Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Gargoyle Girl Productions via #netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own
A vanished body. A deadly bookshop. A country house party full of suspects.
Synopsis:
Can a living gargoyle and an alchemist decipher the clues before poisoned pages claim another victim?
Dorian Robert-Houdin is used to living his life in the shadows, his existence only known to a few trusted friends. When a dangerous book from his past resurfaces, he follows his closest confidante, alchemist Zoe Faust, from Oregon to England to investigate.
Before he can examine the magical book, Dorian witnesses a murder amidst the foggy lanes of Oxford. But when he takes Zoe to the scene, there’s no body—and no evidence a crime has taken place. Using his unique skills as a gargoyle, Dorian sets out to solve the baffling crime nobody else believes occurred.
When Dorian and Zoe discover a dead man in a bookshop filled with arsenic-laced books, the victim isn’t a stranger—he’s connected to the vanishing crime scene. The trail leads to a country house party where a group of bibliophile suspects have gathered and a storm is brewing. Could the killer be the mercurial Agatha Christie scholar? The prickly literature professor? The secretive rare books expert? With an unscrupulous book thief lurking, can sleuths Dorian and Zoe unmask a murderer before the next page brings them to a perilous end?
Review:
This is actually book 9 in the series, but the first I have read, though I have read books in Gigi's other series. Dorian is an interesting character in that he's supernatural but bound to rules that require Zoe to transport him places, but because he is a gargoyle, he can do things she can't. It's an interesting twist to their relationship. Add in her fiance, who knows all about Dorian, and is VERY understanding, and helps them with their investigations. In this book they are in Oxford due to being contacted about a magical book that Zoe thought was in safekeeping, but is now causing chaos and has to be stopped. The book lets the new reader have enough background to understand how Dorian came to be alive, and why the book matters so much to him and Zoe. As they meet new friends and discover a murderer among them, it's a race to protect their friends, and their family members, before the book causes another death. This is a pretty quick read, even with playing catchup on the characters, and it has me intrigued enough to go back and read the previous 8 books! I can definitely see this series as a TV series, so it will be interesting to see if it gets picked up!
About the Author
Gigi Pandian is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning mystery author, breast cancer survivor, and accidental almost-vegan. She's the child of professors from New Mexico and the southern tip of India, and spent her childhood traveling around the world on their research trips.
Her debut novel was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a Best of 2012 Debut by Suspense Magazine, her mysteries have been awarded the Agatha, Rose, Lefty, and Derringer awards, and been short-listed for the Edgar. She writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery series, the Accidental Alchemist mysteries, and the Secret Staircase Mysteries. She now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the garden.
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