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Under Lock & Skeleton Key, the enchanting first book in Gigi Pandian’s Secret Staircase mystery series, flawlessly balances magic, misdirection and murder.

Tempest Raj is a gifted stage magician who’s forced to move home to Hidden Creek, California, after a performance in Las Vegas goes horribly wrong. Tempest is convinced her stage double, Cassidy, sabotaged her—but with no way to prove it, the down-on-her-luck magician must return to her family home, Fiddler’s Folly.

Fiddler’s Folly is a showcase for Tempest’s father’s own brand of magic. Darius Raj’s company, Secret Staircase Construction, specializes in adding whimsical details like sliding bookcases, hidden staircases and secret rooms to homes. When Tempest meets him at his latest job site, a body is discovered inside a wall that’s supposedly been sealed for more than a century. To make things even worse, the victim is Cassidy. Was Cassidy mistaken for Tempest and killed in her place? Is someone trying to frame Tempest? Could the death somehow be connected to the ominous family curse that the eldest Raj of each generation will be killed, supposedly by magic? Tempest sets out to bring Cassidy’s killer to justice and figure out if the curse is real—and if she’s its next target.

Hidden Creek is a truly delightful setting for a cozy mystery series. Not only does Fiddler’s Folly abound with hidden rooms and intricate locks, but the property also includes the dreamy treehouse where Tempest’s grandparents live. And then there’s the Locked Room Library, a mystery lover’s dream destination that readers will fervently wish truly existed. The world’s most famous crime novels line its shelves, and the library also sports a train car meeting room, skeleton keys and even a suit of armor. Pandian recently wrote an Agatha Award-nominated short story about the Locked Room Library, and her fans will be happy to recognize beloved characters from her other works, like Sanjay Rai, the Hindi Houdini, in Under Lock & Skeleton Key.

The mystery is engaging and full of misdirection (sometimes literally, in the form of sleight-of-hand tricks), and undergirding it all is Tempest’s anxiety around her family curse. But despite the high stakes, Under Lock & Skeleton Key is bursting with heart and hope.

“Goodnight, pretty girl.”

Those are the last words Ella remembers before she blacked out on the night she became the lone survivor of an attempted quadruple murder at a Blockbuster Video on the eve of the new millennium. Fifteen years later, another survivor of a similar murderous spree recalls the killer saying the exact same words to her.

Ella, now a physical therapist, is enlisted to help the latest victim, Jesse, but in doing so must face her own memories of her horrific past. Ella works alongside FBI agent Sarah Keller, who is tasked with uncovering the connection between the two cases, and Chris Whitaker, the brother of the man initially accused of the 1999 slayings, to piece together the clues that will lead them to the murderer—or is it murderers?

Author Alex Finlay, whose breakout debut novel, Every Last Fear, enticed readers and critics alike, returns with the tense, edge-of-your seat thriller The Night Shift. Keller, who first appeared in Every Last Fear, shares narration duties with Ella and Chris, and Finlay does a masterful job of diving deep into each character’s thoughts and emotions in tight, fast-paced chapters. Ella’s and Jesse’s trauma is especially poignant, as is Chris’ inner turmoil over his brother’s possible involvement.

Keller works on the fringes of the local police investigation, interviewing witnesses past and present in her search for clues. The novel takes a straightforward path, and Finlay wisely does not overcomplicate an already compelling plot. Everyone from the local high school principal to the victims’ families holds potential clues, and The Night Shift’s trio of sleuths must discern what is true, who is holding back information and if (or when) the killer will strike again.

Fans of Grady Hendrix and Riley Sager will tear into this sophomore-slump-defying thriller.

Beth Rivers stumbles upon more trouble in the tiny community of Benedict, Alaska, in Paige Shelton’s thrilling whodunit, Dark Night. The third installment in the Alaska Wild series finds Beth, who is working as the community’s lone journalist, investigating a case of domestic abuse that may have resulted in murder.

Known to the world at large as best-selling author Elizabeth Fairchild, Beth wants nothing more than to keep a low profile to avoid attracting any attention from her former abductor, who remains at large. Shelton quickly brings readers up to speed on these details and the events of the previous two novels in the series (Thin Ice and Cold Wind) in the opening chapter, just before unveiling the murder of local resident Ned Withers. Ned, who has abused his wife, Claudia, is found dead in what amounts to the town square, having been murdered in the middle of the night.

Initial suspicions naturally fall on an outsider: census taker Doug Vitner, who received a less than hearty welcome from Ned and the community at large and disappeared shortly after Ned’s death. (“We were all a secretive bunch. It wasn’t just me,” Beth muses at one point.) Along with her mother, a self-styled private investigator on the trail of her own missing husband, and police chief Gril Samuels, the only one in town who knows Beth’s secret, Beth begins piecing together the clues that will reveal the killer before they can escape, or worse, strike again.

Though she’s best known for her cozy mysteries, Shelton displays a talent for ratcheting up the tension in this series. As Beth’s fears and paranoia increase, events unravel at a rapid pace. Isolated from the Alaska mainland and cut off by an approaching winter storm, it’s increasingly difficult for Beth to know who she can trust—if anyone. You’ll want to bundle up against the cold dread, suspense and tension that permeate this mystery.