Under Lock and Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian

Minotaur Books, 352 pages, $26.99

I had been reading a lot of dour, serious books, most of which got eliminated after about twenty pages, when I first picked up “Under Lock and Skeleton Key.” I read a few pages and my first thought was, this is too light. So I put it down. But over the next few days, I found myself thinking about how Gigi Pandian’s book had a lot of intriguing elements in it. The tone was clean-cut and throw-back. There were shades of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys — although I am a die-hard Brains Benton fan — and I renamed Pandian’s book, “The Mystery of the Lock and Skeleton Key.”

What were those intriguing elements? Tempest Raj, the protagonist, is a defrocked magician. Something went wrong with her high-powered Las Vegas act, and she was left to skulk back to her family’s compound in Northern California, in a town named Hidden Creek. She is of mixed heritage; her grandfather came from India and her grandmother from Scotland. Her parents were just as quirkily matched, “What happens when a carpenter and a stage magician fall in love? They form a Secret Staircase Construction business to bring magic to people through their homes.”

There is a family legend/curse that the oldest child of the Raj family dies prematurely. Of the more recent generations, the victims have included her grandfather Ashok’s older brother and her mother’s older sister. And in defiance of the oldest child rule, Tempest’s mother also died in a suspicious manner a few years before “Under Lock” begins.

(An early P.S.: I commend Gigi Pandian for managing flashback information without indulging in convoluted, confusing chapters of flashbacks.)

(Another P.S.: There are many magicians in this book, but if you are looking for revelations, or even major descriptions, of magic secrets, you can move along. But then you’d be missing a really great book.)

Not only is twenty-six-year-old Tempest out of work and motherless, but a few years back she managed to scuff up the relationship with her best friend from public school days. Fortunately, Ivy, the ex-best friend, works for Darius, Tempest’s father, so can't help but meet occasionally. Darius still owns the small company specializing in constructing hidden rooms, secret staircases, trompe l’oeil, and other architectural illusions. Darius was the person who brought the stories of Emma, Tempest’s mother, to life. The company was in demand at the start. But not so much lately. The stories died when Emma died. And the customers liked stories.

Needless to say, the family compound is a treasure trove of architectural misdirection. There are secret “keys” to access rooms in the house. It’s not just the stereotypical pulling on a book on a bookshelf to activate a hidden door; there are hidden buttons and keyholes, including panels with secret triggers and floors with switches. Tempest lives in the tower (accessed by a secret staircase, natch). It is while she is alone in the tower that she begins to hear a fiddle being played. It is playing a tune Tempest’s mother used to play. No one else has heard the ghostly, midnight serenade. Is Tempest out of work, humiliated in the magicians’ world, AND going crazy?

Then a body appears lodged in a space where it could not possibly have been lodged. The body appears in the house of a customer for whom Darius is remodeling a kitchen pantry. The owner of the house has no connection to the Raj family, but the body has a definite connection to Tempest. What is going on?

The delight of this book is also in the many characters Pandian introduces. Besides Ivy, Tempest’s friend and fellow magician, Sanjay, surfaces to help. Some of the people in the construction company are almost like family. Ashok and Morag moved to California to be with Tempest’s family, and in his retirement, Ashok has taken to cooking with much gusto. Some of his Indian-Scottish dishes are at the center of the family's feasts for friends.

Although the full extent of what happened to Tempest during her magic act in Las Vegas is not revealed for quite a while, the incident  almost killed her. Plus, there may be multiple lawsuits stemming from it. Plus, her contract with the venue hosting her act was terminated. Plus, she lost whatever money she had settling debts.

Life is grim at the moment for Tempest. The haunting music adds to her unease. The dead body is the capper. If it weren’t for her friends and family supporting her, Tempest would more than likely have curled into a ball in a corner and stayed there. (Not really, because she’s not that kind of heroine.)

In the best tradition of childhood mysteries — although I think this is meant to be an adult book — the protagonist is plucky, intelligent, intuitive, and intrepid. Many, many things are unexpected. I love the idea of hidden rooms. I love the idea of Indian-Scottish food. I love the ideas of truth, justice, and family mystery. I didn’t even need the stuff I usually complain about books not having: People needing to be people -- sleep? bathroom facilities? teeth-brushing? shower? At least there’s a lot of eating.

MBTB "Rx": This is a cozy that actually makes you feel better.