The Ninja's Illusion: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery

Exactly as advertised. This series is so much fun!

The Ninja’s Illusion is another wonderful Jaya Jones mystery! I couldn’t put it down! The setting is Japan with Sanjay planning a magic performance while Jaya researches a historical anomaly. Then the scary stuff begins. Can they figure out what’s going on before somebody really gets hurt? Tight plot, excellent dialogue, great characters, and a romantic triangle keep the reader turning pages!

When Jaya Jones, a history professor at a San Francisco university, has a break Thanksgiving week, she intends to travel to Japan to see her best friend, Sanjay, known as the Hindi Houdini, perform his magic. But before leaving, she receives a cryptic call from him telling her not to come. Jaya, who also is a well-known treasure hunter who finds artifacts and turns them over to the countries where they belong, is meeting with Professor Nakamura as well, refuses to stay and goes anyway.Once she reaches Japan, Sanjay refuses to tell her anything except that 'it's complicated.' When she meets the magician he'll be working with, Akira, she finds the man rude and arrogant. His assistant, Yako (whose real name is Yoko), is supposedly a kitsune, a fox who can take human form. While Jaya doesn't believe it, she still wants to know what is really happening. Yet with the appearance of Sanjay's mentor Sébastien, a retired French magician who still creates mechanical wonders for others, it only complicates things. Once Jaya learns that tricks have been sabotaged and a mysterious ninja is following them, she wants Sanjay to stop. When he refuses, and Akira is murdered, Sanjay still intends to continue, making Jaya worried for him.But then another magician enters the scene, even more attacks are occurring, and Jaya begins to discover that her own research regarding helping Professor Nakamura might have something to do with what's going on with Sanjay's rope trick. It also might have deadly consequences for one of them, if she doesn't find the truth, and soon...This is the fifth book in the series, and I have to say I've loved every one of them. I also have to say that unfortunately, I've read the sixth one first, so this is a bit of a 'backtrack' for me, which I usually don't do; but this is how much I love this series. (To clarify, if I miss a book, I usually won't go back and read the previous one, but continue on.)At any rate, the mystery is top-notch, blending Jaya's research with Sanjay's magic, and it works. We are drawn into the tale easily, and the descriptions of the area around Jaya is rich and colorful. It makes one want to visit one of the temples, or at the very least, spend time in Kyoto itself. As a bonus, we get to see Jaya as she is at her most confused regarding her personal life, and deciding what she really wants; giving us more insight as to the type of person she is.There is plenty of suspense and enlightenment of Japanese history regarding the treatment of foreigners in ancient times. For myself, I found it fascinating; but I usually do with with Ms. Pandian's books. She is a writer who does her research well, and every time I choose one of her books I know that not only will I be entertained, but learn something new.When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it is a bit of a surprise, but there are clues leading up to it and we learn the identity the same time as Jaya; yet the author gives us enough of a tight climax that makes it all worthwhile. Highly recommended.

I am late to the party when it comes to Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries. I've only read one other before this, but I had enjoyed it quite a bit.In The Ninja's Illusion a stage magician claims to have real super-natural powers and will be performing, not as a trick but as real magic, a fabled illusion - the Indian Rope Trick , in which a magician makes a rope rise into the air and a young boy climbs the rope, disappears and reappears somewhere else.Jaya Jones is traveling to Japan with her friend Sanjay (aka The Hindi Houdini) who is going to make his Japanese debut with his magic show. But a ninja seems to have other ideas about Sanjay's performance and has appeared and tried hard to sabotage the show.One of Gigi Pandian's strengths as an author is her wonderful characters. Jaya Jones (who is a wonderful nod to Indiana Jones) is not a superhuman adventurer but a very real, very intelligent woman who searches for treasure around the world. She's lovable and flawed, which makes us identify with her. She's our best friend and we root for her and worry about her, even though we know she'll come through okay.Pandian's mysteries (based on the books I've read in this series and her other, Alchemist, series) are well-crafted and engaging. There's solid story-building and because we understand and like the characters we're pulled right in on a mysterious journey. Pandian also does some nice research to bring a specific level of accuracy to her story. Although I was familiar with the Indian Rope Trick as a trick, I was not aware of the history and science behind it. A Google search brought me to a few web pages that had much of the information that Pandian shares through the course of her story.As much as I enjoyed this, I will admit that I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous Jaya Jones book, Michelangelo's Ghost (see my review on my blog). Most of this had to do with the subject. I was much more fascinated by the Park of Monsters than I was by the Indian Rope Trick. However, both brought to light some fascinating information for me and I look forward to seeing what Pandian brings to us next.Looking for a good book? The Ninja's Illusion by Gigi Pandian brings to us a wonderful mystery surrounding a familiar, old trick, with a brilliant and lovable new mystery/treasure hunter in Jaya Jones.I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I love all of Gigi Pandian's books. They are a easy and quick to read. Always interesting and educational.