Book Review: The Accidental Alchemist

Book: The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

Source: Library

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

This was even better than I hoped it would be. It's a cozy mystery that focused on alchemy (and a little bit of food). The story follows perpetual traveler 28 year old Zoe Faust who has decided to moved to Portland, OR, for a fresh start.

Zoe never likes to stay at any location for too long in fear of her secret getting out that she's immortal. That's due to her being an alchemist but after one of her travels brought her to Portland she immediately felt like it was the perfect place for her.

She ended up buying an extreme fixer-upper and the day before the contractor she hired was to show up, she moved into her new home. While unpacking her belongings she found she had a stowaway, a gargoyle named Dorian Robert-Houdin. He needed Zoe's help deciphering a old book and he believed that only she could help him.

Finding a gargoyle wasn't her only problem, she found a teenage boy Brixton who had broken into her house thanks to dare from his friends who believed Zoe's new house was haunted.

The following day brought even more problems for Zoe, after returning from an errand she found her contractor Charles Macraith murdered on her front porch and various items stolen from her house including Dorian's book.

Was the murder and missing book due to someone knowing who Zoe really was or is there more going on?

I liked the writing for this it was interesting, dramatic and funny and it also had a sort of scholarly vibe to it but without being dull and boring. And I thought Dorian was wonderfully adorable as well as his love of cooking French food. This kept my attention throughout and I love all the little historical information added in, it made this book even more interesting. This had a very good mystery and the characters worked really well with the story. I almost forgot that there is a little bit of romance in this but it's subtle, her love interest is Detective Max Liu. I like that there was no love triangle which seems to plague a lot of cozy mysteries.

I really enjoyed reading this and I just love when I luck up on a good book.