I wasn’t able to finish this book. Because of this, it is my policy not to review the book on my site or on Goodreads/Amazon. I also didn’t mark it DNF.

I love a good cosy supernatural mystery and this one had the perfect combination to make it a really entertaining reading.

This is the 3rd book in the series. I think it is always nice to start with the 1st book in a series as it helps me to have the whole picture in mind when reading. A fast paced story which is full of surprises. A highly recommended read!.

Give the Devil his Due is the third book in the Tarot Mystery series by Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco. I have not read the previous books, but I caught up pretty quickly and still fully enjoyed the read. Although, I expect fans of the series will enjoy it even more.

Reformed con artist-turned-tarot reader Alanis McLachlan gets paid for predicting the future. Too bad she couldn't see all the trouble in hers. First a figure from her troubled past returns to drag her back into the dark world of scams and thievery she thought she'd left behind. Then her on-again off-again romance with hunky teacher Victor Castellanos hits the skids when a surprising new suitor sweeps into town and tries to sweep Alanis off her feet. And then there's the little matter of the client who gets an ominous reading from Alanis, and is promptly murdered. Danger is in the cards for Alanis, and she'll need all her skills as a tarot reader and a con artist ― as well as a lot of luck ― if she's going to survive.

Give the Devil his Due is a fast paced mystery full of twists and turns, some of which took me by real surprise. I liked the characters, and thought that Alanis was an interesting woman and one I want to read more about. Her family, past, and present are full of betrayal and unanswered questions, which I really want to know more about. The danger and mystery are very well constructed- and old friend back from the dead, a mystery painting, murder, and mayhem surround Alanis as she continues her battle to be the opposite of her mother. I loved reading the interplay between Alanis and her sister, possible suitors, and all the secondary characters. I loved the zaniness of some of the characters and locations the story introduced me too. GW and Biddle are great characters and I hope to see more of both, although Victor played a much smaller role than the blurb lead me to believe, so there is no real love triangle here- which was a relief.

Give the Devil his Due is a fast and entertaining read. I enjoyed the cast of characters and the action that kept them all on their toes. I think I will try and find the time to read the previous, and future, volumes of this series.

I would say this isn't your classic cozy given that the characters are reformed con artists. It's the third in the series but the first one I have read. Now I want to go back and read the first two. I enjoyed the quirky characters and the information about Tarot, a subject I know very little about.

This is book three in the Tarot Mystery series and the first by the author I have read.
I absolutely loved this mystery. This is one of my favorite cozy mysteries of the year.
The author has a delicious perfect blend of humor, suspense and great characters.
I enjoy the premises of a con artist turned fortune teller who is outrunning her past and trying to
rebuild her life. It is very engaging and funny throughout. I look forward to the next in series,
Well done to the author. .Thank you for the ARC that does not influence my review.

Give the Devil His Due by Steve Hockensmith with Lisa Falco is the third book in A Tarot Mystery series. Alanis McLachlan is a former con artist who now runs The White Magic Five and Dime. One afternoon a man comes into the shop and Alanis is suspicious that he may be a cop. She ends up giving him a reading and sending him on his way. Then an older gentleman enters and asks to use the restroom. Alanis is then shocked when she sees Biddle walk in. She had presumed he was dead especially since she has not seen him in thirty years. Alanis knows that Biddle must have an agenda if he is returning now (after her mother passed away). After agreeing to meet Biddle for drinks, Alanis goes searching for the older man. He has disappeared, and he did not leave by the front entrance. After making sure her half-sister, Clarice is taken of for the evening, Alanis heads out to meet Biddle (she is trying to keep Clarice and Biddle apart). On her way home, a car tries to run her over not once, but twice. The next morning, Detective Daniel Burby of the Berdache Police Department arrives. He wants to question her about the man she gave a reading to the previous afternoon. He was found dead in a hotel parking lot with her card in his pocket. Alanis has a feeling that everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hour relates to the reason Biddle has suddenly returned to her life. Alanis needs to find out who is behind these incidents before they come after her sister.

