This is the first book in the series that I have read, but that did not interfere with my ability to enjoy it. Although I appreciated the reminders of events from previous novels I often found myself wishing there had just been a summary of them at the beginning because the references never quite fit into the current story and seemed to slow down the narrative. I also thought the detailed descriptions of the food being made didn't quite fit with the tone of the rest of the story. The book is at its best when focused on the murder mystery and the relationships between all the different characters. Zoe is an easy character to like and root for and Dorian added just the right amount of levity to what could be a very dark story. The transitions between the past and present were well done and I found myself equally interested in the events in both timelines. The villain is well crafted, but I would have liked a little more about what led him to his actions. I'm definitely going to be reading the earlier novels and any future stories in the series!

I would recommend this book to students who are interested in historical fiction and/or alchemy/magic.

Another good installment in the Accidental Alchemist series. Dorian the gargoyle is one of my favorite characters!

In today's Portland, immortal alchemist Zoe Faust has finally decided to settle down. But it seems that situations around her always drag her in new mysteries. This time, a long-lost painting of Nicolas Flamel is found in the hands of a modern artist, who is said to have committed suicide. But, as police investigates his death, Zoe has to find out how the portrait of her old mentor found its way to the hands of the dead artist. Can it lead to long-lost Flamel? And what about her identity? Can she keep it hidden through all this mess?

The Alchemist's Illusion is an amusing short mystery story. An alchemist and a gargoyle that's come t life live and solve mysteries together. The concept was fun, and the story interesting enough to hold the reader's attention to the end.

The Alchemist's Illusion is part of the Accidental Alchemist Mystery series, but it can be easily read as a separate book. Overall an amusing read, this is recommended for all the people who love cozy mysteries.

Centuries-old alchemist Zoe Faust is tired of running from her past. She's finally got her life on track in Portland, Oregon, gardening and cooking in her fixer-upper house with her mischievous best friend, Dorian the gargoyle chef. It seems like the perfect life for Zoe, until she discovers her old mentor Nicolas Flamel, who she thought had abandoned her, has been imprisoned.
A local artist holds the secret that could lead Zoe to her mentor, but the artist is murdered, and the painting containing the hidden clue is stolen. To rescue Nicolas, Zoe and Dorian must explore art forgery, a transformative process that has much in common with alchemy and cooking—but one which proves far more dangerous.
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Series: An Accidental Alchemist Mystery - Book 4
Author: Gigi Pandian
Genre: Cozy/Paranormal Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink

Gigi Pandian has a creative mind that has a way of coming up with new and captivating ideas. The Alchemist’s Illusion from Midnight Ink http://www.midnightinkbooks.com stems from that creativeness and intrigues the reader from the beginning. That said, it would be better for readers NOT to start reading this series with the current and latest book. This is a series that must be read from the beginning. Readers who start with the newest edition will have problems following along and may not understand who the characters are, and they may not be willing to find out either.

The character of Zoe Faust is interesting, and a bit complicated. She doesn’t like being in the background all the time but is smart enough to understand that being in the forefront could be bad for her health. The world has changed since Zoe was a young woman, hundreds of years have passed, but some things never change, and people’s fear of magic and alchemy is one of those things that hasn’t changed all that much. Zoe is intelligent and compassionate. Her best friend is a gargoyle and the love of her life a mortal human cop. It makes for a challenging dynamic.

Other characters in this book are fascinating, they, not your average everyday sub characters that you like but don’t worry about unduly. Quite the contrary, readers will worry and get excited every time these characters are in danger or try to help Zoe.

The setting of Portland, Oregon is fitting to a story that is about alchemy. In a city that prides itself on its environment saving philosophies, art and culture, it is rather closed minded when it comes to magic. That mixed with the side story in this book and series will keep the reader turning the page.

Unfortunately, as a reader I take issue with the characters names, having a main character named Nicholas Flamel is too reminiscent of the Harry Potter character with the same name who was also an alchemist. Even Zoe Faust herself is named after a character in another famous book. Also, the mere fact that Zoe has a friend who is a gargoyle is similar to another series by another author. All of these things combined make it difficult to look past.

The premise for The Alchemist’s Illusion is wonderfully original to the cozy mystery genre, and for this reason alone it is hard to completely dislike the book. The writing is good, and the story flows nicely. If the reader isn’t bothered by too many resemblances to other books, characters and story-lines then they will no doubt enjoy this book. Once again, I caution anyone who wishes to read this book to start from the being of the series and not with the fourth installment.

