Tempest Raj has returned to her childhood home after a stunt in her Las Vegas magic show went dangerously (almost fatally) awry. Not only has she lost her successful show, but she's still facing legal issues related to the accident, an accident she knows is not her fault. Now home she has to figure out her next steps and while she's lying low licking her wounds, her dad asks her to take a job with his Secret Staircase Construction company. Her first act to help her dad is to examine a house that's being renovated. The spaces in the house don't match the blueprints and her dad needs her magician's eye to figure out where the trick is. What they find is a hidden room and in the room a body! (this is a murder mystery so a body was bound to turn up somewhere). At first they assume the person in the wall has been there for years, but examination reveals the murder was much more recent and is connected to Tempest. Now she must investigate, both to clear her own name and make sure that she's not next.
Though I seldom read "cozy" mysteries anymore, I was drawn to this one by it's bright cover (yes, I'm a sucker for a brightly colored book) and the promise of secret rooms, hidden staircases, and a locked room murder. I'm glad I dipped back into the genre as this was a fun, fast read with enough twists and turns (both in those staircases and the plot) to make for an enjoyable read.