I thought I was over cozy mysteries but this series has me in a chokehold. I love that the characters make sense to be trying to unfold what happened and don’t seem to be going out of their way to investigate like lil busy bodies.

I think you could read it as a standalone but WHY?! I’d start from the beginning it’s all great.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan for an alc

This book is such a fun twist on a cozy mystery. I love that the characters are dynamic and from such unique fields of work. This book reminds me of a game of Clue with magic tricks built in, and it is just lovely. Readers are going to be swept up in a mystery that will enchant and stump them, more importantly it will keep them guessing till the very end. Truly this is pleasure to read from start to finish, and I am excited to recommend it soon.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

The Library Game is the fourth in the Secret Staircaae Mysteries series. Secret Staircase Construction is a family company which designs and creates incredible quirky home features such as secret staircases and hidden panels, anything an imaginative client dreams of. This time, Tempest is especially thrilled to work on the Gary House Library project, the ultimate fairy tale-ish house which is to become a library. Tempest and her coworker and friend Ivy pour their hearts into it with the support of others. But not all the neighbours are on board. Murder is added to the mix.

The blurb promised a compelling mystery and in theory it is irresistible to me, especially as I really like this series. But it is not as strong as the previous installments. Maybe it just didn't meet my expectations. The mystery itself lacked oomph. However, I liked the nods to Golden Age authors and libraries as well as the bookish clues and construction project.

This cozy series is fun to leap into but do start with the others. Not that this can't be a standalone...it can. It's just that the first three deliver more of a punch which is important when starting.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as the other Secret Staircase. The middle was too long. The characters didn’t find the solution quickly enough to keep me interested. I suppose some of it was to show Tempest’s confusion between her feelings for her two suitors. I recommend this book. You don’t have to have read any others in the series, although it helps with the relationships between all the characters.
Thank you to Net Gallery for the preview opportunity.

The Library Game is the 4th book in the Secret Staircase Mystery series and it is an intriguing locked room cozy mystery. The characters are very likable and the mystery kept me guessing. I enjoy how the parts of the mystery are solved a little at a time. Tempest Raj was a stage magician but now works for her family's Secret Staircase Construction Company. Her friends Ivy, Sanjay, and Gideon are wonderful, supportive friends and help with investigating. Tempest has finally chosen one of the guys to date but they all still hang out. Secret Staircase Construction is renovating a house into a mystery library. The new owner wants to host a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater and all four friends are helping out. During one of the rehearsals, they think a local is dead and then he disappears. The group is together and no one leaves the room so they are confused how it could happen. There are some strange things going on as well to complicate the situation. This is such an intriguing book and series and I am looking forward to more adventures with the friends. #TheLibraryGame #TheSecretStaircaseMystery #MinotaurBooks #StMartinsPress #GigiPandian

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for the copy of this book for review.

This is the fourth book I’ve read by this author with these characters. I’m very much enjoying the series. The main character is Tempest Raj, a woman who was an entertainer for many years who is now working in her family’s business of remodeling homes. But these remodels have a twist. The company specializes in secret staircases, hidden alcoves, trick entries and other seemingly magical architectural details.
Tempest’s family are very supportive of each other as well as their community and friends.

The characters in these stories have come to feel like friends to this reader as well. They have quirks in their personalities and each one is unique.
In this story, Tempest and her gang are working on a house they are transforming into a library. The owner passed away and left a vast number of volumes of old-school mystery books. He left funds for his nephew to renovate the house and make it into a specialty library with living quarters above.

To introduce the new specialty library to the community, a play is written to entertain the crowds during a weekend event. While rehearsing the play, things begin to go awry. From what seemed to be a murder victim, to a disappearing body, a busybody neighbor, and one of Tempest’s friends being put under surveillance by the police, this story is full of twists and turns. One issue after another arises and Tempest and her friends have to solve the real life mysteries before someone else gets hurt or killed.

Another successful adventure by Gigi Pandian. Even though I figured out many parts of it, I love these characters and plot lines so much that it’s like hanging out with old friends. Bring on the next one.

