#AmReading – Magic For Liars

Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey (2019) – Ivy Gamble is a small time private investigator stuck doing divorce cases and other jobs that bring her little profit and less joy. Until the head of a local private school came through the door. There had been a murder at the school, and she wanted it investigated. The offer came with lots of money and two problems. The school was the Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, and Ivy isn’t magical. And her magical twin sister is a teacher there.

Imagine Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum mysteries crossed with J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. That’s the best image I can offer for this book. Gailey takes the reader into the world of magic from the opposite direction of Rowling. The non-magical person has to find her way through a world where she is seen as “lesser” while still searching for the murderer. Meanwhile, the mystery portions have their own twists. This isn’t an everyday kind of death. Drop in some family tension, romantic intrigue, high school social nonsense, and you have something that’s different from the rest.

Gailey does a nice job of making Ivy’s issues with her “star” sister, her own lack of magical ability, parental issues and romantic shortcomings seem realistic. The PI is flawed in the ways we all can be, including not being over the pains left from high school. As a substitute teacher, the school portions struck me as right on the button. The social hierarchy issues, the hormone-driven behavior and the underlying meanness are things I see every day in the suburban school district where I work. I will admit that when I first ventured back into those hallways, decades after my personal final class bell had rung, I felt a sting of some of that return. Amazing that those insecurities can hide so deep in our memories! It also makes Osthorne feel more “real”. Hogwarts is an utter fantasy, which is fine, but it is unrelated to anything most of its readers experienced.  Osthorne feels like “high school”, this time with a magical aspect.

The mystery takes center stage, and offers the twists, turns and false leads that you’ll want. There’s room to grow for the characters, the setting, and for the author too. While there’s no word on a sequel (I vote “Yes”), Gailey has tried her hand at a new look pulp Western with “Upright Women Wanted”. Based on “Magic For Liars”, I would put it on my reading list.

Rating – **** Recommended.