens and motives along with her grandfather’s delicious recipes, even if he is also a suspect. I still want the construction company that her dad has, and now that Tempest is a part of, to come and build me a cool room similar to what Lavina has! Overall a good story and intriguing to find out all the truths about the Raj family curse. A little more is revealed so I will definitely want to read the next book to see if all the questions are answered,

I absolutely loved the first book in this series (Under Lock & Skeleton Key) and Ms. Pandian's follow up, The Raven Thief, does not disappoint. Not only is this a very good mystery, I love all the fun extras of hidden rooms, latches, secret staircases, etc. One obviously has to have a murder in a murder-mystery book, but I appreciate that there are no gross descriptions of blood and guts. I recommend this book to teens, who enjoy it as well.

I thought this was okay but I don't think the series is for me. It just didn't feel like a cozy to me, more like just a normal mystery.

Pub date: 3/21/23
Genre: cozy mystery/locked room mystery
Series: Secret Staircase, book 2
Do I need to read book 1 first? I think you should - it gives a lot of background on Tempest and her family!
Quick summary: Secret Staircase Construction has just finished a renovation for the newly divorced Lavinia - and it's time to celebrate - but then the celebratory seance ends in her ex-husband's murder...and Tempest's beloved Grandpa Ash is covered in his blood.

I love the diversity of mysteries today, and Secret Staircase Construction allows for the setup of super fun mysteries. I wish I could design my own mystery-themed house! Pandian crafted a clever locker room mystery with the seance murder, and I enjoyed watching Tempest work to unravel the mystery amid the high stakes. This second book in the series gave a bit more of Tempest's mother's story, and I'm hoping to get more from this subplot in book 3.

I paired my e-ARC with a library audiobook, and I recommend both formats!Agatha Christie fans - this is a fun series to pick up!

Thank you to Minotaur Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Panfish did it again. I loved her first book, and this one did not disappoint. Her eclectic mix of multicultural characters, magic tricks, and Agatha Christy-esque mystery makes these a great read. I guess it would class a a cozy mystery, but it doesn’t have that cutesy, whimsical feel. I really liked it and will keep looking out for her work

I really enjoy this series. It's so unique when you compare it to other cozy mysteries and I just love the puzzles with this one. I'll definitely be continuing with reading this series.

This is book 2 in The Secret Staircase Mystery series. While this can be read as a stand alone, it is like a TV serial that has a case of the week plus an ongoing mystery. If you haven’t read book one, what makes this series unique is the main character was a magician and there is a mystery surrounding the women in her family. They build secret passages and hidden compartments.

This is an impossible mystery that seems to implicate Tempest’s grandfather. I always like when the stakes are a little higher and the case is personal for the sleuth. What sets this apart from other cozy mysteries with an amateur sleuth is that Tempest uses her magician’s experience to solve the case.

I like the characters. The impossible case is always layered as the solution is discovered and it is a believable solution. While I was very invested in Tempest’s Moms disappearance in the first novel, it doesn’t seem like it is making any progress and I would rather see it solved.

This is a delightful cozy that kept me guessing.

When Tempest Raj is asked to assist her friend, magician Sanjay, to perform a fake seance to rid Lavinia Kingsley’s house of any last vestiges of her soon-to-be ex- husband, Corbin Colt, how can she say no? But when things go horribly wrong and the soon-to-be ex is now the late soon-to-be ex, and, worse, Tempest’s grandfather is the main suspect, Tempest is determined to uncover the real culprit but, to do it, she must unravel the ‘four impossible ways’ Colt died.

The Raven Thief is the second book in the Secret Staircase mysteries by Gigi Pandian but the first I’ve read. I did feel that I would have understood many of the relationships between the characters better if had read the first book I also found that it strained my willing suspension of disbelief in many places.

However, despite, these quibbles, I did find the story very entertaining. I especially liked the quirky characters, many of them magicians, and the author’s use of legerdemain to keep the reader distracted despite the ted herrings scattered throughout the tale. Overall, a very enjoyable read although I recommend reading the previous book first.

