Ivy Gamble is a hardboiled private eye who definitely loves tracking cheating spouses and is definitely not bitter that her sister Tabitha was born with magic while she was not. However, when a teacher is mysteriously, magically murdered at the high school for mages where Tabitha teaches, Ivy can't resist the opportunity to get closer to magic and maybe reconcile with her sister.

MAGIC FOR LIARS takes tropes from noir, fantasy, YA, and mystery novels and weaves them all together in a way that both subverts them and loves them deeply. This book is an absolute joy for anyone who loves any of these genres (and their flaws). The particular highlight for me was seeing the boy who was the subject of the Chosen One trope from an adult perspective. I couldn't stop laughing at Ivy skewering his brooding self-importance. This book is HARRY POTTER grounded in reality. It's what THE MAGICIANS thought it was. It's funny and gross and heartfelt and queer and great.

I absolutely loved how the plot turned on an abortion and no one was ever shamed for it. It was treated as something that happens when you put a bunch of teenagers together at a boarding school. Of course, being a piece of a murder mystery, it wasn't a completely smooth and trauma-free event, but I deeply appreciated the lack of pearl-clutching.