The Midnight Puzzle, by Gigi Pandian, is a creative mystery novel centered around some very unusual personalities that almost give this story the feel of being a fantasy. But then, these characters are stage magicians who live and breathe their craft in various ways.

Since this was my first Secret Staircase Mystery, I was unfamiliar with these personalities, so it did feel that there were a lot of characters and backstories to keep track of. For instance, Tempest Raj, the protagonist, has had her stage career ruined by a tragic accident, but it was never clear to me exactly what occurred. I felt the same way about the fates of her mother and aunt. Actually, there were several stories tucked into this book, perhaps too many to fully describe. In the end, motives might have been revealed, but many details were not.

Tempest’s mentor, Nicodemus, is a fascinating character, and the concept of a construction company with the mission of bringing a bit of magic into people’s lives is fabulous. Those are a couple things I will certainly remember for a long time. It was a fun read.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this opportunity.

The third book in the Secret Staircase Mystery series does not disappoint. We once again get to follow Tempest and her family as they navigate the mysterious death of a former client. These stories are so fun, and readers get fully immersed in Tempest's family dynamics, their culture, and even their recipes! Each character is beautifully complex and developed, making every aspect of this story immersive and fascinating. Definitely another winner.

Thank you so much to Gigi Pandian and St. Martian's Press for the Digital ARC of this book. I love a good mystery book and this one was great. It has a great story line and great characters. This is the 3rd book in the series so I will be going back to read the first 2. looking forward to reading more from Gigi.

Very engaging story. Having never read this author before, I am feeling that the book is part of a series but if so I was able to quickly figure out the characters. The villains were not apparent and it was not one of those stories where the reader can figure out who did it in the end with little effort. Overall it was well written and enjoyable.

A Midnight Puzzle is the third book in the Secret Staircase Mystery series. Tempest and her family are in the midst of dealing with legal attacks coming from former client Julian Rhodes. Julian is attempting to blame the family's business for his attempt to murder his wife. Tempest receives a late night call from Julian requesting a meeting at Whispering Creek Theater. She arrives to find Julian has been killed with a sword that came from a booby trap. Tempest is forced to clear her name and her family's.

This is one of the most creative cozy mystery series out there! Tempest is a great character. I am always drawn into the descriptions of the family's business and the work they do on properties. Can someone please build me a secret library with a room? It sounds like such fun! The mysteries are top notch. I look forward to reading more books in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing is wonderful and the characters are well developed. I think I would have benefited by reading the earlier books in this series first, but I was able to catch on to the situation rather quickly. I do think there are a LOT of moving parts in this book, to the point of distraction. So many plots, subplots, and interconnected stories. And I don't understand the huge emphasis on showmanship; I'm sure it's because because I can't relate to magicians and their huge egos. Additionally, there are things that I never could visualize, which caused me to give this book the rating that I have. I never could follow the construction of the shadow stage, the layout of Fiddler's Folly or even the hidden staircases. And if I can't visualize some of the major components of a story, then it loses me. A large part of enjoying a book is the way it plays in my head, and this one didn't do it for me. I do not recommend that this book is read prior to the earlier volumes.

The ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

I think this will be a nice cozy mystery for the target audience! I can't get past all the repetition in certain words within the first few chapters. It was rather aggressive as it kept happening. Especially the phrases/titles since they were capitalized. The writing style was not working for me, as it was reading like middle grade, even though it doesn't say anywhere that it is middle grade. I have to pass on this one, unfortunately.

This was very entertaining. It was so fun to read. Great characters and loved the story line. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

unputdownable, suspense, legerdemain, family-dynamics, family-business, relatives, relationships, friends, friendship, cultural-exploration, illusionists, small-business, small-town, carpentry, amateur-sleuth, verbal-humor, pet-bunny, cozy-mystery, traps, murders, local-law-enforcement*****

The publisher's blurb is pretty good so I won't repeat that. I loved this masterful mystery with all of its quirky characters! Try to fit all the pieces together to solve the murders (they were NOT committed by a ghost!) before the end and enjoy!
The Secret Staircase is a niche construction company run operated by family who live in a tree house.
I confess that I have loved every book that Gigi Pandian has published.
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
#SecretStaircaseMysteries3

Life is never dull or predictable for Tempest Raj. Unfortunately, it’s not always in a good way. Tempest was a magician, who now works in the family business,Secret Staircase Construction, designing rooms with magical surprises. But one client, Julian Rhodes is determined to ruin their business. When he is murdered in an unusual way, the finger points directly at Tempest. Not only must she clear her name, but she also needs to figure out who is behind this impossible crime.
As the plot thickens, Tempest is also determined to discover what happened to her aunt and her mother. Could this latest mystery somehow be connected to their deaths? Tempest won’t stop searching until she finds answers.
I’m a total nerd when it comes to magic and magicians. I love all the tricks and the oh so clever rooms that Tempest creates. I would love love for Secret Staircase Construction to be a real company. Who knows maybe some sleight-of-hand and a few illusions will add a bit of magic to my own home library.
This was another intriguing, cozy mystery. I don’t want to fall into spoiler territory, but I was glad that Tempest finally got some answers about the Raj family curse. An enjoyable series and I hope there will be more!

