cover image The Magician’s Daughter: A Valentine Hill Novel

The Magician’s Daughter: A Valentine Hill Novel

Judith Janeway. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (236p) ISBN 978-1-4642-0340-4

In the opening chapter of this solid first in a new mystery series from Janeway (An Accidental Marriage), 24-year-old magician Valentine Hill is just finishing up a show outside San Francisco’s Golden Pirate Casino when a man in the crowd steals her donation hat. Meanwhile, another audience member approaches Valentine with information about her con-artist mother, Elizabeth Hill (aka Beth Hull), whom she hasn’t seen in nine years. After calling it a night and returning to her apartment, Valentine finds that it’s been ransacked and her life savings stolen, apparently by a spurned suitor. The second chapter is equally crammed with unlikely events: Valentine locates her mother’s apartment, gets beat up, evades a scam by someone posing as an FBI agent, and more. Some readers may grow weary of the countless plot twists, but others will keep turning the pages to find out what happens next to this determined heroine. (Feb.)