3.5

I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and the publishers im exchange for an honest review

The Raven Thief

By Gigi Pandian

March 2023



Review by Cynthia Chow



After a performance was sabotaged and Tempest Raj wrongfully blamed for a death, the famous Las Vegas magician returned home to join her family’s Secret Staircase Construction business specializing in hidden rooms and secret bookcases. They have just successfully completed a renovation for their client Lavinia Kingsley, a new divorcee ready to turn her ex’s mancave into a hidden reading nook and meeting space for her bookclub. To further celebrate her divorce from the bestselling author Corbin Colt, Lavinia has asked Darius Raj and his company for a celebratory séance to banish the “spirit” out of her home. That Corbin is still alive and séances aren’t really their thing doesn’t seem to matter to Lavinia, who has invited her bookclub friends over with plans to use a table’s hidden compartments to create the illusion of a real haunting. Not even the talented illusionist Tempest expected for Corbin’s body to literally drop in on them, with her Grandpa Ash becoming the main suspect. It seems that he had threatened Corbin not long before the death, and with those in the séance room all holding hands at the time of the reveal they appear to have rock-solid alibis.



As Tempest well knows, things are often not what they seem and it will be up to her to unravel how Corbin instantly transported over from his girlfriend’s house as she was livestreaming miles away. Tempest will also be closely inspecting Lavinia’s Detection Keys bookclub, classic mystery readers who named themselves after a British social club of Golden Age Detection writers. Corbin’s affinity for ravens lends a spooky atmosphere for Tempest’s investigations, but it’s the appearance of a circus performer who stirs up all of Tempest’s fears. The contortionist Fleur claims to have been hired by Ash to steal an Agatha Christie book from the dead man, and the way that it links to Tempest’s family has her alarmed. Only recently has she begun to dispel the Raj family curse proclaiming that the eldest dies by magic, proving that her mother and aunt were murdered by very real, very corporal, killers. With her beloved grandfather and family reputation now in danger, Tempest and her friends will be tasked to solve an impossibly-seeming murder and protect her family’s legacy.



If you are a fan of locked-room mysteries, then this is the series for you. Author Gigi Pandian continues to craft extraordinary puzzles for Tempest to solve, and there is genuine delight as she explains them to both the suspects and readers. The brilliant Tempest is not fully retired from the stage yet, as with her name finally cleared she is planning her ultimate last show stopping televised performance. Her magic acts are from a nearly bygone era, with the story behind the magic as much if not more important than the actual trick. Tempest being Scottish-Indian-Californian has always placed her as an outsider in her profession, not to mention being female and not just the pretty assistant. Tempest’s wit and humor elevate these novels, with the banter between her and her friend The Hindi Houdini a reliable delight. Live-streaming instagrammers, classical mystery references, and an extraordinary final reveal make this a rewarding and extremely entertaining read.

With twists, turns, and a suspicion of the paranormal, The Raven Thief quickly became one of my favorite cozy mysteries of the year. With engaging characters and a plot that left me guessing, while not perfect, this novel will not disappoint.

The novel had an interesting hook. Our main character, a retiring magician, and her father build trick houses (taking existing homes and adding secret rooms, trap doors, etc). After building one of these houses, and attending a seance gone wrong, we are thrust into a fascinating murder mystery. I won’t get into spoiler territory, but the plot was delightfully twisty but still maintained its cozy atmosphere.

The Raven Thief has a solid cast of characters, especially our main character, Tempest. She is smart and likeable without losing her individuality as a character. Her background as a retiring magician was fascinating and her motivations were clear and well laid out. She also has meaningful bonds with the other characters throughout, especially her family.

The supporting characters were solid as well, but they felt a bit one-dimensional at times. Please note I have not read the preceding book in this series, so there may be some character building for these side characters that I had missed. Nonetheless, they were solid additions and all of them were interesting and likable over a more common trope of annoying side casts.

This is one series that I cannot wait to go back and read the first novel, so that I can prepare myself even more for future books that I sincerely hope this series will have.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

After loving book one in the Secret Staircase Mystery series in 2022, I was so excited to get back in to following Tempest, Ash, and Darius in the second installment.

Here Pandian takes the readers into a locked room mystery straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. Tempest and crew are with a customer's house celebrating a finished project with a séance, when Lavina's ex-husband lands on the table - dead.

