Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

ARC for review. To be published March 18, 2025.

2.5 stars, rounded to 3

This is book 4 in the Secret Staircase series, a very cozy mystery. I don’t think there were any curse words and there were lots of great descriptions of food made by the main character’s grandfather (seriously, that might have been the best part. Food descriptions in books, one of the true pleasures of life. Makes me want to eat, though, and while the Scooby gang here is enjoying a picnic basket full of Ash’s assorted sandwiches on baguettes, I’m eating the completely unfulfilling empty calories of leftover baby Reese’s Cups from Halloween. But I digress.

Tempest Raj, is a former magician (I think you may find out why in earlier books, not sure) and now works with her dad and two of her friends at Secret Staircase Construction, a specialty construction firm. The company is currently transforming a fairy-tale home into a mystery library complete with sliding bookshelves. They have to have the library ready for an upcoming murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room that will serve as the library’s grand opening and part of the town’s walking tour.

Tempest, her construction company friends (Ivy Youngblood and Gideon Torres,) the house’s owner, Cameron Gray and amateur actors are present at the house for a rehearsal when…there’s a (gasp!) murder! Then the body disappears! Then it reappears after the group is trapped in a real escape room in the house! Are classic mystery plots coming to life? Who killed the actor and why?

So, there are many, MANY reference to things that happened in the first three books. You can read this as a standalone, but you’ll feel like you missed a lot. It’s an OK little cozy mystery, however once Tempest makes a grand inference based on something another character says (which keeps that person a suspect) that is absolutely incorrect (I’m surprised this wasn’t caught in editing, this isn’t a typo, it’s a faulty plot point.)

On the plus side, I already mentioned Ash’s food, plus I loved the idea of this library, and I also really enjoyed when Ivy brings in a bag full o� classic mysteries that she feels are in some way germane to their case (I don’t know why she brought the actual books to their meeting, like they were going to sit down and read them, but that’s a quibble…I added two titles to my TBR list.). In the end though I don’t really have a desire to read on in the series, but cozy mysteries aren’t usually my thing. Fans of the genre should like this, but go back and start with number one.