Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey

 

Ivy Gamble is a private investigator.  She is good at it but it's not anything she thought she would do with her life.  But her life hasn't turned out to be anything from a fairy tale.  She was separated from her twin sister when the realization hit that Tabitha had magic and Ivy did not.  Tabitha was sent off to a special magic school and never lived at home again.  Ivy's mother died early of an aggressive cancer and Tabitha wasn't around for it, which Ivy resented.  These days the two are totally alienated and haven't really spoken in years.

Ivy is excited when she gets a visitor.  The woman was impressive and was a headmaster, and most thrillingly, wants to hire Ivy to solve a murder.  Ivy only hesitates a minute when she realizes the woman is headmaster of the magic school where Tabitha is now teaching.  She has been anxious to do more with her career and a successful murder case will do wonders for it.

Ivy goes to the school where she is expected to reside until she is through with her investigation.  The murdered woman was Sylvia whose mutilated body had been found in the library.  Of course, being a magic school, the books in the section where the body was found spend their time whispering clues just out of range to be understood.  Ivy starts interviewing school faculty and staff as well as the students.  She uncovers a 'mean girl' clique headed by school queen Alexandria as well as a teenage boy who is convinced he is destined to be a once in a lifetime mage to outperform all mages.  On the staff side, there are rivalries and love affairs and Ivy develops an interest in one of the male teachers.  More importantly, she and Tabitha slowly start to rebuild their relationship.  Will Ivy be able to solve the case?

This was an interesting cross-genre novel.  The juxtaposition of science fiction and mystery intersect well and provide more depth.  The author has managed to avoid the twin sister cliché of good twin, evil twin and several of the characters are gay or bisexual.  The ending is surprising and the reader will have fun following the twists and turns.  This book is recommended for fantasy and mystery readers.