Tempest Raj, a twenty-something magician, ends her stage show after an accident that she blames on a curse afflicting her family. But when the body of her former stunt double is discovered inside the wall of a house, she begins to suspect that more than bad luck may be at play. How did the body get into the wall? Did the murderer intend to kill Tempest? Why is the ghost of her mother hanging about, playing the fiddle? Gigi Pandian piles on the invention—a bookish best friend, a father who runs a construction company specializing in secret passages and hidden rooms—to create a thoroughly charming confection. The allusions to classic mysteries—the locked-room puzzles of John Dickson Carr especially—will delight the hearts of book-lovers. (BH)