Tempest Raj returns to our shelves in another mystery. This time we are delighted with a more locked room mystery than previously. As Secret Staircase's latest project is nearing its opening, a dead body is found. Could this be the work of someone with a grudge against the victim? Or someone who doesn't want to see the project (a themed library) finished and in business? The answers to these questions are what Tempest intends to uncover.

This is the fourth book in the Secret Staircase Mysteries, and we are treated back to cozy murder mystery vibes again. I see from a lot of advanced reviews that many people didn't realize this was a series, and while I think it could possibly be read as a standalone, there is not enough exposition to do it justice as such. You don't really get the level of character development in this one as you do in all of the previous ones. I think that once this is published and more people who are familiar with the series put in their reviews, it will be more appreciated.

With the exception of the character Gideon, there is not much that is changed by the end of the book in terms of the characters lives. So this book was more contained within itself and didn't really progress the overarching story-line of Secret Staircase Mysteries.

While this was still an enjoyable novel, I found this to be my least favourite of the series so far. I didn't feel as pulled in by the mystery, and maybe part of that is that I am not the biggest fan of Sanjay, and he featured a little more heavily in this book.

Regardless, this was still a fun book, and will be a worthwhile read for anyone who is a fan of the series!

3.5 rounded up to 4

Another enjoyable read from Gigi Pandian, and the fourth in the Secret Staircase series.

In terms of the mystery and the quality of how the characters are written, this was a return to form for the series, which slipped a lot in the third book. Here we get the best of Tempest, Ivy, and the rest of the gang, as well as a well plotted mystery.

I still wish this series would spend more time on the architectural detail and the stage magic driven stuff that made the first book in the series so exceptional. This one gives us a bit more of the latter, but not much of the former. I wish we saw more of Tempest’s relatives as well, who are delightful and featured more prominently earlier in the series.

I was very happy with the mystery itself, which felt both solidly plotted and thoroughly enjoyable. It seems like Pandian won’t have any trouble keeping this series going, so I hope we see another installment in the not too distant future.

This is a great cozy mystery series that I constantly recommend to others. I enjoyed this new installment, which involves busybody neighbors, a dream local library for mystery lovers, and dinner theater--until the solution was revealed. Without giving too much away, I thought the entire debacle hinged on an established character acting in a way that was in opposition to their character. This is the first time I've been less than impressed with a Pandian reveal, however. I will still recommend this series as a whole and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I want to start my review with a disclaimer: I have not read any of the other books in the Secret Staircase series. I have a feeling I would have liked the book better had I already been familiar with the characters and their relationships.

Tempest Raj and her friends are close to complete on renovations to turn an old mansion into a library for mysteries, per the will of the deceased owner. As part of the upcoming town event, they plan to soft launch with a murder mystery play and a themed escape room, but when lights come up andn one of the actors is dead, the locked-room mystery becomes all too real. A nosy neighbor, magic tricks gone awry, possible hauntings, and lots of twists and turns ensue as the almost-Scooby-gang works to solve the mystery and save the library.

Cozy mysteries and books with book themes or magic are comfort reads for me, so I had high hopes for a book that combined all of these elements. Some of the elements were clever, like the high-stakes locked escape room mystery within the locked-room mystery. However, while I thought many of the characters and their relationships had potential, I felt a lack of connection and investment in their lives. I trust that this was due to the fact that this is book 4 of a series, but am still debating whether I care enough to go back and find books 1-3. Others feel flat for me. I rounded up from 2.5 stars, because I think if you have read the others in the series, you'd like it more than I did.

This should have been an easy like for me, I love a good mystery involving libraries, books etc, plus the promise of secret passages and a locked room murder seemed like my thing. Everything felt flat though. I couldn't get into it and ultimately didn't want to continue. The characters and writing needed a lot more meat on their bones to keep the pages turning.

Tempest Raj and her family’s company, Secret Staircase Construction, are working on their dream project—transforming a home into a public library dedicated to history’s greatest fictional detectives. But when a rehearsal for a mystery dinner takes a deadly turn, Tempest finds herself caught in an impossible crime where fiction meets reality.

