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An invisible message from a dead man resurrects a decades-old mystery.

With her sharpened magical senses, Sylvia recognizes invisible writing while cataloging an obscure book for the library. She’s shocked to discover the message, written many years earlier, pleaded for help. She’s even more shocked to discover the author of the message was married to a paper magician. Could there be a connection to Sylvia’s father?

With a magical mystery on her hands, Sylvia engages the help of Gabe Glass, and together they follow the clues to the location of two hidden ledgers that implicate a very dangerous individual in an illegal bookmaking scheme. Although not named, Gabe is convinced he knows who the bookmaker is, and sets out to prove it.

The investigation draws them into the shady underbelly of the horseracing industry and uncovers a link to Gabe’s parents that takes everyone by surprise. As they unravel the mystery’s tangled threads, unexpected twists and turns lead them to the truth.

But the greatest twist of all is the danger no one saw coming.

I probably should have reviewed the first four books before I picked up this one, but I was so excited to finally borrow this from the library that I jumped right in. It took a little longer than I prefer to refresh myself with the characters, but the author did a good job catching the reader up with the previous books.

The continuation of Sylvia and Gabe’s story, the plot continues to grow and develop as more characters are introduced and the mysteries in book one start to discover their resolution. While the characters don’t have overly dramatic changes throughout the series, it’s nice to see them adapting to each other and their circumstances. I would have liked to see more change in Willie (as she is, at this point, a bit annoying).

Overall, though, this is a cast of characters I’d love to know. The action picks up in this book, and it was hard to put down.

Rated PG for some violence, drinking, and smoking.

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For more of Sylvia and Gabe, check out book one, The Librarian of Crooked Lane.

For more historical magical realism books, try Murder on Millionaires’ Row by Erin Lindsey.