Tempest Raj and her family have a unique business called Secret Staircase Construction. They create rooms that are referred to as architectural misdirection. The family business is under attack. Could the company's most recent construction be responsible for the death of one of their clients?

This series is written from Tempest's POV. I love her character! She is smart-mouthed, but insanely clever and talented. The idea of architectural puzzles is really cool and it was fun to imagine being in a room that had such a clever design. Of course, this book has a serious edge since there was a death, and this death had to be investigated. Of course, Tempest felt it was up to her to find the person responsible.

I so love this series. It is a literal case of locked room mysteries, and the first two book, Under Lock & Skeleton Key and The Raven Thief. In each book there is a unique construction that factors into the current mystery. In this book, A Midnight Puzzle, the family is in dire straits and I love how this book came along. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Author Gigi Pandian delivers another fascinating page-turner with A Midnight Puzzle, the third book in the Secret Staircase series.
The book is as original and magical as the first two, and picks up where the last book left off with Tempest Raj on an almost obsessive quest to solve the murders of her aunt and mother. The question of whether those deaths are tied into the newer deaths in this book is constantly in the background, with Tempest determined to find a connection.
Of course, this wouldn't be a Secret Staircase book without hidden traps and a locked room mystery. Beneath those intriguing puzzles are the relationships that Tempest has come to rely on with family and friends, and how those relationships come into play as she works to solve the mysteries.
Superbly written and full of magic, artistry, and wonderful surprises, A Midnight Puzzle will keep you up long past midnight to reach its conclusion.
I was thrilled to get an ARC of #AMidnightPuzzle from #NetGalley.

A Midnight Puzzle is Book number 3 in the Secret Staircase Mystery series. I was unaware this book was part of a series when I started it, and although it worked fine as a standalone, I do think I would have appreciated it more having more of a background story on Tempest and some of the other side characters. Tempest is a former stage magician but now works for her father's construction company, Secret Staircase Construction. SSC is being targeted in a lawsuit involving a suspicious death and more mysteries and murder follows. I thought the mystery was solid and kept me guessing throughout. I loved the creepy and ominous theater as a setting. I do wish there had been more *puzzle* solving to the plot. But overall a fun and entertaining cozy mystery with a cast of eclectic characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

"In heroine Tempest Raj, modern-day queen of the locked room mystery Gigi Pandian has created a brilliant homage to the greats of classic detective fiction.

Secret Staircase Construction is under attack, and Tempest Raj feels helpless. After former client Julian Rhodes tried to kill his wife, he blamed her "accident" on the home renovation company's craftsmanship. Now the family business - known for bringing magic into homes through hidden doors, floating staircases, and architectural puzzle walls - is at a breaking point. No amount of Scottish and Indian meals from her grandfather can distract Tempest from the truth: they're being framed.

When Tempest receives an urgent midnight phone call from Julian, she decides to meet him at the historic Whispering Creek Theater - only to find his dead body, a sword through his chest. After a blade appears from thin air to claim another victim, Tempest is certain they're dealing with a booby trap... something Secret Staircase Construction could easily build. Tempest refuses to wait for the investigation to turn to her or her loved ones. She knows the pieces of the puzzle are right in front of her, she just has to put them together correctly before more disaster strikes.

Multiple award-winning author Gigi Pandian and her sleuth Tempest Raj return in A Midnight Puzzle, where an old theater reveals a deadly booby trap, secrets, and one puzzle of a mystery."

THIS is the series that true mystery aficionados love.

The cozy mystery series of my dreams!

Obsessed.

I started kind of not liking cozy mysteries as genre because the main characters don’t seem like they need to continue to meddle in investigations. But this series is not like that. Tempest being an illusionist and still searching for her missing mom makes this series make sense and you continue to really like the main characters.

Gobsmacked by the end of this one. Some things were easy to guess but some things-my jaw was on the floor.

This is book 3 and definitely has to be read in order there are a lot of characters but they are easy to keep track of.

