The Library Game by Gigi Pandian

Item: The Library Game
Rating: 5
Author: BaronessMom

Posted March 31, 2025 by BaronessMom in Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Library Game

by Gigi Pandian

Series: Secret Staircase Mystery #4
Series Rating:

Published by Minotaur on March 18, 2025
Setting: Northern California
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 312
Format: Audible Audiobook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: the Publisher
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: Under Lock & Skeleton Key, A Midnight Puzzle

In The Library Game, Tempest Raj and Secret Staircase Construction are renovating a classic detective fiction library that just got its first real-life mystery.

Tempest Raj couldn’t be happier that the family business, Secret Staircase Construction, is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Known for enchanting architectural features like sliding bookshelves and secret passageways, the company is now taking on a dream project: transforming a home into a public library that celebrates history's greatest fictional detectives.

Though the work is far from done, Gray House Library’s new owner is eager to host a murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room. But when a rehearsal ends with an actor murdered and the body vanishes, Tempest is witness to a seemingly impossible crime. Fueled by her grandfather’s Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the rest of the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

Multiple award winning author Gigi Pandian masterfully weaves wit and warmth in the Secret Staircase Mysteries. Readers will delight in the surprises Secret Staircase Construction uncovers behind the next locked door.

The Library Game by Gigi Pandian is a wonderfully written magical mystery.

Will Tempest and her friends save the Gray House Library?

Tempest and her friends are working on a new library with a closed room mystery theater that Tempest and Ivy wrote. The library will be an extension of the current library, but feature only classic mysteries.

The Mystery

Our mystery has two parts that may be linked. The first part is the other library that Secret Staircase Construction worked on before, which was broken into, but it doesn’t look as though anything was taken. Also, the culprit seemed invisible. The second part is at their first rehearsal for the play part, and Sanjay is recruited to replace one of the three actors for the night. That actor turns up dead and then disappears. There is a lot of redirection and slight of hand going on with this investigation. Also, with limited suspects, and the house was under surveillance the entire time, it is quite a doozy of a mystery.

The Gang

The gang is starting to click together with these mysteries. Instead of calling themselves the Scoobies, they will use the Abracadabras since their mascot is a flobby-eared bunny.

However, Gideon is preparing to leave for a three-month internship in France. Tempest is torn up about him going, but can’t seem to talk to him about it. Sanjay may want more than friendship with Tempest, but I can’t be sure of that. Ivy is looking for a place to live since she has to move from her apartment. There are lots of changes going on with the gang. The constant being Tempest’s family, her dad is always there for them, and her grandparents offer lots of yummy food, comfort, and wisdom.

Five Stars

My rating for The Library Game by Gigi Pandian is five stars. I love the way the author pulls together so many classic mysteries, balancing them with magic, family, and friendship in a wonderful setting.

Check out the Blackberry Crumble Cobbler recipe at the book’s end. It sounds amazing.

Secret Staircase Mystery

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Library Game by Gigi Pandian.

Until the next time,

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About Gigi Pandian

Gigi Pandian is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning mystery author, breast cancer survivor, and accidental almost-vegan. The child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India, she spent her childhood being dragged around the world on their research trips and now lives outside San Francisco with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the garden. Gigi writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries, the Accidental Alchemist Mysteries, and locked-room mystery short stories. Her debut novel, Artifact, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a “Best of 2012” Debut Novel by Suspense Magazine, and her fiction has received Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Derringer Awards, and been nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award. Along with Kellye Garrett and Walter Mosley, she’s one of the co-founders of Crime Writers of Color.

Gigi’s locked-room mystery short story “The Locked Room Library” appeared in the July/August 2021 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, the latest Accidental Alchemist novel, The Alchemist of Fire and Fortune, was published in October, 2021, and her first Secret Staircase mystery, Under Lock & Skeleton Key, is coming from Minotaur Books in March 2022.