Give the Devil His Due is a jam packed with activity (there was just one thing after another). There are more players in the book than in a three-ring circus (at least it felt like it). I was not a fan of the characters. I could not like them or care what happened to them. Give the Devil His Due is the third book in the series, and it is best to read the book in order. If you try to start the series with Give the Devil His Due, you will be confused (especially in the beginning). I found this book difficult to get through. The pace was slow and the way it was written was not enjoyable. There are several tarot card readings in the book and each card is explained (along with their possible meanings). I rate Give the Devil His Due 2 out of 5 stars. The author tried to make the mystery complicated, but I thought it was a cinch to solve. One detail stood out and provided the answer to the whodunit. I found information to be repeated frequently throughout. I do want to warn readers that there is an extensive amount of foul language in Give the Devil His Due (which is abnormal for cozy mysteries). A Tarot Mystery series is just not the right fit for me.

This was another interesting installment in the Tarot mystery series. It didn't quite grip me like the first book in the series did, but I still felt engaged. I love the main character and how she really seems to be growing throughout the series. So often in cozy series, we don't see much character growth, so this is a very refreshing change of pace. I'll definitely be reading the next book when it comes out, and I highly recommend this series to cozy lovers who may want a little bit more character and a smidge more grit.

Well thought out cozy that's just a little different. I had not read the first two books in the series but was able, I think, to fully appreciate this one. The use of the tarot to frame the plot was intriguing to me and Hockensmith pulled it off. Alanis is a more complex character than I expected and she's also funny. This was a good read- thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to Midnight Ink and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
I rather had a love/hate relationship with this book. It was very clever in so many ways but tended to be a bit unorganized and a bit too long. Yet I kept reading. Loved the tarot card intro to each chapter. Written by the co-author, they were pretty apt and clever. I liked the characters but didn't feel that I got to know them in more than a superficial way. I did not read the first 2 books in the series and while this book worked as a stand alone, I think the backstory would have fleshed out the characters.
It almost felt like a YA novel except for bad language and sexual references. It entertained me for a few days and sometimes that is all I ask from a book.

Ok I want to say that I had a hard time staying on this book. Usually it doesn't take long to get through a book, but this one was that one that just took longer. The book was a good book. I just thought it was a little slow and somewhat confusing. I got lost a little in the conversations between characters. Sometimes not knowing who was doing the talking. It may just be that I have not read others in the series. This could have contributed to some of the lost feelings. With that being said, it had a good baseline for the story. The plot was well thought out. The characters were unique. I enjoyed the ending very much. Overall it was a good book and I would recommend it to readers who like tarot cards and physic style books.

Owner of the White Magic Five and Dime Shop, Alanis is just trying to get by, set a good example for her younger sister and make up for the wrongs of her con artist mother. Things get bumpy when a mysterious stranger gets a tarot reading from her, that seems to be threatening and then ends up dead on the same night that her long dead step father shows up out of the blue. The adventure will see her life threatened by an old lady with a less than firm grasp on an uzi, have her investigating an old art theft and willing to deal with maybe even the devil himself to see that her loved ones are safe from harm.

Though not necessarily a bad thing, this is is not a typical cozy. The heroine is not a classic good girl, there is loads of profanity and plot just can’t seem to decide which direction it wants to go in. There is this great magic shop with a tarot spin, and there is a con a minute theme running a long game with Biddle at one end and GW at the other conning the money guy, looking for one last score, etc. Finally, there is the private eye vibe with Alanis being undercover along with her teen cyber detection team and the obvious mob connections. It does all tie together, but it makes for a very busy un-cozy like story line.

That said there are many great things about the book to recommend it, including a cast of clever and surprising characters. The main characters are fabulous, but they are nothing compared to the color characters; a stodgy lawyer with a billing fetish who knows more than he is willing to tell, an investigative reporter with an unexpected ax to grind, an art collector who isn’t what he seems, among others. I also felt that that the tarot cards were a fabulous way to introduce the chapters. I enjoyed seeing what the cards looked like as I have zero experience with tarot in general. This was was a good enough story to make me curious about the first books in the series and I certainly am willing to come back and visit these characters again someday.

