THE ALCHEMIST OF ALL HALLOWS EVE - Gigi Pandian


 I've noted before that I'm typically not a fan of cozy mysteries, but Gigi Pandian is an author I really enjoy. I'm so delighted that she's found a way to continue the Accidental Alchemist series after the initial publisher had some troubles.

Zoe Faust has lived for centuries thanks to an alchemy accident and in order to not be discovered, she's constantly on the move. To say she's seen a few strange things in her extended lifetime would be putting it mildly. She is currently host to a talking, French gargoyle by the name of Dorian who also happens to love cooking. But maybe stranger still is the fact that she's actually considering settling down.

Zoe is about to marry Max - a retired detective who has helped Zoe solve a few mysteries (or is that vice versa?). Max is one of the very few people who know that Zoe was actually born in 1676, despite looking all of 28 years old. Zoe is now ready to settle down and live with Max the rest of his days and she's found the perfect house. But Max doesn't want to live there.  Locally it's known as "the murder house" because of a rumored, unsolved murder that took place there, with the current owner as the, again rumored, most likely suspect.

Looking to solve the as-yet unsolved murder and make the home suitable for Max, the odd trio (a centuries old woman, a retired detective, and a gargoyle) set out to find answers.  Their search will bring them in contact with some stranger-still characters, such as a medium, a witch, and a murderer.

Author Gigi Pandian blends mystery, paranormal, and humor better than anyone I've read and she tops it all off with a few recipes thrown in (the gargoyle is a chef, remember).

The mystery is set up nicely and takes a slight turn just as we get started. And like any good mystery, there's a red herring or two to keep us on our toes. Pandian really does this well.

But of course what really draws the reader in is the relationship between the central characters (as well as the characters themselves). They're each fun, smart, and sassy. They rely on each other in the best ways. I can't help but think of the Star Trek trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. There's calm, steady, and thoughtful (Spock and Max), emotional and reactionary (McCoy and Dorian), and the leader who keeps the balance (Kirk and Zoe).

I've liked the adventurousness of some of the other books in the series and the visits to Europe, but rooting themselves a bit feels settled, which is how the character of Zoe is feeling. I like it and I'm curious to see how this will affect future volumes.

I also really like that while this is part of a series (book ten!), it can be read as a stand-alone. You don't need to have read the previous nine books to enjoy this. But you'll definitely want to read the other volumes because they're just so much fun.

Looking for a good book? The Alchemist of All Hallows Eve by Gigi Pandian is the tenth book in the Accidental Alchemist series. It's fun, clever, and witty. Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy it, but even fans of darker mysteries will find the characters delightful.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * * 

The Alchemist of All Hallows Eve

author: Gigi Pandian

series: The Accidental Alchemist #10

publisher: Gargoyle Girl Productions

ISBN:  9781938213373

paperback, 292 pages 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SILVER ECHOES - Rebecca Rosenberg

Image
Rebecca Rosenberg's Silver Echoes is compelling historical fiction based on real people and events set in the early 20th century. We mostly follow Silver Dollar Tabor - the daughter of Horace and Baby Doe Tabor who made their fortune during the silver mine boom in Colorado and were among the country's elite. Silver hopes to use her family's fame as a springboard and take the world by storm as an entertainer, but fame would allude her, especially after the death of her father and the loss of the mines (and therefore an income). Determined to make something of herself in the entertainment world, and to get back some of the Tabor fortune, Silver takes any job that's offered, leading her into the circus, working with dangerous animals. As if life wasn't challenging enough for Silver, she struggles with a personality disorder and has even given her alter ego a name - Echo LaVode - and will introduce herself as such when she's under Echo's control. Silver/Echo tr...
Read more

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - Ian Fleming

Image
 Well this was a surprise. I am by no mean a big James Bond fan.  I was, however, a teenage boy in the 1970's so spies, action, and beautiful-falling-out-of-their-skimpy-costumes-women were the kinds of movies I went to see with my friends.  And while the movie version of You Only Live Twice came out a  little early for me, you can be sure I went back and rented it when I was in college. But it's only been recently that I've decided to read the originals - the books that the fanciful movies were made from. My surprise, then, is that this book bares almost no resemblance to the movie of the same title. As Wikipedia says (I went to look it up, wondering if my memory of the movie was wrong): "( You Only Live Twice ) is the first James Bond film to discard most of Fleming's plot, using only a few characters and locations from the book as the background for an entirely new story." James Bond's wife, Tracy, was murdered shortly after their wedding.  The killer ...
Read more

THE ALEPH EXTRACTION - Dan Moren

Image
  Simon Kovalic haven't even had a chance to breathe and recover from their teammate's betrayal in the last mission when he and his team are assigned their next job - a heist. They are going to have to steal a relic that may belong to an alien race, and maybe, just maybe, provide the knowledge to give the Commonwealth a leg-up on the Illyrican. To do this, they are going to have to steal this artifact from a gangster who is expecting them. To help them out, they are assigned a new crew-member, Specialist Addy Sayers, who is an ex-com with a quick temper. Working together will be essential to completing this mission, but how can they trust this un-trustworthy newcomer, especially in light of what happened with their last crew member? This is some really fun space opera. Author Dan Moren gives us a clever set of characters - most who work well by themselves but have to find a way to trust their teammates in order to survive - no easy feat, given how Moren sets these characters i...
Read more