With a new detective in town, Ash is quickly arrested upon suspicion but Tempest will do anything to make sure her grandfather is innocent. With her grandmother in Scotland and her dad not answering his phone, it's up to Tempest and her friends to figure out who did it.

I think this was a good take on the locked room mystery, it kept me guessing who did it until it was revealed. However, something really took me out of the story and it took me much longer to read it than it should have.

Just as in book one, there is still mention of the disappearance of Tempest's mother, Emma. Now suddenly her grandmother may still be investigating it and a draft of a new novel basically points to the Tempest's dad being behind the disappearance. I found this plot line popped up at the worst times in book two and took me out of the plot. It felt like it was just thrown in instead of woven and it didn't work well.

I'm interested to see where the story with Emma goes from here, but I hope it's woven in better in future installments.

I loved the first book in the Tempest Raj series, Under Lock and Key, so was super excited for this one. It was fun to jump back into a world with characters I knew and I appreciated the setup of a locked room impossible mystery.

Eight people are in a room for a fake seance - all are holding hands - when suddenly a dead body appears on the table in front of them. They never broke hands and no one else could have gotten in - how did it happen?

I’m not sure why this one didn’t work as well for me as the first book in the series but there were parts that felt really slow. I would love if we could get more resolution on the overarching mystery of Tempest’s mother’s disappearance.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review. I also listened to the audiobook from the library and enjoyed the narration.

Oh this was great!!! I liked puzzling out the different hints along with Tempest and her friends. I liked how the solved all the puzzles this was unique and I could not put it down.
Fans of cozy mysteries or locked room mysteries need to read this!

Another wonderful story from a fantastic author!

Pandian's characters are ones I'd like to encounter; they are full of life, complex, occasionally impulsive, and have intricate circles of family and friends. This installment in her new Secret Staircase Mysteries is another must-read. I find that I end up diving into her books and reading them far too fast when I'd like the enjoyment to last!

I'd recommend this book and series as well as all of her other books. If you haven't yet "discovered" her, you are in for a treat!

3.5 stars = Good+

I adored the first book in this series. A lot of what I loved - the magic and illusion background for Tempest; the family business of building secret rooms and sliding bookcases; the twisty, layered mystery that kept me guessing until the end - was present in this one too. The sheer number of "impossibilities" that Tempest and her friends were trying to sort out from this was fantastic and kept me turning pages. Those elements would have made this a 4 or 4.5 star book for me.

In my opinion, though, the book itself needed another round of big edits. Several sections and descriptions felt repetitive. I usually go back and re-read books in a series before starting a new one so the history is fresh for me, but I did not do that here. And there's enough context given along the way that I didn't need to, which was really nice. But then it was given again. And again. There were some odd word choices -"reopen my mother's disappearance" was in there at least twice. These are small things, but they kept pulling me out of the story and making sections drag because they were rehashing things that had already been covered. It really impacted the reading experience for me. And the series-focused mystery about Tempest's mother and aunt felt more like a distraction to the book-focused mystery rather than an enhancement which left me feeling disappointed.

I kept reminding myself that this is a review copy. There are often typos that slip through but then get resolved in final edits before publication - and those small things were present here, too. But I don't often find ARCs with bigger editing needs. It was an odd ARC-reading experience for me. And I read a ton of ARCs every year.

That said, I am hopeful that those issues will have been addressed by publication so other readers can just sink into the fascinating mystery in this book without any distractions. I think series fans will enjoy the mystery here - the solution was super satisfying!

Pandian's second entry in the Secret Staircase Series is a sure fire winner. Pandian's characters are not only incredibly likable but complex and thoroughly interesting. Tempest's grandfather Ash continues to steal every scene he's in. The mystery, which interweaves classic whodunit plot elements and fascinating magic tricks, is the perfect balance of suspects, red herrings and clues that will leave you guessing till the last page. Plus Pandian's building of the suspense in Tempest's overarching family mystery continues and I can't wait to read it's resolution. Additionally, I love all of the nooks, crannies and secrets devices that are designed and built by the Secret Staircase Construction crew. Last but not least, there are some very yummy recipes included. So if you're looking for a fabulous locked room mystery then pick up this book. And if you want to get caught up with the series check out book one, Under Lock & Skeleton Key.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.