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Zoe Faust stumbles across a painting of her mentor, Nicolas Flamel, in a local art gallery window. She is stunned; Nicolas never let anyone paint his portrait or capture his image in any way. Alchemists tend to be very, very private people. Zoe herself is dismayed when her picture is on the front page of the local paper; she didn't know she been photographed. (Technical question: why didn't she have to sign a release before they printed the picture?) Zoe is also pretty sure that Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle have been dead for centuries. When Zoe goes back to the gallery, the portrait is gone. The artist is also gone: a suicide, according to the police. His wife, seeing a pendant around Zoe's neck (given to her by Dorian, her resident chef and gargoyle) is convinced that Zoe killed Logan Magnus. Thus Zoe is drawn into yet another investigation.
A person from her more recent past (only a century or so ago) turns up in Portland. His presence arouses the suspicions of the local police; there are inconsistencies in his back story that raise their hackles. It doesn't help that he's black; even today (as we all know) that is almost certain to give the police reason to investigate further. Zoe's love interest, a policeman names Max Liu, is very unhappy about this "new" friend. He also doesn't believe Zoe when she (finally) tells him a brief history of her very long life. Ho doesn't flat out tell her she's crazy; there is family history on his side that makes him at least consider the possibility that Zoe is what she says she is. Still, he's not happy with this new knowledge.
The more Zoe discovers about Logan Magnus and his family, the more convinced she is that Nicolas and Perenelle are not dead. There are secrets to alchemy which translate well to the old art of making pigments. There are hints in paintings about alchemy. There are also links to an art forgery ring in the Portland area. All these facts or suspicions do is make Zoe more determined to find the truth; her friends, old and new, are worried about the dangers. Zoe is determined to see things through, no matter the cost.
Pandian has written many books; this is the fourth in the Accident Alchemist series. In the previous three, there has been a built-in driver for the pacing. Dorian, the gargoyle, is returning to stone; imagine an ancient being with ALS - that's the incentive for Zoe's detecting. That focus is gone in ILLUSION. If Nicolas is still alive, after several centuries, a few more days or weeks won't really matter, will they? As a (perhaps fortuitous) result, Pandian has more time to zero in on relationships. Pandian's characters are well-rounded, with issues of their own separate from their connection to Zoe. It will be interesting to see where the characters go from here; Pandian has many options open to her.
§ I have been reading and reviewing mystery fiction for over a quarter of a century and read broadly within just about all genres and sub-genres. I have been a preliminary judge for the Malice Domestic/St. Martin's Press Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Contest for at least 25 years. I live in Northern lower Michigan with my spousal unit, one large cat, and 2 fairly small dogs.
Reviewed by PJ Coldren, January 2019
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