If you are looking for a cozy mystery series with illusions/ stage magic and fun characters. This one is enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy.

A Midnight Puzzle gradually reels you into the story until I stayed up too late to try to finish it! This is the first of this series that I have read, but it works well as a stand-alone. I will definitely go back and read the first two books! The mixture of magic and mystery is so fitting. Both rely on misdirection to fool the audience and the reader. The characters are fun and interesting, a mixture of Indian and Scottish heritage. And a company that specializes in secret rooms, hidden passages, and puzzles is perfect!
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Tempest Raj builds secret staircases for her family’s construction company which is now being attacked by a former customer who says their staircase was faulty and led to his wife’s death. Tempest gets a request from this former customer to meet and finds him dead. Solving his murder brings up secrets from her own family that need to be solved too. Fascinatingly plotted, this mystery brings the reader pure satisfaction.

Readers/listeners, decide which way you would like to access this latest Secret Staircase mystery or, like me, alternate between the two. I often do this so I can continue a story while I go on a walk or do chores.

This is the third book in this modern locked room series that pays tribute to the best classic mysteries and, I think, maybe to Nancy Drew. All of my favorite characters are here again, even those who are missing (Tempest’s mother).

In my opinion, this latest can be enjoyed without having read the earlier books but readers may want to read all three just for the fun and pleasure. There is backstory but enough is told so that someone new to the series can follow along.

Things are looking bad for the Secret Staircase company. There is a lawsuit and then, to make things worse, there is murder. Enjoy the magic, the detecting and the all around fun of this entry in the series. It was a good read.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the book and to Macmillan Audio for the listen. And, of course, thanks to NetGalley for both of these. All opinions are my own.

Is this when we learn about what actually happened to Emma Raj along with some others I shall not name here to avoid spoilers?! YES! Are we happy and sad to learn about the Raj curse? YES! Did Tempest outdo herself? YES!

Tempest decided to work with her papa and his construction crew. She was using her stage building skills to give people unique spaces. This was supposed to be Tempest's way to move away from trouble. But nope, they were still in trouble but legal kind this time. Someone took a fall because of their "faulty" construction and now, the husband was suing them. Story would be too anticlimactic if this was the only trouble they were in. Don't worry there was always more where those troubles come from

While Tempest was not the teenager, I think she finally grew up during this story. Figuring out the mysteries surrounding her past, present, and future. and understanding what people were capable of in their own self-preserving ways turned her into the woman her mother would be proud of. Now that major question marks are gone, I wonder what will come next

Another delightful mystery that can only be solved by Tempest Raj and her merry band! I loved the way this mystery unfurled, taking the reader in one direction and then shifting unexpectedly. The elements of storytelling, showmanship, and the supernatural gave this an air of intrigue that remained through the conclusion. Speaking of conclusions, the ending of this book feels final, and I hope that Pandian isn't done with this set of characters - I'd love to see where they go next!

A Midnight Puzzle is the third book in Gigi Pandian's Secret Staircase Series. A taut well written story in which Tempest Raj and her sleuthing friends once and for all try to unravel the details of the Raj family curse and the truths about the deaths of her aunt and mother.
The family's construction company is facing ruin due to a massive lawsuit by unscrupulous Julian Rhodes, who claims they were responsible for the accident that severely injured his wife. When Julian is murdered by a booby trap at the Whispering Creek Theater, which Tempest has rented for her final show, the mysteries deepen.
When her mentor, Nicodemus is also injured by a second booby trap, Tempest knows she has to finally uncover the truth. Deceptions, misdirection, unspoken truths and magic all come together in an unexpected conclusion.
Best of the series to date. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A run romp of a mystery, part of a 3 book series but feel free to dive in here as I did. The mystery centers on a family of magicians, the Raj’s, and a reputed family curse that leads the eldest child to be killed by magic. Tempest Raj, the current eldest child of her father’s family, has seen this supposed curse in action in the death or disappearance of relatives on stage.