ARC provided by Netgalley

I received this ARC via Netgalley in return for an honest review. I love this author and her several series. Gigi Pandian, in this series, has Zoe, an alchemist trained by Nicolas Flamel (real person!) who vanished about 400 years earlier. She has always wondered what happened to him and, after seeing a painting of him, she goes on the search for him. She's aided by Dorian, a gargoyle (this is where reading the previous three books in the series is helpful but not required). There's also a modern day issue of art forgers and a murder that may be linked to Nicolas' disappearance. She's aided by several friends and her love interest, Max. Try this series, as well as her amazing Jaya Jones books. You won't be sorry.

I wasn’t sure about this book when I picked up. The cover had caught my eye several times, but a book with a gargoyle and alchemy seemed a bit woo-woo. I finally decided to give it a shot; if it moved too far into the world of fantasy, I could always put it down I reasoned. And it did take several pages to get acclimated, but once I did, I was hooked. Zoe and Dorian and interesting characters who just happen to be an alchemist and gargoyle. True, it does present a few challenges, especially for Dorian, but it works.

This specific book starts off with Zoe seeing a painting and recognizing her mentor - the person who introduced her to alchemy. He had vanished centuries earlier with only a single clue, but with the painting, Zoe has to look for him. Adding to the challenge of finding Nicolas is that the person who might be able to help her died recently. She’s also juggling how and how much to tell her love, Max, about her alchemist past.

Altogether a fun book - highly recommended. I plan on looking for other ones in the series!

I am reviewing this title for Mystery Scene Magazine be sure and look in the January '19 magazine for the editorial review

What a fun and exciting ride through a lesson in history and alchemy. This was my first venture with Gigi Pandian, and it won’t be my last. I want to go back in time and find out how Zoe ended up in Portland, Oregon with Dorian, her gargoyle companion. I had no idea that alchemy was such a fascinating subject, but the magical world that Pandian has created is where I want to visit again and again.

Zoe Faust finds herself in a bit of quandary when she sees a painting in a local gallery that represents her mentor Nicolas Flamel. She knows that Flamel had never allowed himself to be painted, so how on earth is she seeing a painting of him in a gallery? And where exactly is Nicolas? And why is the painting appearing to actually stare at her? This scene sets up the mystery that we are about to embark upon.

Zoe is such a loveable character. With her white hair and optimistic outlook on life, she is someone that I would befriend in an instant. Her secretive history might be catching up to her however. Not to mention she is hiding a living gargoyle in her attic. How does she keep it all together with this kind of stuff going on in her life? Throw in a mysterious suicide of a local artist and you have a recipe for an enjoyable romp. Speaking of recipes, Pandian includes some of Dorian’s famous recipes at the end of the book. I am looking forward to trying these out.

I am so happy to know that I can find other books about the long-lived alchemist Zoe to pick up. While there is a bit of mischief and mayhem in this book, it is not dark or gory at all. It is a fun mystery to enjoy.

urban-fantasy, suspense, alchemy, mystery, law-enforcement

The story was great even though I didn't binge reread the earlier books!
I think that it's a strength of the author that the reader is not disadvantaged by either not having reread prior books or even not ever having read them. But about this one, the publisher's blurb gives some idea of what to expect (other than the unexpected), but it's getting into the whole spirit of the author's imagination that makes it such a wonderful read.
I've seen it mentioned that the books are for younger readers, but that is an inexact judgment. True, there is no graphic violence, erotica, or gratuitous use of the f bomb, but I think that they're great and I am retired from being a jail RN!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Midnight Ink via NetGalley. Thank you!

I have enjoyed all of the books in this series and this one is no different. What I love about this series is that the books are cozy mysteries with a very quirky side. The mysteries are intriguing and the characters endearing. They aren’t books that keep you up late at night but they are fantastic to curl up and relax with. Zoe is an alchemist who has lived for centuries and now lives in Portland with a gargoyle who was brought to life and loves to cook. Like I said, it’s a quirky series and I love that. In this book Zoe must solve murders linked to Alchemy. I loved all of the characters that were involved and the new ones that were introduced. I enjoyed this book and am already looking forward to the next one!