I was really torn reading this. I LOVE tarot cards, and have been a reader for the better part of 20 years. The little tarot insights are what made me request this book from Netgalley (thank you NG for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review) I really enjoyed the characters, especially GW and I'm curious to see which way him and Alanis go. However, I didn't care for Biddle or the story line. Toss in a writing style that I just couldn't jive with, and you get a 3 star book. It just didn't mesh for me, I tried, I really tried, but it was largely a miss.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1969725231

This is a great book; this is the third book in the Tarot Mystery series written by Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco. Reformed con artist-turned-tarot reader Alanis McLachlan gets paid for predicting the future. Too bad she couldn't see all the trouble in hers. First a figure from her troubled past returns to drag her back into the dark world of scams and thievery she thought she'd left behind. Then her on-again off-again romance with hunky teacher Victor Castellanos hits the skids when a surprising new suitor sweeps into town and tries to sweep Alanis off her feet. And then there's the little matter of the client who gets an ominous reading from Alanis and is promptly murdered. This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. This book will keep you reading long into the night. If you are looking for a great book, then you need to read this book. I am looking forward to reading the next book by this great author. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader’s copy of this book. The free book held no determination on my personal review.

I don’t generally read cozy mysteries, but this series has me hooked.

Having had anything but a typical upbringing with her con artist mother, Alanis (an alias—real name unknown) ran away at a young age and lived an unremarkable life for decades. Her mother’s death brought her an inheritance, though—a tarot shop in Berdache, Arizona, and a half-sister she never knew she had. Alanis is now caring for her sister and trying to make up for her mother’s misdeeds. However, trouble constantly seems to find her, no matter what she does. In this third novel in the series, Alanis is visited by a figure from her shady past. She is also caught up in another murder investigation, after a man she did a reading for winds up dead. Now, what are the odds that these two things are related?

One of the reasons that I read this particular cozy series is that, due to Alanis’s criminal background, the action has a bite that most cozies lack. Alanis knows the art of the con inside and out. She may be living on the straight and narrow, but she is willing to use the skills she learned from her mother in a good cause, like foiling the bad guys. As a result, readers get an interesting look into the world inhabited by con artists and the kind of scams they run on their marks.

This series is also extremely funny. Just the first two lines of the book made me smile: “I believe it was the noted paranormal researcher Ray Parker Jr. who best summed up my feelings about hauntings. ‘I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,’ he so sagely put it.” And how can you not be amused by novel that includes a geriatric hit lady in a powder blue pantsuit who has trouble controlling her Uzi because of her arthritis?

If you like cozies with a bit of an edge and a strong sense of humor, I’d highly recommend the entire series. I’m looking forward to Alanis’s next caper!

An eARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great book, fun characters and I can't wait to read more in this series.

Wow, what a book! I really enjoyed the style of the layout in this book and the way the mystery developed. It was unique and highly intriguing.

Come to the White Magic Five and Dime and find out what is in your future. Not a believer? So many of these people are simply scam artists so how can this one be any different? Alanis McLachlan’s mother was one of those scammers who operated with a con artist named Biddle. When she dies, Alanis inherits the store and when Biddle shows up after being out of the picture for decades she knows there is a con afoot. He is looking for an old painting of Elvis her mother used to own. It turns out several people are looking for the king. This is a funny mystery filled with con men, an investigative reporter, mafia types, old ladies with uzis, a pony-tailed German man, and a touch of the occult. The story has good pacing and leans toward the suspense/caper side. I enjoyed Give the Devil His Due and look forward to more adventures in the world of tarot card reading. Oh, a handy tip I picked up from the book–Never use Google maps if you’re planning on rescuing someone!

My rating: 2 of 5 stars, it was okay.

Book 3 in the series.

I've given the series a chance, but this one just didn't work for me. I can't find it in me to care about Alanis or her sister and the plot was just ridiculously convoluted. Way too much going on, too many characters to keep up with. When it starts to feel like you need a spreadsheet to keep track, it's just too much.

I don't think I will be looking for book 4.