Tempest herself has taken leave of stage magic to join her father’s construction business and has transitioned into a talented designer of magical, whimsical, hidden elements in home construction: from hidden doors and staircase to secret entrances to tucked away rooms. Tempest delights in the work, but not in their latest client, the antagonistic Julian Rhodes who has a pattern of harassing and suing his contractors, the Rajs included.

Working late night on a project, Tempest gets a text to meet her client at an old theater she’s leased and where she’s hoping at some point to stage a one-woman production about her family curse tracing back to Edinborough. But when Tempest gets there, along with her mentor and long-time family friend Nicodermus the Necromancer, they find former client Julian Rhodes impaled and dead on the theater’s front door. Even worse, there’s a note on the door in Tempest’s handwriting inviting him inside.

Turns out there’s a whole cast of characters around the Raj family and Julian Rhodes who all are worthy suspects, even including the police investigator who’s worked on previous attacks targeting the family.

As Tempest delves more into their back stories, she emerges the prime investigator into Rhodes’ death and uses her intuition and knowledge of stage illusions to cleverly sort out the murder.

Thanks to Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It is the ultimate locked room mystery. There are lots of twists and turns and just when you think you have figured everything out something new happens.
A magician turned builder for her family business,sets out to find out who is trying to destroy her family by claiming that faulty construction on their part caused a death. Things quickly take a twist when the person she suspects of murder is found dead in a most gruesome way at a theater she has rented. The very theater where her mother disappeared and she suspects was murdered.

Amateur sleuth Tempest Raj is back in Gigi Pandian’s A Midnight Puzzle. When a former client, who blamed Secret Staircase Construction for the “accident” that nearly killed his wife, turns up dead at the Whispering Creek Theater, Tempest and her close circle of friends decide to track down the killer. It is indeed that Whispering Creek Theater, by the way—the one where Tempest’s mother disappeared years ago and the one Tempest herself has rented to put on one final show.

If you’ve been following along since the beginning of the series, you definitely want to pick up this one because we finally get an answer to what (or who) is behind the Raj family curse and learn more about the mysterious Moriarty. Don’t worry, though, there are more stories to come in this series.

One of the subplots did get a bit distracting for me, but overall this one was an enjoyable read.

As always, I enjoyed seeing this friendship group / found family in action, and the descriptions of the food made my mouth water.

Make sure to stick around at the end of the book for some of the grandfather’s recipes.

I received an advance copy of the ebook from St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

I very much enjoy these books. Thought this one might have been a little scattered with as many characters as we were following. Glad that the main mystery is solved, and good plot twists in there

This book has it all:magic, murder and mayhem. Lots of characters that could be a murderer. Fast paced with many side plots going on. I would say this is a true detective murder mystery. This is the first book I have read by Gigi Pandian and if the first two books are anything like this book, she will have a hit series. Fun book to read! Loved Tempest and her fascinating problem solving mind.

My thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to pre-read this book.

It's always a delight to return to the world of Tempest Raj, and the cozy team of friends and family that not only help solve mysteries but that provide laughter and comfort via the character's hefty helpings of quirk and charming details. While I find it a bit distracting that Tempest is constantly turning pirouettes, the rest of her magician-led personality makes for an interesting main "detective." This third book wraps up the through line mystery running through the previous books while leaving room for more books to come. Cute, clever, and fun- it's a great read for cozy mystery fans.

This is the second book I have read in this series, and it is quite enjoyable. If you’re into illusions, mysteries and red herrings, this book is for you exclamation. It was a fairly quick and fun read. Each book reads fine as a standalone, so settle in and enjoy the new to you series.

Gigi Pandian has again created a wonderful cozy mystery! I would love to have Tempest design my next house, preferably without the dead body. Great addition to the series.

Fantastic! There was so much going on that I didn’t want to put this one down. So many questions finally answered. So much creativity goes into the mystery with the booby traps and I had so much fun keeping up with Tempest as she tries to clear the family name and get to the bottom of the family curse. Great pacing, plenty of possible culprits, this was a fun mystery that I couldn’t get enough of. Can’t wait for the next one!