The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin, by Gigi Pandian (Gargoyle Girl Productions, 2022)
Zoe’s an alchemist, sure, but she doesn’t believe in magic. Or in ghosts. So when she and a friend see a teenage girl who was murdered 16 years ago, she’s shaken. Her idea of a rational explanation is that maybe the girl was a prodigy who found the Elixir of Life at a young age, faked her own death, and has reappeared.
Most of her friends’ votes split between “ghost” and “trick.”
Anyone else who’s seen the apparition was connected with the dead girl. Zoe’s friend was the intended target at their sighting. And one sighting led to an injury. Is Zoe’s friend in danger too?
The sixteen-year-old murder case was never solved. Along with trying to find the truth about the “ghost,” Zoe and friends want to find the murderer and bring closure to the girl’s family and friends. Although the crime happened in the past, the investigation has a satisfying locked-room feel since everyone’s convinced the killer was one of the small group invited to the girl’s homecoming party the day she died.
Alchemist Zoe Faust, a 300+ year-old herbalist currently living in Oregon, may have been intended as the star of this series, but living gargoyle Dorian charms his way into first place. There’s something about this old-fashioned, formerly-stone, classically-trained French chef that endears him to readers. And beginning in the previous book he has his own point of view chapters.
I’m so fond of these characters. We have a mix of these two who are very old, a few even older friends, regular adults like Zoe’s boyfriend, and some ordinary teens. The interplay works well.
The Alchemist of Riddle and Ruin is book 6 in the Accidental Alchemist series. Each mystery reads well as a stand-alone, although there’s character and relationship development along the way. There’s no harm in starting here, but it’s such a good series I have to suggest you begin at the beginning with The Accidental Alchemist.
USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author Gigi Pandian also writes the Secret Staircase mysteries and the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries. And there’s a new Jaya Jones series coming in 2027: the Scottish Treasure Hunt Mysteries. For more about the author and her work visit gigipandian.com.
[Review copy from the public library.]