This sounded like something I would love, but unfortunately, it fell flat. I pushed through hoping to get pulled into the mystery, but I just couldn’t get into it.

I really wanted to like The Library Game. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read the other books in the Secret Staircase Mysteries series, or maybe I need to accept that not all cozy mysteries are for me. The synopsis made it sound like something I’d enjoy—architectural secrets, a literary escape room, a seemingly impossible crime—but in reality, it just didn’t grip me.

At 50% in, I felt no connection to the characters, and the storyline didn't hold my interest. It’s not that I need a thriller-level pace, but I’ve read other cozies that kept me engaged. This one feels too much like Scooby-Doo—a lot happening, yet nothing actually happening.

Then there’s the cast. I don’t even know what age range these characters are supposed to be, but they felt… naïve. Let’s be real, they’re kind of clueless, and it’s frustrating. Maybe I’m just too old for this one, but I kept waiting for something to click, and it never did.

I was torn on whether to push through or DNF, and I hate DNFing ARCs. But if I kept reading and getting nothing in return, what’s the point? Maybe fans of the series will get more out of this, but for me, it just didn't work.

Such a fun read! This was a NetGalley selection I reviewed, and enjoyed very much!
While I wish I had known this was #4 in a series before I started it, I am happy to say the author developed the characters and storyline so well, it felt much more like a stand alone story.
I enjoyed the plot and that the path to uncovering "whodunit " was a complex one, so it definitely kept me engaged and guessing.
Looking forward to reading the previous books in the series as well as others by this author in the future! Definitely recommend! 4.5 stars

This was a very different cozy mystery. It was so interesting in following the clues to the crimes. This is the fourth book in the series, but I had no problem following along even though I hadn’t read the others. The book kept me guessing. The writing is very detailed so I was able to envision what the setting looked like. It kept me entertained for many pleasant hours. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I love Gigi Pandian's Secret Staircase series. The combination of mystery, friendship, and stage magic makes for a very entertaining series.

Tempest and her friends are putting on a murder mystery show and escape room to publicize the new classic mystery library in town. Harold Gray had an impressive collection of classic mysteries that he wanted the public to be able to enjoy. He left his grandson Cameron the house to turn into a library, including the attic room upstairs so he would have a place to live. He also hired Enid, the purveyor of the other private mystery library in town, to help set up the library and act as an assistant until the library was of the ground.

Secret Staircase Construction was hired to do the renovation, which means that Tempest and her friends had plenty of access to set up their show and the escape room.


At the rehearsal, one of the actors, Lucas, is dead. His body disappears before the police get there. But two days later, some of the gang is lured to the house and trapped in the escape room. When they get out, they find Lucas' body on the floor. They have to figure out why he was killed, and clear the suspicion that Sanjay had anything to do with it.

This book ends in a way where there could be another book in the series, or not. While I would love another book in the series, I also understand if Pandian wants to move on to other ideas!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

I love a good library so I will be honest that I don't really understand the controversy in this book about not wanting a library built. In this cozy mystery, a house is built into a library but many people oppose it. To make matters worse, while planning a murder mystery dinner and escape room, someone is really murdered. Tempest works with her fellow murder mystery players to figure out who is the killer and why did it happen.

I was given this book to read by the publisher and I have not read the three books before this. However, the author did a great job explaining the back story so I never felt lost in the story. I do think I would have better appreciated this story if I had read the first three books. This was a perfectly fine mystery. I did not figure out who the killer was so job well done by the author. However, I just didn't love this story. There was a slight hint of a romance between Tempest and Gideon but it didn't really go anywhere. There were nods to illusion and lots of references to past crime novels which was interesting. This book was just not for me though. I wanted something more to it than just solving a murder. When everything was revealed it felt a little anti-climatic because I just did not get the justification.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I jumped into this book having not read the previous installments in the series and I still felt it was worthwhile. With the broad cast of characters, I wasn't sure who I could trust by default from previous books and who was a new suspicious person for this book alone, but in the end that was just more theories for me to work thru to get to the actual suspect to blame.

