cover image The Elusive Elixer

The Elusive Elixer

Gigi Pandian. Midnight Ink, $14.99 ISBN 978-0-7387-4236-6

In Pandian’s imaginative third Accidental Alchemist mystery (after 2016’s The Masquerading Magician), 300-year-old alchemist Zoe Faust leaves her home in Portland, Ore., to search old haunts in Paris, in an effort to save her best friend, Dorian Robert-Houdin, a living gargoyle. The charming Dorian, who was originally brought to life through sloppy and impermanent “backwards alchemy,” is slowly reverting to stone. But before Zoe can learn anything to help Dorian, she’s accosted by a woman who claims to have known her in Paris in 1945. To avoid being exposed, Zoe takes the first flight out of France. But someone follows her back to Portland. There’s at least one other victim of backward alchemy, and that someone will stop at nothing, not even murder, to remain alive. Too much backstory and unnecessary digression slow the action, but likable characters, fanciful creatures, paranormal doings, and a little romance will please those who like their cozies filled with magic. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Jan.)