Thankfully, she’s got friends and family who have her back.Īnd I want to move in with her family. I love Tempest! As her name implies, she’s headstrong and often quick to jump into action. Is it the alleged curse? Was she meant to be the dead body, or was Cassidy’s body put there for her to find for some reason? She also finds her family determined to protect her from what they see as the curse at work.īut when the body of Tempest’s former assistant, Cassidy, is found seemingly walled up at the latest job site for her father’s construction company, and when she thinks she sees and hears the ghost of her mother, Tempest knows she’s got to figure out what’s really going on. She finds comfort in her grandfather’s home-cooked meals and in the quirky house her parents designed and created. But now she’s come back home in disgrace after an illusion goes horribly wrong, facing lawsuits and the possibility of never performing again. The alleged family curse, that the eldest child dies by magic, didn’t keep her from following in the footsteps of other family members. Tempest Raj is a magician, from a family of magicians. Gigi Pandian is a new author to me, and I’m so glad to have found her! Under Lock & Skeleton Key is a well-written, thoroughly engrossing mystery that I could barely put down. But as she delves further into the mystery, Tempest can’t help but wonder if the Raj family curse that’s plagued her family for generations-something she used to swear didn’t exist-has finally come for her.

Fearing she was the intended victim, it’s up to Tempest to solve this seemingly impossible crime. When Tempest visits her dad’s latest renovation project, her former stage double is discovered dead inside a wall that’s supposedly been sealed for more than a century. Secret Staircase Construction specializes in bringing the magic of childhood to all by transforming clients’ homes with sliding bookcases, intricate locks, backyard treehouses, and hidden reading nooks.

Though she resists, every day brings her closer to the inevitable: working for her father’s company. The intrigue of hidden rooms and secret staircases.Īfter a disastrous accident derails Tempest Raj’s career, and life, she heads back to her childhood home in California to comfort herself with her grandfather’s Indian home-cooked meals. Under Lock & Skeleton Key layers architecture with mouthwatering food in an ode to classic locked-room mysteries.Īn impossible crime.

Under lock and skeleton key