My turn today on this wonderful tour!

The Masquerading Magician
by Gigi Pandian
Ms. Pandian conjures up an interesting tale that shows the good and bad of the magic and ‘human’ worlds coming together. The subplot about the ‘missing stone gargoyle statue’ is not to be missed!
~Back Porchervations
Pandian’s books are filled with historical details, usually very unique and always fascinating…The Masquerading Magician is a complex mystery with lots of twists and turns.
~Cozy Up With Kathy
The Masquerading Magician
(An Accidental Alchemist Mystery)
Mystery
2nd in Series
Midnight Ink (January 8, 2016)
Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0738742359
Synopsis
Deciphering an ancient alchemy book is more difficult than Zoe Faust bargained for. She’d much rather be gardening and exploring her new home of Portland, Oregon—but time is running out for living gargoyle Dorian Robert-Houdin. If Zoe isn’t able to unlock the alchemy book’s secrets soon, the French gargoyle will remain awake but trapped in stone forever.
When Zoe gives herself a rare night out to attend a classic magic show that reminds her of her youth, she realizes the stage magicians are much more than they seem. A murder at the theater leads back to a string of unsolved robberies and murders in Portland’s past, and a mystery far more personal than Zoe and Dorian ever imagined.
About The Author
USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s the author of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mystery series (Artifact, Pirate Vishnu, and Quicksand) and the Accidental Alchemist mysteries (The Accidental Alchemist and The Masquerading Magician).
Gigi’s debut mystery was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant, the follow-up won the Left Coast Crime Rose Award, and her short fiction has been short-listed for Agatha and Macavity awards. A breast cancer diagnosis in her thirties taught her two important life lessons: healing foods can taste amazing, and life’s too short to waste a single moment. Find her online at www.gigipandian.com
Author Links
Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
Blog Gargoyle photography blog
A Book Excerpt
Persephone & Prometheus’s Phantasmagoria: A Classic Magic Show in the Modern World.
The giant poster was illustrated in the style of Victorian Era stage magic posters. Two figures faced each other from opposite sides of a stage, the larger one in a tuxedo and top hat, the smaller impish figure in a devilish red suit. The taller tuxedoed figure held a wand, pointed upward toward an ethereal floating figure. The devilish man held a ball of fire in his hand.
I smiled to myself as Max and I made our way through the lobby, my fingers looped through his. Some things had changed since the Victorian era. The tuxedo-clad magician in the poster was a woman. Prometheus and Persephone were a husband and wife magic act with equal billing.
Their style reminded me very much of posters of King-of-Cards Thurston and Carter the Great, both of whom used ghost and devil imagery in their posters and shows to illustrate the motif that they were magicians able to control the spirit world. The ambiance felt more like Paris in 1845, on the day Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin took to the stage at the newly-built Palais Royal theater with his ingenious mechanical inventions and masterful sleight-of-hand. But this was a small theater near Portland, Oregon’s Mt. Tabor, over 150 years later. Seeing that poster made me feel like I’d been transported back in time.
I should know. I attended Robert-Houdin’s show over a century ago.
Though I look outwardly like a woman in her late twenties with trendy dyed-white hair who’s named after her grandmother Zoe Faust, the truth is far different. Long before I bought a run-down house in Portland three months ago, I was born in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1676.
A shiver swept over me as a memory of a different time and place overtook me. Casually-dressed Oregonians with cell phones in their pockets became formally-attired members of society who would remember this performance for a lifetime.
Breathe, Zoe
.
I willed myself to remember it wasn’t a taut corset constricting my breathing, but my own nerves. I had thought tonight’s opening performance would be the perfect way to spend time with Max after he’d been away, but could I trust myself with him? I couldn’t tell him the truth about my past, no matter how much I wanted to.
Maybe this had been a terrible idea.
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Tour Participants
January 8 – Back Porchervations – Review
January 9 – Queen of All She Reads – Review
January 10 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Review
January 11 – The Bookwyrm’s Hoard – Review
January 11 – Fantastic Feathers – Spotlight
January 12 – deal sharing aunt – Spotlight
January 12 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – Spotlight
January 13 – fuonlyknew – Review
January 14 – The Girl with Book Lungs – Spotlight
January 15 – Mallory Heart Reviews – Review
January 16 – Brooke Blogs – Spotlight
January 17 – Teresa Trent Author – Review
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Excerpt is great, love Gigi’s smile, so I’m willing to try out a new author……
Sounds like a great read.
This sounds like an exciting series.
Thanks for the giveaway. I would love to win a copy.
This is such a weird coincidence. I haven’t read any of Gigi Pandian’s books yet, although the Jaya Jones ones have been on my want to read list. Yesterday was my sister’s birthday, and I was browsing on Amazon for a kindle book to buy her, and I came across The Accidental Alchemist, and thought, “That looks interesting!” So, I purchased it for my sister. Then, this morning I wake up and this email is in my inbox. I’ve entered the giveaway and hope to win!
Looks like a fascinating read.
Sounds like a good read.
Congratulations on your new release! The Masquerading Magician sounds like a fascinating book. Great excerpt. I’d love to read more.
I really have enjoyed Gigi’s Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries and look forward to reading the Accidental Alchemist mysteries. 🙂