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thenovelbook's review against another edition
3.0
A fairly entertaining story with plenty of nods to the Golden Age of detective fiction. The premise of having so much of the story relate to stage magicians just isn't one that I personally find that interesting, as the illusions and stagecraft are so intensely visual that it's hard to get them to come across plausibly on the page. For my brain, anyway.
It was not difficult to pick out the villain just based on the options and the basic principle of misdirection, so it didn't feel too surprising at the end.
My favorite part, though, is the Locked Room Library with its train car meeting room, and all the shout-outs to clever writers of the past, like John Dickson Carr. If you enjoy genre fiction of the cozy mystery type, you might find this fun.
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this digital review copy!
It was not difficult to pick out the villain just based on the options and the basic principle of misdirection, so it didn't feel too surprising at the end.
My favorite part, though, is the Locked Room Library with its train car meeting room, and all the shout-outs to clever writers of the past, like John Dickson Carr. If you enjoy genre fiction of the cozy mystery type, you might find this fun.
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this digital review copy!
rants_n_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ysfincolor's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
mweis's review against another edition
3.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I had not realized this was part of a series when I requested it, so while this mystery does mostly stand on it's own I think I would have gotten more out of it if I had read the previous two.
A Midnight Puzzle is a mystery on the cozy end featuring a haunted theatre, a regenerating booby trap, and a lot of delicious sounding food. Tempest Raj works at her family's construction company that specializes in creating "magical" architecture, like secret staircases, hidden nooks, etc. She is also a former stage magician, as was her mother and aunt who both died during performances and under suspicious circumstances.
I'll be honest there were a lot of threads here that didn't fully come together for me and I'm not sure if it was because I was missing the added context of the first two books or if it was because this book tried to do too much for it's page count. It was an enjoyable and breezy read, but overall I think it was just average.
I had not realized this was part of a series when I requested it, so while this mystery does mostly stand on it's own I think I would have gotten more out of it if I had read the previous two.
A Midnight Puzzle is a mystery on the cozy end featuring a haunted theatre, a regenerating booby trap, and a lot of delicious sounding food. Tempest Raj works at her family's construction company that specializes in creating "magical" architecture, like secret staircases, hidden nooks, etc. She is also a former stage magician, as was her mother and aunt who both died during performances and under suspicious circumstances.
I'll be honest there were a lot of threads here that didn't fully come together for me and I'm not sure if it was because I was missing the added context of the first two books or if it was because this book tried to do too much for it's page count. It was an enjoyable and breezy read, but overall I think it was just average.
noelrap's review
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
denaultgen's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0