Magic for Liars

April 1, 2019
A private investigator is hired to solve a murder at a magical academy where her sister teaches in Gailey's (The Fisher of Bones, 2017, etc.) contemporary fantasy. Ivy Gamble has worked 14 years as a PI, following around cheating spouses and solving insurance-fraud cases. When she's hired for a genuine murder case, her ambition (and her empty bank account) leads her to accept the job...even if the clients are the last people she wants to be working for: magicians. The dead woman was a teacher at the Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, where Ivy's estranged sister, Tabitha, also teaches. The two have barely spoken for years, ever since Tabitha's burgeoning magical abilities and Ivy's decided lack of them drove a rift between them. But to solve the case, Ivy will have to enter her sister's world, where even freshmen can make pencils fly or glamour away a bad hair day. And there's no shortage of suspects among the student body, from queen bee Alexandria, who seems able to exert unnerving control over everyone else, to her half brother, Dylan, obsessed with his foretold destiny. Or perhaps it's a teacher, such as the charming Rahul, who finds Ivy delightful--as long as she makes him believe she's a magician, too. While the whodunit twists and turns in satisfying fashion, Ivy's real search here is for peace and forgiveness: forgiving her sister, and herself, for their mutual histories. The truth will out, even if it's truths that Ivy and Tabitha have each struggled to forget. The worldbuilding is thin, but the tensions between the characters sweep readers past any questions that might result. A poignant and bittersweet family tragedy disguised as a mystery but with a magic all its own.

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Starred review from May 1, 2019

DEBUT Oakland-based PI Ivy Gamble chases adulterous partners and money-hungry families, until a new client asks her to investigate the death of a health teacher at the Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, where Ivy's estranged twin sister, Tabitha, works. Tabitha possesses magic in spades, but Ivy does not. The headmaster at the school insists that the teacher's death is not accidental, and if that's true, someone on the grounds is a killer. Ivy grudgingly takes the investigation, uncovering both typical and unusual scenes at a boarding school for magical elites: secret relationships and mean girls, not to mention the prophecy of the Chosen One. As Ivy hunts for answers to Sylvia Capley's gruesome death, details about her childhood and bias against magic emerge, and she finds out just how much the past can affect the present. VERDICT Gailey's debut is an energetic modern fantasy that plays rough with relationships and personal beliefs, from youth to adulthood. Ivy's emotional investigation will strike a chord in anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong. Highly recommended for all collections.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

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Starred review from April 1, 2019
Private investigator Ivy Gamble does her work in the seedy underbelly of Oakland, California, alone and growing bored with adulterers and disability claims until the headmaster of the Osthorne Academy for Young Mages approaches her. A teacher at this magical school has died gruesomely, and the headmaster wants to know if it was murder. Ivy's twin sister works at the school, though they're estranged; Tabitha discovered her magic in high school, but Ivy doesn't have that power. Despite her reservations, Ivy plunges forward into the world that never wanted her. Gailey (River of Teeth, 2017) takes command of this story, from the arresting prologue to the final reveal. Ivy's relentless drive to solve the crime coupled with the unique setting will propel the reader through the narrative, but the many layers of theme and character set this novel apart. There's something for almost all readers here: family drama, romance, high-school gossip, fantasy-world building. Above all, Gailey shows us that humans are humans, even when they are magic, and they are still flawed, damaged, and oh so interesting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)