Get Ready for an Impossible Crime or Nine
Gigi Pandian’s first series was her Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries. But the character has appeared in several short stories and novellas over the years, including some award-winning stories. The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories collects nine of them into one volume for us. And each story also features one of Gigi’s favorite things – a locked room mystery.
The book focuses on Jaya Jones, art history professor and finder of treasures lost to time. While she is the star of the most of the stories, a couple do focus on her best friend, magician Sanjay. Other characters from the series pop into some of the stories, too. But we are introduced to everyone as they appear, so you can pick this book up to get a taste of the series.
The title story was originally written for this collection. It involves a murder and theft at a local art museum. In another, after being stranded in Denver due to snow, Jaya must figure out who killed an author in the hotel’s library. She also gets involved in a theft and disappearance at a conference. One of Sanjay’s stories finds him trying to solve a murder on an island off the coast of San Francisco. And in the final story, Jaya must figure out who stole a valuable chess set.
Fans of Gigi’s Secret Staircase Mysteries will be interested to learn that Tempest, the main character of that series, stars in one of the stories as well.
I do promise that each story does involve those locked doors that make for the fun impossible crimes for Jaya to solve. While I did pickup on one or two of them a little early, I still enjoyed watching Jaya figure out what was going on. Several of them kept me guessing until the end.
Those familiar with the series will quickly pick up on the fact that these stories are not collected in chronological order. We jump around in the series timeline. It’s not an issue, and there aren’t any spoilers for the novels here.
I do love the characters, and it’s fun to spend time with them again. The new characters don’t get much time to be fully developed, but they all work for the stories they are in. My only complaint with the characters (and I’ve seen this in other collections) is that, if we met a character in a previous story, they are still fully introduced when we meet up with them again in a different story. It’s a minor complaint but still something that bothers me.
My goal this year was to catch up on the Jaya Jones books in print so I could wrap up another series. Then Gigi Pandian announced that she’d found a new home for Jaya’s further adventures, which makes me even happier that I caught up this year.
Whether you have read all of Jaya’s novel length adventures or haven’t yet jumped into her world, you’ll be glad you picked up this collection of stories.
Do check out more of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries.
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