Lina Chern

The rare sequel that improves on its predecessor. Maybe it's the from-the-headlines plot basis (the afterword notes that the was loosely based on a true crime I was unaware of), maybe it's the firmer sense of Katie True as a character with strengths and true insights, maybe it's the intricate mix of current story events with events in multiple character's pivotal personal histories—whatever the reasons, this story was especially gripping and made for a fast, hard to put down read.

I show more couldn't really get behind the tarot stuff in Play the Fool, especially since the Fool of that book absolutely seemed to be the Katie (she never seemed to know anything that was going on and always seemed several steps behind everything!), but this one made a much better case for the use of Katie's tarot-reading as a tool for aiding insight and for performing interrogations. show less

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

I greatly enjoyed the first book in Chern's Play the Fool series, following tarot card reader Katie True, and this book is likewise strong. This is a cozy mystery series with a darker edge: the language is coarser, the lewdness blunter, though still mild compared to a lot of other genres. The set up for this delves into police corruption right from the start: Officer Pete, the man made famous for being photographed saving young Katie from an accident show more years before, is murdered on the job. It quickly is clear that Pete was not the golden hero many thought him to be. Katie's close friend Gina is accused of the crime, and as Katie digs deeper, she finds things dirtier than dirt. The end is especially nice. I kinda-sorta guessed at the murderer, but things were more complicated than that, and I love when that happens. show less

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

Play the Fool is at the grittier edge of cozy: not full on thriller, but there is profanity and some situations of moral ambiguity. That said, I enjoyed it immensely, even if the end was a touch predictable. Sometimes, that's just what the reader needs. The ride is still twisty-turny fun even if you know the destination.

Katie is a loser. Her family is wealthy and all about success, while she's an aimless college drop-out working at a lousy mall gift show more shop. The one thing she's good at is tarot cards--and her one friend is a fellow mall worker, Marley. When a bleeding guy staggers into Katie's shop one day, she's laying out her cards. As she starts a reading for him, she snoops on his phone, thinking she'll get a deeper psych profile on the mark--but sees a texted photo of Marley, dead. When she later goes to the dumpster shown in the picture, there's no body. Her only friend is gone. The police don't believe her, but Katie is determined to bring justice to her friend--and hopefully not die trying.

I have a hunch that this book will rub some people wrong because Katie bumbles through her mystery-solving much as she does life. She screws up, a lot. She's not the most brilliant of amateur detectives, but her heart is in the right place. She reminded me of friends I've had. Chern clearly knows her Chicago setting well, too, as the place is a vivid character, fragrant and grimy. There's a romantic subplot that to me developed in a more realistic and natural way than it does in many mysteries where it feels shoe-horned in to meet a trope quota. Also, as an autist, I loved how Chern wrote about Katie's brother who cues autistic in major ways but is never labeled as such, nor did he need to be--he was utterly accepted as he was.

In all, a fun book, and if there are more entries in the series, I'd like to read them! show less

I loved the characters in this mystery. Everyone felt really well developed—suddenly intrepid sleuth Katie, her allies, her suspects, even the total side characters (one off and recurring). It made a seedy, criminal underworld mystery feel surprisingly "cozy". Of course, I found the whole central mystery wildly obvious and telegraphed, but I guess you can't have everything.