The gruesome death of faculty member Sylvia Capley at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages provides the backdrop for Sarah Gailey’s second novel. Although the police believe the death was accidental, the school’s headmaster, Marion Torres, disagrees. She therefore engages PI Ivy Gamble, the sister of another staff member, commissioning her to unmask the killer. Estranged from her twin for many years, Gamble nevertheless accepts, attempting to look behind the seemingly impenetrable facades presented by the institution, its teachers, and, most importantly, its students. The dark secrets she uncovers will change her, her sister, and those involved forever.

More like Megan Abbott’s You Will Know Me or Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, with a touch of the film Mean Girls, than Harry Potter, Magic for Liars is a basically a locked-room mystery, where the locked room is the Osthorne Academy. Ivy Gamble is an insecure Poirot stand-in, a relentless investigator who needs to work through her own issues before she can begin to appreciate and reveal the sordid truth.

It’s a dark, intimate book, with a slow build, that ultimately leads to a grim and satisfying ending right out of a Chandler novel. Gailey is in total command throughout, delivering an engaging, fulfilling mash-up that provides fresh takes on a number of genres, combining them into a satisfying, seamless whole.