"A Midnight Puzzle" is a cozy mystery. This is the third novel in the series. You can understand it without reading the previous books, and none of the previous mysteries were spoiled. There was some bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable mystery.

The main characters were interesting and generally likable. This was a clue-based mystery. I kept thinking 'if Tempest would just listen--really listen--to what her mentor is saying...clues, girl!' But she didn't want to think anything bad about her mentor and so didn't think over what he said about the past. While I had much of the mystery solved fairly early on, I didn't guess specifically whodunit until Tempest figured it out and set up an elaborate performance/trap to prove their guilt.

I really enjoyed this book. While I haven’t read the previous books, I was still able to follow along. I do think reading the prior books would have made the book even more enjoyable, the backstory was summarized in this book and at times I wished I had the whole story. I will be going back and reading books 1 and 2.

A midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian

In heroine Tempest Raj,modern-day queen of the locked room mystery,m Gigi Pandian has erected a brilliant homage to the greats of classic detective fiction,

An interesting cozy mystery involving the theater. Many twists, turns, and secret rooms. Quite a number of enjoyable characters………. I enjoyed reading this novel.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

This is a really unique mystery series that I have been really enjoying. I love the puzzles and trying to figure them out with the characters. I loved both books in the series so far.

A lot of loose ends get tied up in the latest Secret Staircase book and I hope it's just the end of a story arc and not the series! Tempest is preparing for a farewell show when she finds the body of a difficult client on the steps of the theater. Conspiracy theories abound since this was the theater her mother disappeared from and rumors of curses begin to swirl around Tempest and her family. But, as Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains- however improbable - must be the truth.

How does a presumed dead person set a booby trap at a local theatre many years after her disappearance? When a former client sues Secret Staircase Construction, Tempest's father's business, then is murdered by the booby trap at a theatre Tempest has rented, the police are very interested in the case. Too impatient to wait for the police to clear her mother's name, Tempest embarks on a mystery so long in the making that leads her to some painful truths. An excellent addition to this series.

Gigi Pandian's Secret Staircase Mysteries just keep getting more and more entertaining. In the third in the series, A Midnight Puzzle, the reputation of Secret Staircase Construction, Tempest Raj's family's business, is threatened. Client Julian Rhodes' wife is seriously injured in a fall at home, and Julian is blaming the company for shoddy construction. But when Tempest is summoned to an old theater she is renting for her final show as a stage magician, she witnesses a brutal murder that calls into question everything she knows about the theater, her client, and who may be trying to incriminate her and ruin the business. What begins as two attacks turns into an opportunity for Tempest to find out what really happened to her aunt and her mother, also magicians, and perpetuated the family curse.

Secret Staircase Construction is in the business of renovating structures to include "architectural elements like a built-in bookcase that slid open to reveal a secret library, a reading nook accessed by stepping through a door hidden behind a portrait, or a faux fireplace that led to a playroom when you pressed bricks in the right order." Tempest joined the company after a disastrous show that ended her own career as a magician, but she has found she really enjoys working as a designer of architectural puzzles instead of magic effects. She is surrounded by her half-Indian, half-Scottish family and characters we have come to know in previous series entries, including an elderly magician preparing for his last tour, two men vying for her attention--one a magician, one a sculptor--and her librarian best friend and coworker, Ivy. Hovering in the background is someone she has nicknamed Moriarty, who may be either a nefarious stalker or a besotted supporter. And then there's Tempest's over-sized lop-eared rabbit, Abra (short for Abracadabra).

I absolutely love reading about the uber-creative changes the company has made to clients' homes and about the life of a stage magician, and I admire the author's research to make them feel authentic. The mysteries are all intricate, with suspenseful conclusions. In future entries, I am hoping for more depth to Tempest's character, now that she can hopefully leave the past behind and more forward in her new career.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press--Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Such a fun series! I really love the way Pandian has crafted magic and family and mystery into a series that is not only intriguing as a long game but also in the individual mysteries of each individual book. Her characters are complex and flawed and deliciously human for both factors. I love the way she continually shifts the reader's expectations, using misdirection with as much skill as her heroine Tempest. I did find the big wrap up to the murders of her mother and Aunt to be a bit convoluted, but still satisfying. I was afraid this was going to be the final book, when that mystery resolved itself, but liked that there was a cliffhanger without being a cliffhanger (that is, something is left on resolved but it's brought in with so little detail that it's not irritating but simply intriguing) at the end, which strongly indicates that more books will come. I am delighted about that, because this is a very fun series and I cannot wait for the next installment!

A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian is the third in the Secret Staircase Construction series and as usual Tempest Raj has a murder to solve as well as constructing hidden rooms and other fun architectural marvels. As always, a fun protagonist and lots of twisty turns before finding out who done it.

This is a nice cozy murder mystery that takes places in the theater. If you love theater, cozy murder mysteries and puzzles, then this may be the novel for you. I really enjoyed the Nicodemus character. He was definitely my favorite character. In fact, I preferred him over Tempest. I think the characters were written well enough and the storyline was easy to follow.