I've been reading this series since the first book came out several years ago, so I was excited to receive an advanced copy through NetGalley and catch up with Zoe and Dorian and all their friends in Portland. The previous book wrapped up the overarching plot of Dorian's condition very tidily, so I was curious to see where we would head next in the series: to Zoe's past and her old mentor, Nicolas Flamel! My favorite part of this series is the discussion of alchemy, adding that little bit of fantasy and history to the mystery, and we saw that in spades with this one. The story jumps back and forth between current day and the late 1500s, following a well-known painter whose work is at the center of the mystery that Zoe finds herself wrapped up in this time. Wonderfully paced and an overall enjoyable cozy read.

This is number four in the series and the book was great. The characters are fascinating and the plot is great. You can do this book as a standalone, but I recommend reading the others.

I started reading this series midway, with The Elusive Elixir. The author, Gigi Pandian, did such a wonderful job of summarizing previous events, that I didn't know this was a series until after I finished the book. I loved the characters (and the delicious recipes!) immediately.

The Alchemist's Illusion continues to entertain with more Dorian, Zoe, and her skeptical boyfriend, Max. With its dual storylines, and lots of new characters, this is a worthy addition to this series.

What I Liked:

Characters:

Zoe, and her circle of friends, are very entertaining. I loved learning even more about the Gargoyle chef, Dorian, and his quest to become more than a sculpture come to life. Zoe's policeman boyfriend, Max was appropriately grounded in reality. It is his spot-on reactions to the magical that anchor the book. This was both necessary and heartbreaking to read. Newer characters such as the artist's widow, Perenelle Flamel, and Edward Kelly were complicated and made it hard to know if they were villains or not. I liked the unpredictability of this.

Food:

A major reason I enjoy this series is for the delectable descriptions of cooking, and food! Meals are lovingly detailed so the reader is salivating along with the characters. Plus, there are several yummy looking recipes to be found at the end of the book.

Plot:

The story alternates between present-day Portland, Oregon, and nearly four-hundred years earlier in Prague where we learn the origins of the painting that is the centerpiece of this book. I liked the two different stories and the fact that it was ambiguous as to who the villain was. Did Nicolas' wife Perenelle conspire with someone to imprison him? Who is Edward Kelly? So many little mysteries to solve!

What I Was Mixed About:

There was one aspect of the plot which I was quite dissatisfied with. The plot relied heavily on coincidences to move the story along. At the beginning of the book, Zoe randomly sees a painting in a window that may hold the key to finding her long-lost friend Nicolas. Considering that this art work was made in Europe hundreds of years ago, how likely is it that it would find its way to present-day Portland, Oregon? This happens several times throughout the book, which made it hard for me, as a reader, to accept.

Warning: this is #4 in a series and while it can be read as a standalone title it will be better enjoyed if the reader has first read the other titles in order.

Once again, Zoe and Dorian have a mystery to solve, this time it is the disappearance of Nicolas Flamel which Zoe is determined to solve... Zoe must discover how a 'gang' of art forgers and the murder of a prominent local artist are linked to Nicolas' disappearance. With the help of her friend Tobias, plus Max and the rest of the regulars will Zoe and Dorian solve the mystery? And will Max ever admit that magic is real?

With many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy, particularly since I love this series. I simply devour the books, they cannot be written and published fast enough for my appetite.

I Really enjoyed this one which read well as a stand alone for me, but now I'm anxious to read the first three books of this series!

Every installment of Gigi Pandian's series about Zoe Faust adds new delights, new complications, and new insight into the very, very unusual characters of Zoe herself - an immortal alchemist - and Dorian - a gargoyle whose passion for cooking draws him into creating mouth-watering vegan recipes. (Yes, some of them are shared!) This time, Zoe realizes that the one of the secrets to a fragmented letter she discovered may be hidden in a panting - and that something, or someone, else might also be waiting to be discovered. Utterly delightful.

I originally had it in my head that this was pushing a 2.5 rating for me, but the last 20% of the book pushed it up to a three.

