This is my first book from Gigi Pandain and I read it as a stand alone. The Library game was a fun and easy read.

Tempest Raj's family business, Secret Staircase Construction, builds unique architectural features like sliding bookshelves, secret passageways with secrete levers. Who isn't intrigued by that?!?!? This book is full of mystery, adventure. Definitely a pallet cleanser after some of the darker mysteries I have read lately. Very light hearted and enjoyable.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Library Game is the fourth in the Secret Staircase series, and I do think they are best read in order. Tempest, a former stage magician, is enjoying her work with her father’s Secret Staircase Construction company. This time around they’re working on changing a Gray House, large private home, in to a classic mystery library and will be presenting an escape room/mystery play in the house for the town’s “Summer Stroll” weekend. During a play rehearsal, one of the actors is murdered during a planned on-stage blackout, but the body disappears when everyone leaves the room to get their phones.

Tempest’s friend, Sanjay, aka “The Hindi Houdini,” is one of the suspects – or maybe he was supposed to be the victim. Either way, Tempest and her “Scooby” gang, Ivy, Gideon, and Sanjay, need to solve the case. The author does a great job of weaving in the elements important in stage magic like forcing choices, misdirection, and sleight of hand, into the mystery. I didn’t guess who the killer was, but probably should have.

I listened to the audiobook. The book is from Tempest’s point of view and the narrator does a great job. The characters are well-differentiated and I appreciated the variety of accents.

I do still love how close Tempest and her family and friends are. I’m a little sad the Gideon’s going to France for a few months. And the food her grandfather cooks sounds absolutely delicious. I also like the nods to Golden Age mysteries.

The Library Game is the fourth book in Gigi Pandian's Secret Staircase Mystery series. Tempest Raj and her family's business, Secret Staircase Construction, have been hired for a dream job. Building a literary themed escape room for Gray House Library. As part of the opening celebrations a murder mystery dinner is planned. Rehearsals for the show come to a sudden halt when one of the actors goes missing and later turns up dead. Tempest, her friends, and family get involved in the investigation.

This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series. I love the inventiveness of the mysteries and the descriptions of the builds done by the construction company. Most have had a locked room aspect to them and this is no different. There are plenty of twists and the story is well paced. Tempest is great and I always love her friends and family. I highly recommend the audio versions of these books. Soneela Nankani does a great job with the narration. I can't wait for the next installment of this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the digital copy of this audiobook; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Library Game is the 4th book in the Secret Staircase Mysteries, and I wondered if that would be an issue because this series is new to me and haven’t read the other titles. It was a bit confusing early on, and it took me ages to get into it. I had a hard time feeling engaged with the story, and it really wasn’t until the last half of the book that I felt I was enjoying the book. I think part of the issue is that I think the concept of the book was actually quite good, but the execution of the story left something to be desired.

That’s not to say the book was all bad. I guess I just had different expectations going in. I expected there to be more sleuthing going on. And the majority of the mystery solving takes place outside of the escape rooms, so that was kind of a letdown.

I do have to admit that the ending was a bit of a surprise, as I usually can follow along and guess the culprit in a locked room mystery by following the clues planted in the story. But overall, I felt the mystery was a little meh.

The book was narrated by Soneela Nankani, and I thought they did a fine job, it’s just that the material did not resonate with me.

I first picked this book because the premise sounded like a fun one. Little did I know it was in a series. But gotta say it was able to be read as a standalone and you didn’t get lost at all. It’s always nice to get to read a trapped room mystery and this did a great job at it. Kept me trying to figure out who the killer was and why! I really love the FMC and can’t wait to see where the book pivots from here. Fast entertaining read that was really good:) thanks NetGalley for the arc!

This is a new series for me and it’s the 4th installment in the Secret Staircase mysteries. How have I missed these? Hidden staircases, secret passageways, mysterious puzzles, multicultural references, poison gardens, lots of interesting food (with bonus recipes at the end). Gigi Pandian’s “Secret Staircase” series (referring to a construction company that adds unusual architectural features to residences) is a cozy mystery fan’s staple. There’s a primary Scooby-Do “gang”: Tempest (a former magician), Ivy (her best friend/librarian), Gideon (a stonemason), Darius (dad and builder), Grandpa Ash (bringer of Scottish/Indian desserts), and Sanjay (the Hindi Houdini). The action takes place in the cute Northern California village of Hidden Creek.

In “The Library Game,” the Secret Staircase company is rehabbing an old mansion of a collector of classic detective fiction into a new community library and will be presenting an escape room/mystery play in the house for the local festival weekend. Local actors are hired and during a rehearsal, one of them is murdered during a planned on-stage blackout. After everyone runs for their phones, the body disappears. Gigi Pandian is the master of locked room mysteries and this one doesn’t disappoint.

In the audiobook, Soneela Nankani masterfully narrates from Tempest’s POV, bringing the characters to life and distinguishing each one with their own voice and personality. I have favorite narrators and Soneela has the type of voice acting that I love. The book was a quick read and enjoyable. I alternated between the ebook and the audiobook and both experiences were terrific.

This story was the right and delightful combination of mystery, illusion, coziness and a little bit of romance with a lot of book-loving bibliophiles as characters. I’ll definitely check out the previous three and I look forward to future ones! 4 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES/NO
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Oleander and monkshood, common garden poisonous plants, do get a mention.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and Macmillan Aidio and NetGalley for an advanced reader and listener copies!

The Library Game was a fun little mystery. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the first three books in the series.

Update: I had read the ARC of this book back in December and enjoyed it for is low stakes cozy feel so when the audiobook was offered as an ALC I grabbed it to do a re read.

I enjoyed it the same the second time around! The narrator Soneela Nankani did an OK job with the material. I will say at 1x the rate it was way too slow to listen to for my tastes. It was also a little uneven with parts being drawn out and breathy and then she would speed up out of the blue. However, speeding up the rate a bit solved the issue for the most part. The other thing that may not be as enjoyable is the vocal changes for different characters were very subtle so it was hard to keep characters straight. But overall it didn’t impact my enjoyment of the story.

So if you’re an audio reader, give the audiobook a shot, just speed it up a touch! I want to thank Macmillan audio for the ALC!

Original Review:

This is my first time reading this author and despite this being the 4th book in the series, I figured it could be read as a stand alone as most cozy mysteries can. And I was right. I had no issue having not read the first books as any information needed was explained in this book in a seamless way.

This is the epitome of “cozy” mystery. It’s one that you can just curl up with and get through quickly. It is a little slow at the beginning but it quickly picks up to get into the action.

It’s the type of book that you wish you could be in real like. An old house being transformed into a niche library with a murder mystery dinner? Yes please!

So if you’re looking for a fun low stakes cozy read for this early Spring, this book comes out on March 18th 2025.

I am thankful to have gotten an eARC for free from St Martin’s Press through NetGalley to enjoy which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

Can I just say that St Martins line up from different imprints for the first half of the year is killing it!! So many awesome books coming out!
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again