Play the Fool is an inventive cozy mystery featuring a tarot card reader who discovers her best friend's murder and sets out to find the killer.

Katie True is a bit of a hot mess. It's working a small job in the mall that she meets Marley, a take-no-prisoners, outgoing girl who convinces Katie begin soothsaying to make a little extra cash on the side. But when Marley doesn't show up to work and Katie takes a peak at a client's phone and sees an image of her best friend dead with a gunshot wound to the head, Katie soon discovers the cards don't hold all the answers.

Intercutting a mystery with the art and meaning of tarot was such a fun and imaginative way to bring in imagery and symbolism to the story! I enjoyed how the author chose to explain the cards and make them relevant to the moments in time they show up.

From the beginning I wasn't a huge fan of the narration or writing style in this book. I found it a little stilted, even though the action begins on the first page. I also feel like this is a case of mismatched marketing for Play the Fool, because while it is categorized as a mystery/thriller, it definitely reads more as a tongue-in-cheek cozy mystery (which can have thriller elements!) and for a book that walks the line between genres, I feel like the writing needed to be cleaner and less stylized. I also really found myself disliking Jamie from the beginning, his entire character felt shoehorned into the story and I just didn't find myself enjoying him or the romance set up.

Overall, I wish I had liked this more. I had high hopes for the novel because the premise was so interesting, but it just wasn't executed in a way that I enjoyed. I would like to think I would try another novel by Chern, especially if the concept is as inventive as this one, but Play the Fool wasn't for me!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and Bantam for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.

Play the Fool- thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse this one rerelease today! It’s follows a cynical tarot card reader who attempts to solve her friends mysterious murder. A fun whodunit with some dark humor mixed in, this one sounds great!
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big thank you to @netgalley & @randomhouse for providing this ARC!
Happy Pub Day 🎉

Katie True is at another dead-end job when she meets Marley, a woman who also works in the mall and becomes Katie's friend over lunches.
While Katie isn't good at holding down jobs, she is good at reading tarot cards. When a man comes into the store she works at with a wound bleeding from his head, she tries to read his cards to give him guidance on what to do. When she takes a glimpse at his phone -because reading tarot is about reading people -she sees a picture of Marley dead. Now Katie is determined to figure out what happened.

I was so excited to receive this ARC since i’m an avid lover of tarot cards (my cats name is even tarot) and it did not disappoint!
I was on the edge of my seat needling to know what happened to Marley. I enjoyed learning about Katie, her life and her history with tarot cards. This was a good mystery with a strong female character. I was blown away by the ending completely. solid read!

Katie True has a dead end job in a dying mall, and Marley is her friend who works in a store in the same wing. Or she did.
One day a suspiciously bloody customer comes in, and Katie does a tarot reading for him - a skill she picked up when around her Aunt as a kid. When he steps away she snoops on his phone for personality clues and instead sees a photo of her friend, with a shot to the head.

She needs to find out what happened, but it’s hard to get the police to investigate a murder when there’s no body, only she saw the evidence, and her own investigation keeps her popping up where she shouldn’t belong.

During her search for answers Katie finds out she didn’t know Marley near as well as she thought, ignored red flags, inconsistencies and half told stories because it was nice to have a friend. But she does find one helpful officer, and in Jamie’s off time they work together to solve the mystery.


There are a whole slew of side characters ranging for awesome people to The Absolute Worst, and some that changed my opinions along the way. The only thing holding me back from rating this book higher, was that I didn’t end up feeling an emotional attachment to them.

Katie using the people reading skills she honed reading cards to get information from people - better than officers trained in interrogation - was super amusing and probably one of my favorite things.

And no spoilers, but I really liked the resolution at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC

Inventive and entertaining take on the modern whodunnit, this quirky tale gives us an unlikely heroine you can’t help but fall in love with. When Katie’s new, mysterious best friend suddenly turns up missing, she must use all of her questionable and lackluster talents to solve the case. Thank goodness she’s up to the task.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

What a clever debut for a Lina Chern! Play the Fool does a good job of mixing together fun and mystery into a thrilling, captivating ride.

The plot does sometimes benefit from suspension of belief as the events could be a little unbelievable in the real world, but that’s also what made it entertaining. This was a book where I was content to just go with the flow and was along for the ride no matter the twists and turns. The characters were dynamic and well developed, making Katie’s world a fascinating one. I particularly liked the use of tarot cards and everything I learned about that world by reading this book!

This was a super fun read I really enjoyed it was super hooked from the first page couldn't put it down!

Katie is at work giving a man a tarot card reading when she decides to sneak a peak at his phone. What she sees is shocking and horrifying. It’s a photo of her friend Marley, dead from an apparent gunshot wound. She immediately jumps into her own investigation to find what happened to her friend.

The book is full of mystery, sometimes unbelievable, but that’s the fun in fiction sometimes. I really loved the first half of the book, but then it fell a little flat and picked back up for a good ending. The cover is gorgeous!

Thank you to Lina Chern, Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

Play the Fool by Lina Chen is her debut novel but you would never know that when you read it. This is a uniquely written whodunit that kept me guessing throughout the entire book. It is a fast paced mystery with humor mixed into it. The main character is a little reckless but she believes in Tarot Cards, which I did not know much about at first, but found it quite interesting and fun. I really enjoyed this one and it would be a good mystery/spooky read in October. I hope to see more from this new author.

Thank you NetGalley, Bantam Books/Random House and Lina Chen for this humoristic story to read and review. The opinions expressed are my own.
#netgalley. #bantambooks #randomhouse.
#linachen. #playthefool. #arc. #debutnovel

I want to start off by saying that I think this is a solid murder mystery. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't really love it either. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't feel the sense of urgency that I typically like to experience when reading a mystery/thriller. The mysteries I enjoy the most keep me on the edge of my seat begging to turn to the next page because I just have to figure out what is happening. This book started out with an interesting premise and a good setup in the beginning, but it ultimately just didn't sustain the level of intensity I wanted. It didn't help that I saw all of the twists coming from pretty early on in the book.

My favorite thing about the book was the main character. Katie was an absolute mess. She couldn't hold a job, lived in squalor, and had no real plans for her life. She was super impulsive and just bounced from thing to thing. I was captivated by her hot mess of a life, and the main reason I kept reading was to find out what kind of disaster she would create for herself next. She did grow quite a bit, though, and learned a lot about herself from the things she experienced in the story. I also really loved how the use of tarot was weaved into the story through her character. She saw people and the world through the cards, and her instincts were fun to follow. I honestly wish the author had leaned even harder into the tarot/mystical aspect of the story, but I also liked the focus on how Katie had learned to pick up on clues and read people that way.

One of my biggest problems with the book was that I didn't find much of it to be very believable. From the start, I questioned why Katie would react the way she did to the supposed death of someone she barely knew. I get the sentiment behind it. She didn't really have any friends and thought she might finally have one in Marley, but it all just felt a bit too extreme of a reaction. Katie's interactions with the police also didn't seem very believable. As the story unwound, it just became more and more impossible for me to suspend my disbelief at some of the circumstances. Katie seemed to always get out of trouble easily even though she did some REALLY stupid stuff.

I also didn't think there were many compelling themes in this book. The standout issue was Katie learning to be true to herself and pursue her strengths and passions in her own way. There could have been interesting explorations into policing, but instead a nuanced commentary on how police handle cases like this one was swept aside for the cop romance. I get that not every book needs to be thematically complex, but it just seemed like a big missed opportunity.

Overall, this was an easy read with some entertaining characters and a decent mystery. If you are looking for something quick that isn't too complex and are able to suspend disbelief for a bit, you'll probably have a good time with this one. I was just hoping for something a bit more. Therefore, I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

A surprisingly enjoyable read! Katie is a tarot reader who is dissatisfied with her life. She meets another reader, Marley, and feels a strong connection. Soon after, Marley is murdered and Katie goes on a journey to find what happened to her and peels back more layers than she anticipated. The characters are memorable and the dialogue pops off the page-sharp and smart. Katie is a broken anti-hero almost but one you can’t help but root for her to find her redemption. The tone reminds me of Finley Donovan, but there is a surprising amount of depth to the characters and the ache in Katie. Admittedly, the conclusion is far-fetched but it does fit in with the tone of the story. I hope this is the start of a new series and I will be watching for the next installment if so!

Arc provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun and clever debut from Lina Chern! I don’t read too many mysteries but I enjoy a classic whodunit. It took me a little to get into the story, but once I did it was hard to put down. I liked the addition of the protagonist being a tarot card reader; I think it added a unique element to the story. I found the main character to be a bit unlikeable at times, but I was still rooting for her. There was a quirky, sometimes unhinged, cast of characters and I enjoyed them all. I didn’t predict the ending, but I was hoping for a more shocking reveal. This was a fun read that explored some deeper subjects, such as loneliness and trauma, which added some depth to the story. Overall, this was an enjoyable reading experience and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

I enjoyed the first quarter of this book while we were still being introduced to Katie, the main character. Quickly this book started loosing itself and lacked everything needed to fully keep my attention and make me want to read it. 3 stars was being generous due to there nothing being overtly bad about it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

If you are looking for a book that has a mystery AND is fun, then this book is for you! Katie is working at the mall in a dead end job when she befriends Marley. Unfortunately, Marley ends up dead and Katie is the only person who cares to figure out what happened. Enter Jamie, the cute cop with a troubled past, who is willing to find the murderer.
This book has relatable characters! I also like Katie’s brother Owen. It is good to see a character on the spectrum who is an integral part of the story.
Many thanks to the author, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Play The Fool" was an entertaining mystery by debut author Lina Chern.
The characters were well developed & interesting & the use of tarot cards
was unique.
The cover art for the book was stunning.
I would love this to be a start of a new series.

Play the Fool by Lina Chern is a fast-paced murder mystery, leaning toward cozy, but with an entertaining, edgy vibe.
The protagonist, Katie True, is a young woman who has been through a series of dead-end jobs in Chicago, and is now back living in her suburban hometown, and working at a gift shop in the local mall. While she has been an underachiever, her “gift” is telling fortunes with her grifter Aunt Rosie’s Tarot cards. When her new, and best, friend is killed, Katie feels compelled to rush head-long into discovering the identity of Marley’s killer, and of course, runs into all kinds of dilemmas involving gangsters and dangerous situations!
While Katie is a flawed heroine, with a quirky, world-weary cynicism, she is a sympathetic character with a warm heart and fierce loyalty to her family. No spoilers here: the action is pretty much non-stop, and the snarky humor is reminiscent of Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum mysteries.
I enjoyed the pace of the story, the ancillary characters, and the cheeky, contemporary, irreverent prose. Ultimately, this blundering heroine is rather endearing, and the story is engaging and enjoyable!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my unbiased review

Play the Fool was a weird one for me. The most interesting thing about Katie True is her pack of tarot cards and her brother Owen. (Neither of those things featured enough) Oh and her so-called best friend is dead.

The story started off okay and had me hooked immediately. But then things just flattened. The characters are all one-dimensional, like card board cutouts. We have the slimy mob guy, the lugheaded criminal, a bumbly police force, and a protagonist that is impulsive and annoying. Honestly, I had trouble believing she was a late 20 something, and not a sixteen year old. The only character I truly enjoyed was Owen, the main characters brother. I did continue to read and finished to see how things played out and if my suspicions were right.
I am not sure who I'd recommend this to... not really a thriller, maybe a cozy mystery? It's not really cozy, though. Maybe a young adult cozy mystery... it's that a thing?

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

Katie sees Marley as her best friend, someone who helps her through her life of constantly losing jobs, her parents’ and sister’s never ending pressure, and her general dissatisfaction. But when Katie sees a picture on a customer’s phone of Marley shot through the head, her whole world upends. Suddenly Katie is trying to solve a crime, with the help of her tarot cards, her brother, and a police officer, and she is putting herself into more danger than she realizes.

This was a fun read, with a main character you really root for, and a great supporting cast. The ending was really well done. I recommend this book, and hope it becomes a series.

This is one of those debuts where you can sort of tell it’s a debut, in that the writing felt a bit forced at times and there’s kind of a lot going on. While I enjoyed the story and the mystery, the pacing was a bit off. Some reading sessions I couldn’t put the book down for wanting to know what came next, while other times it felt like a bit of a slog. 

Katie herself is a bit hard to pin down, and I would have liked to have a better sense of our main character and what she wants. Some of that feels intentional, since Katie doesn’t really know what she wants, but other times I just felt frustrated by wanting to know her better. I did enjoy how she sees the world through Tarot cards, and I felt like the author did her research and got those elements right, for the most part. It was fun to see the cards play a role in the plot and in Katie’s life. 

The plot is engaging and definitely kept me guessing about what would happen next, in a good way. It does all come together relatively quickly, but in a way that I personally found more or less satisfying, if a bit far fetched. I got the vibe towards the end that Chern might be setting us up for a sequel, and I think I’d definitely pick up a second book if so. 

In all, this was an engaging book but most definitely one that feels like a debut novel. I’m interested to see what we get next from Chern and hope that some of the things that made this less than a 5-star read get ironed out over time. 

I recommend Play the Fool to fans of mystery novels, Tarot lovers, and those that enjoy a novel that asks for some suspension of disbelief. