Tag Archives: Gigi Pandian

Review: Quicksand, by Gigi Pandian

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Book cover in purple and tan, featuring the title, Quicksand, and the author's name, Gigi Pandian. The main image is a hand-drawn village with what looks like a church and multi-storey buildings in an older style. There's also an empty picture frame and an open book with text and illustrations.

Quicksand, by Gigi Pandian (Gargoyle Girl Productions, 2014)

Historian Jaya Jones becomes a pawn in a criminal mastermind’s complex plan to rob the Louvre in Paris—and there’s far more at stake than she’s been told. On the plus side, she’s reunited with her mysterious sort-of-boyfriend Lane Peters for this mad heist.

Quicksand takes Jaya from her San Francisco home to Paris and then to other locations in France as she and Lane try to outwit their enemy and somehow keep from breaking the law.

This is book 3 in the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt series, and it’s a lot of fun with quirky characters and lots of action. Definitely high-stakes physically, professionally, and emotionally for Jaya and Lane, but not the sort of scary to keep a reader up at night. (You might be up late reading just to see what comes next, but that’s a different matter!)

In addition to the Jaya Jones series, multi-award-winning author Gigi Pandian also writes The Accidental Alchemist Mysteries and The Secret Staircase Mysteries.

Visit the Gigi Pandian website for more about the author and her books. Get both a free short mystery and a recipe book by signing up for her author newsletter.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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Review: The Accidental Alchemist, by Gigi Pandian

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Illustration of a crouching gargoyle, smiling, with large wings, holding a cooking whisk. In the background is a large house. Text includes the title: The Accidental Alchemist, and author: Gigi Pandian.

The Accidental Alchemist, by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink, 2015)

An ex-alchemist. A living gargoyle. A delinquent teen. What could possibly go wrong?

Zoe Faust hopes she’s finally found a safe place to settle down in Portland, Oregon, after so many years living on the road in her travel trailer. Except she discovers the gargoyle Dorian in one of the crates shipped from her former shop in Paris. And a local teen, Brixton, breaks into her house on a dare because everyone thinks it’s haunted.

Not the most peaceful start. Then a man is murdered on the property and valuable items are stolen. Zoe, Dorian, and Brixton forge an unlikely team to solve both crimes—before time runs out for Dorian.

It’s the characters that give this mystery heart. They share a common bond of not fitting in. Zoe’s full of regret, and Dorian isn’t human. The friendship that develops, extending to include Brixton, is heartwarming. And Dorian… who’d expect a formerly stone gargoyle to be a French chef? (The book includes vegan recipes—at over 300 years of age, Zoe is particular about what she puts into her body.)

The Accidental Alchemist is book 1 in the Accidental Alchemist Mysteries series. Highly recommended for a good read.

Gigi Pandian’s other series are the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries and the Secret Staircase Mysteries. I’ve read the first in each one and look forward to the rest. For more about the author and her books, visit gigipandian.com.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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