An illusionist from a family of magicians under a generational curse has to come home is disgrace to her family business of building “magic” places, as in hidden staircases and doors, or basically every house or building you’ve ever seen on Scooby Doo. That’s the beginning scenario of Under Lock & Skeleton Key; Tempet Raj has a lot to deal with at the start of the story having to come home to, after an accident may have ruined her Las Vegas stage career, she needs a job but had rather not work for her dad at Hidden Staircase Construction, she’s got old friends to reunite with, her rabbit Abra has a habit of getting out, her grandparents are worried about her (her grandpa Ash is practically a chef and her grandmother Morag is an artist), she wants to clear her professional name, and she’s also dealing with the loss of her mother under mysterious circumstances some years before. All of this before a dead body falls out of a wall at one of her dad’s constructions sites, and said dead person has a personal connection to Tempest causing her to start to worry about whether or not she herself may have been the intended target.
The interesting things about this whole story is that it keeps the magic balanced with the real, even when it turns out there might be a good bit of overlap; the secrets of the hidden rooms and the importance of Tempest’s charm bracelet could have supernatural-esque touches to them, but the emphasis on magic as story as opposed to trick reveals works pretty well at allowing for the two elements to co-exist. The family history factor is pretty interesting too, especially in that there’s magic on both sides of Tempest’s family, and to further make it interesting, that heritage is both Scottish and Indian.
The cast of characters in a situation like this could easily get out of hand, but it doesn’t really, although there’s the trope of the barely mentioned person who turns out to be really important in the end that I don’t like, and there’s some resolution but not really enough to really feel like the mystery solving was completed. That’s the one place that could probably use a little more magic. In general though, I like the characters and how the mystery worked, so I’m looking forward to the eventual sequel, although I do kind of hope that some of the hints about potential future character relationships don’t get in the way of the story. Tempest on her own without the ensemble family may or may not work as well, especially if there’s romance in her future. If the family’s there for it though, that might be entertaining.