I didn't realise at the time of requesting this that it was actually number 4 in the series, I feel like this may have had an impact on how much I enjoyed the story. This story follows alchemist Zoe Faust, along with her friend and live in gargoyle companion, Dorian, and her longtime fellow alchemist friend, Tobias, in Portland. Zoe comes across a painting being displayed in the front window of a local art gallery that closely resembles her old friend, mentor and father figure, Nicholas Flamel. She is shocked because she knows that Nicholas never sat for portrait paintings, just as she herself doesn't like having photos taken, this can be dangerous for alchemist, as they do not age once they have taken the Elixir of Life. While pondering over the portrait Zoe is thrust into the middle of a mystery and murder investigation when local deceased artist, Logan Magnus', wife Isabelle confronts Zoe accusing her of Logan's murder because of a pendent she is wearing around her neck. What follows is a mystery adventure spanning centuries as Zoe finds an old note written by Nicholas Flamel stating that he is in danger and needs help, she believe that the clues to this note and Nicholas' location lies within the strange painting she saw, but it has now gone missing. The narrative is split between two times, one is the present day where Zoe and friends are desperately trying to locate the painting and solve the murder of Logan, and the other spans between the 1500s and 1700s following the workings of an alchemical painter, Phillip Hayden, who is supposedly the artist of the strange painting that Zoe is trying to find. The story lines do converge near the last quarter of the book.

I found the dual timelines interesting, and somewhat necessary I guess, though this didn't become apparent until it helped reveal clues about the present day mystery. I felt like the clues were kind of jaggedly pulled together and there wasn't quite a flow happening for me for some reason. I enjoyed the characters, Zoe is likable and level headed, Dorian would have to be probably my favourite character, who doesn't love a french gargoyle who is also a master chef? Other than these two, I feel like the characters were pretty beige, maybe a little flat. Again, this could be because I've jumped into the world in the fourth installment of this series, so I haven't had the chance to meet these characters and watch them flesh out and grow through the previous stories.

The mystery itself was well done, and I had no idea who the culprit was until the reveal, this I felt was done spectacularly well, I found myself at times not knowing who to trust, so this is good.

I love the whole premise of this series, following an alchemist who is over 300 years old, and looking at the different aspects of alchemy, not just the gold making side of it. I haven't come across any other stories thus far that touch on the subject the way that this author has. I am incredibly intrigued by it, so I believe that I will try to get a hold of the first in the series, and go back to the beginning. I do feel that you can read the story independently, however, there are past events that are spoken about which I assume happened in the other installments, so the gravity of these situations didn't really hit for me how it would have if I knew about them in their entirety. Also, if you haven't read the previous books, you may find yourself not feeling very connected to the characters as I did, I believe with series of books, you need to read them from the start otherwise you aren't learning and growing with the characters, and for me, this can have an impact on the story itself.

All in all, a nice premise, and quirky characters in a series that I will definitely be going back to the start for.

I LOVE GIGI PANDIAN'S GARGOYLE SERIES! Yes, I needed to shout that since these books just get better and better! Over the course of the series the characters have grown so much and as the reader, I am completely invested in what happens next. In this book, Zoe a 300+ year old alchemist who looks 28, investigates the death of an artist with help from several loveable series characters including Dorian, a french chef and gargoyle! There are several interesting B stories that build upon developments from previous books but you don't need to read them to fully enjoy this one. In fact, if you read this one, you will definitely want to go buy all the previous because this series is great fun. I always find it difficult to wait for the next installment in this series and thank Mrs. Pandian and Midnight Ink for allowing me to be one of the first to read this series. I recommend it wholeheartedly and will adopt it into my curriculum.

Posted on Goodreads: I read this courtesy of NetGalley. This is the third book in the Accidental Alchemist Mystery series and it contains more of Zoe Faust's background. Zoe sees a compelling and realistic alchemical painting of Nicholas Flamel, her mentor, but when she tries to see it up close it disappears. Art forgery, alchemical art and history all play a part in this book. The usual characters are present and Zoe's old friend Tobias shows up, but, as usual, Dorian steals every scene. His culinary creations almost make one vegetarian-curious and his little eccentricities endear him to the reader. The denouement was fitting, but arrived all too soon. This book is highly recommended for those who like a bit of the fantastic and whimsey mixed with their history and mystery. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Old paintings, forgers, murder, alchemists including Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, and a funny, loyal, eccentric French gargoyle chef named Dorian. Put them all together and you have an entertaining cozy mystery that is not to be missed! Really enjoyed this one which read well as a stand alone for me, but now I'm anxious to read the first three books of this series!