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Please Note: I received an advance copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence the opinions of my review in any way.
Synopsis (From Goodreads):
A treasure trove of nine locked room mysteries from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author Gigi Pandian, all set in the Jaya Jones world.
Appearing here for the first time, novelette The Cambodian Curse:
When an ancient and supposedly cursed Cambodian sculpture disappears from an impenetrable museum, and the carving's owner is killed by an invisible assailant while a witness is a few feet away, historian Jaya Jones and her old nemesis Henry North team up to solve the baffling crime.
Stories included: "The Cambodian Curse," "The Hindi Houdini," "The Haunted Room," "The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn," "The Curse of Cloud Castle," "Tempest in a Teapot," "A Dark and Stormy Light," "The Shadow of the River," plus bonus novella Fool's Gold.
Review:
Over the past few years I have started to enjoy reading mysteries. When I think of why I am starting to like this genre, author Gigi Pandian's writing may be the reason. She is a master of what is known as the locked room (or puzzle) mystery. This is a situation where a seemingly impossible crime occurs in a locked room with no way out. This collection on short stories, all set in the world of Pandian's beloved mystery-solving historian Jaya Jones, is a fun sampling of this specific type of mystery.
What I Liked:
Characters:Throughout the stories, two characters appear again and again: Jaya Jones, and her magician friend Sanjay. Jaya and Sanjay always seem to be where a murder has just occurred. Using her wits, and historical knowledge, Jaya is always able to find the culprit. Sanjay is also able to look outside the box at any situation to find clues that are hidden in plain sight. I enjoyed learning more about these two characters through these short stories.
Settings:
The author is able to quickly establish various scenarios for each story. In "The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn," we find our characters in a haunted house on a dark and stormy night. One of the longest stories is called, "Fool's Gold", which takes place at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. I got a kick out of location since this arts festival is happening as I write this, and I have been following it closely.
Mysteries:
Before I read this book, I couldn't say why I enjoyed the mystery genre. But the forward explaining what a puzzle mystery is helped me to understand why. I like mysteries where the reader is given all the information needed to solve the case. I hate it when the crime is solved with information that the reader can't possibly know. But I also don't like it if the crime is too easy to figure out. The author does a masterful job of hitting the right balance between the two.
What I Was Mixed About:
One of the stories was truly short in length, making it hard to feel like the characters were established before the crime was solved. This only happened in once in the book.
Rating:
Release Date: October 16th, 2018
Author: Gigi Pandian
Publisher: Henery Press
Genre: Mystery
Page Length: 270 Pages
Source: Edelweiss
Format: E-Book
Recommendation: A fun collection of puzze mysteries, this is a must-read for fans of the character, Jaya Jones.
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