A Grimoire for Gamblers

Elizabeth, has been on leave from her job as an assistant to the mayor of her small town. A couple of weeks earlier her father had committed suicide, leaving her quite adrift, mentally. As she returns to work, she is approached by a stranger who hands over a file with news articles about several local suicides with a curious pattern. She soon realises she’s not quite ready to be back at work and takes further leave. Meanwhile, while going through the attic of her childhood home, she discovers a side of her father totally unknown to her, magic. It’s not long before she has learned a bit of it herself and she is knee-deep in figuring out connections and makes the acquaintance of several who might assist her. She must keep a step ahead, though, as there’s the wizard Max, who has insinuated himself into her life with the goal to erase her mind of all knowledge of magic. At the same time, it becomes obvious she needs his assistance too. it all becomes quite a balancing act and figuring out who is friend or foe becomes quite important.

This was a delight to read, being quite easy to get into and having a good adventure along the way. Elizabeth is quite clever and she uses her wits to get on with things. But she’s also smart enough to realise she can’t do it all on her own. Max is both foe and friend depending on the circumstances. We only get a few glimpses of his history which I suspect will become more known in future books. As the title suggests, there’s gambling involved in this story and it’s not necessarily about money. There are small gambles when approaching characters to know if the real intent is help or harm. And then there are the big ones on which her future depend upon.

I pretty much devoured this book within a day or two and really loved it. Overall I give it four stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for sharing an advanced reader copy. My review is totally voluntary is not influenced by this offer.