Gigi Pandian’s Accidental Alchemist short story “The Rose City Vampire” appears in Crippen & Landru’s School of Hard Knox: Stories That Break Father Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments for Crime Fiction.
The Accidental Alchemist published in GERMANY!
Today, my Accidental Alchemist Mysteries are launching in Germany!
Today also happens to be my 11 year anniversary of finishing cancer treatments, and this shared celebration is pretty fitting, since I wrote a first draft of The Accidental Alchemist while going through chemotherapy—yup, my subconscious thought of it as my own Elixir of Life.
Piper Verlag is publishing the book in Germany. The Accidental Alchemist’s German title is Alchemistin wider Willen, (Reluctant Alchemist) and the series is renamed The Incredible Cases of Zoe Faust.
The second book in the series, The Masquerading Magician (Geister der Vergangenheit), will be out this fall. This is my first book that’s been translated into German. It’s such fun to see Zoe, Dorian, and the whole gang reaching this new audience!
Here's the German description from Piper Verlag:
Alchemistin wider Willen (Die unglaublichen Fälle der Zoe Faust 1)
Alchemistin Zoe Faust hat aus Versehen den Stein der Weisen entdeckt und lebt nun schon seit dem 18. Jahrhundert. Gerade hat sie sich in Portland ein altes Farmhaus gekauft, als sie von einem verzweifelten Gargoyle aufgesucht wird, der dringend ihre Hilfe braucht und droht, Zoes Leben auf den Kopf zu stellen. Als kurz darauf ein Schreiner, der Zoes Haus renovieren soll, unter mysteriösen Umständen tot auf ihrer Veranda gefunden wird, muss Zoe alles dafür tun, ihr übernatürliches Geheimnis vor der Polizei zu verbergen — und zudem mit dem sympathischen Detective Max eine alte Mordserie lösen.
Which roughly translates to:
Alchemist Zoe Faust accidentally discovered the Philosopher's Stone and has been alive since the 18th century. She has just bought an old farmhouse in Portland when she is visited by a desperate gargoyle who urgently needs her help and threatens to turn Zoe's life upside down. When a carpenter assigned to renovate Zoe's house is mysteriously found dead on her porch, Zoe must do whatever it takes to keep her supernatural secret from the police — and solve an old murder spree with the likeable Detective Max.
What fun!
Book Launch Day for The Accidental Alchemist!
The Accidental Alchemist
hits bookstore shelves today! It's the first book in my new mystery series set in Portland, Oregon, featuring a centuries-old female alchemist and her French chef sidekick
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who happens to be a gargoyle who was accidentally brought to life by a stage magician.
Stay tuned for lots of fun tidbits about the book, along with some fun contests I've been cooking up. In the meantime, here are some details about the book and the book launch party happening next week:
On the book jacket:
Unpacking her belongings in her new hometown of Portland, Oregon, herbalist and reformed alchemist Zoe Faust can’t help but notice she’s picked up a stowaway. Dorian Robert-Houdin is a living, breathing three-and-a-half-foot gargoyle—not to mention a master of French cuisine—and he needs Zoe’s expertise to decipher a centuries-old text. Zoe, who’s trying to put her old life behind her, isn’t so sure she wants to reopen her alchemical past… until the dead man on her porch leaves her no choice.
There's plenty of culinary alchemy, and recipes are included.
BUY THE BOOK at a bookstore or through an online retailer:
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Buy directly from one of my favorite independent bookstores:
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Borderlands (for a personalized copy, upon request)
Buy the AUDIOBOOK
Listen to an audiobook sample.
This is my first audiobook! (I'll talk more about that experience in another blog post.)
Thursday, January 15
6pm
at the Ferry Building in San Francisco
Advance Praise for The Accidental Alchemist
“Pandian launches a supernatural cozy series that hits high marks for a modern twist on an ancient practice. Amusing supporting characters and historical details solidify this engaging mystery.”
—Library Journal
“Pandian sets this series apart from other paranormal mysteries with Zoe’s cute nonhuman sidekick and some mouthwatering vegan recipes.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This new series is off to an excellent start with an intriguing, eccentric amateur detective… This reviewer is eagerly anticipating more from this series, and a return of a cast more fun than an episode of Portlandia.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Zoe and Dorian are my new favorite amateur-sleuth duo!”
—Victoria Laurie,
New York Times
bestselling author
“The Accidental Alchemist is a recipe for a great read. Gigi Pandian’s pen never disappoints.”
—Juliet Blackwell,
New York Times
bestselling author
“A magical, whimsical cozy that will delight readers who enjoy Juliet Blackwell and Heather Weber mysteries!”
—Avery Aames, aka Daryl Wood Gerber
“The pace never lets down, the people are multilayered, and the plot is complicated enough so that it all blends into what promises to be the beginning of a fun new series… This a fabulous beginning to a series I’m looking forward to following!”
—Seattle Mystery Bookshop staff pick