The Raven Thief
A Secret Staircase Novel
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Super-fun.” –The Boston Globe
A Lefty Nominee for Best Mystery Novel
An Agatha Nominee for Best Contemporary Mystery Novel
One murder. Four impossibilities. A fake séance hides a very real crime.
Secret Staircase Construction just finished their first project with Tempest Raj officially a part of the team—a classic mystery novel-themed home interior. Their client is now ready to celebrate her new life without her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a party, and Tempest and Grandpa Ash are invited to the exclusive mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property—for good. It's all lighthearted fun until Corbin's dead body crashes the party.
The only possible suspects are the eight people around the séance table—a circle of clasped hands that wasn't broken. Suspicion quickly falls on Grandpa Ash, the only one with actual blood on him. To prove her beloved grandfather’s innocence, Tempest must figure out what really happened—and how—or Ash will be cooking his delectable Indian and Scottish creations nevermore.
Multiple award-winning author Gigi Pandian is one of the best locked room mystery writers working today. Her newest heroine, Tempest Raj, returns in The Raven Thief, where sliding bookcases, trick tables, and hidden reading nooks hide something much more sinister than the Secret Staircase Construction crew ever imagined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Pandian's excellent sequel to 2022's Under Lock & Skeleton Key, magician Tempest Raj, whose parents run Secret Staircase Construction, a company that builds houses with such accoutrements as secret passageways and sliding bookcases, witnesses a crime marked by multiple impossibilities at a séance. Lavinia Kingsley is seeking to eradicate all traces of her ex-husband, author Corbin Colt, from her California home. She retains a conjuror, the Hindi Houdini, to lead a fake séance. But in the middle of the proceedings, Colt's corpse is dropped onto the séance table, a knife sticking out of his chest and black raven feathers scattered about, an apparent reference to Colt's book, The Raven. But the knife is fake, Colt was on a livestream moments before and miles away from where his corpse landed, and there seems to be no rational way for his body to have reached its destination. Pandian's clever solution matches the challenge she sets for her endearingly imperfect lead. This brilliant homage to classic golden age authors such as John Dickson Carr augurs well for a long series run.
