'There was something dark there,' Ivy muses while interviewing a student, 'a big shadow under the surface of the water, and I needed to see if it was a log or a crocodile.' Gailey lets us see Ivy's uncertainty as she uses the skills she's spent her years building we feel her fierce joy when she succeeds in uncovering pieces of the puzzle, and her frustration when she knows something vital eludes her. Sure, she's bitter and thorny, but Ivy has the mordantly hilarious humor of a woman who lives by her wits, as well as a private investigator's talent for observation and for drawing people out. Sarah Gailey's premise had me intrigued from the start, and though it took me a while to warm up to Ivy as a narrator, I found her worth the wait. Until one day, she's called into the magicians' school - Osthorne Academy, where her brilliant sister is now a faculty member - to investigate a case no magician can crack. But she's smart and damn good at her job, and she keeps going. She wasn't the chosen one - single and solitary in her 40s, she couldn't be less chosen if she tried.

Ivy Gamble, PI, protagonist of Sarah Gailey's Magic For Liars, has lived with disappointment for years.

Your blemishes and aches and colds and unfulfilled longings will not miraculously fade away as you become the marvelous creature you were always meant to be. The reason you don't fit in socially is not because you're a once-in-a-generation sorcerer. You will not discover powers you never dreamed you had. You don't get to leave your humdrum life behind and go to the mysterious school where they teach magic. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Magic for Liars Author Sarah Gailey

Magic for liars book