A cozy read, with a fun library backdrop.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC for my early review.

"The Library Game" by Gigi Pandian is a mixed bag of magical libraries and murder mysteries that'll keep you turning pages, even if the ending might leave you wanting more.

Let's talk about those libraries first - oh my goodness! The Secret Staircase Construction team creates spaces that are straight out of a bookworm's wildest dreams. I found myself getting lost in the descriptions, imagining hidden nooks and crannies filled with rare tomes and whispered secrets.

The lock-room scene? Pure adrenaline. It's like being in an escape room, but with real danger lurking around every corner. Piecing together clues had me feeling like a regular sleuth, and I loved every minute of it.

At the heart of the story are four friends, led by our protagonist Tempest. Their bond is put to the test when one of them falls under suspicion after a colleague turns up dead. It's a classic "whodunit" with a twist of friendship drama that keeps things interesting.

Now, about Tempest - she's a bit of a firecracker. Her standoff with the elderly neighbor at the beginning had me raising an eyebrow. It felt a tad aggressive and made me wonder if I was going to like her. As the story progressed, she grew on me, but that initial impression lingered.

I'll be honest, the grand reveal didn't quite live up to the build-up. After all the twists and turns, I was expecting something mind-blowing, but it fell a bit flat for me.

Despite that, "The Library Game" has a cozy charm that's hard to resist. The warm family scenes and friendship moments add a layer of comfort to the suspense. It's like curling up with a good book and a cup of tea - even if the tea's a little lukewarm by the end.

If you're in the mood for a mystery with a side of found family vibes, give this one a shot.

Thank you, Minotaur and NetGalley, for my free book.

2.5 stars, rounded to 3

This is book 4 in the Secret Staircase series, a very cozy mystery. I don’t think there were any curse words and there were lots of great descriptions of food made by the main character’s grandfather (seriously, that might have been the best part. Food descriptions in books, one of the true pleasures of life. Makes me want to eat, though, and while the Scooby gang here is enjoying a picnic basket full of Ash’s assorted sandwiches on baguettes, I’m eating the completely unfulfilling empty calories of leftover baby Reese’s Cups from Halloween. But I digress.

Tempest Raj, is a former magician (I think you may find out why in earlier books, not sure) and now works with her dad and two of her friends at Secret Staircase Construction, a specialty construction firm. The company is currently transforming a fairy-tale home into a mystery library complete with sliding bookshelves. They have to have the library ready for an upcoming murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room that will serve as the library’s grand opening and part of the town’s walking tour.

Tempest, her construction company friends (Ivy Youngblood and Gideon Torres,) the house’s owner, Cameron Gray and amateur actors are present at the house for a rehearsal when…there’s a (gasp!) murder! Then the body disappears! Then it reappears after the group is trapped in a real escape room in the house! Are classic mystery plots coming to life? Who killed the actor and why?

So, there are many, MANY reference to things that happened in the first three books. You can read this as a standalone, but you’ll feel like you missed a lot. It’s an OK little cozy mystery, however once Tempest makes a grand inference based on something another character says (which keeps that person a suspect) that is absolutely incorrect (I’m surprised this wasn’t caught in editing, this isn’t a typo, it’s a faulty plot point.)

On the plus side, I already mentioned Ash’s food, plus I loved the idea of this library, and I also really enjoyed when Ivy brings in a bag full o’ classic mysteries that she feels are in some way germane to their case (I don’t know why she brought the actual books to their meeting, like they were going to sit down and read them, but that’s a quibble…I added two titles to my TBR list.). In the end though I don’t really have a desire to read on in the series, but cozy mysteries aren’t usually my thing. Fans of the genre should like this, but go back and start with number one.

Another win in this terrific series with Tempest and those she loves and works with. The whole family is magically extraordinary, so the solution to this Escape Room puzzle is absolutely wonderful. Well written as always with marvelous characters, sneaky hints and twists, and a real surprise ending. Loved it!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Avail Mar 18, 2025
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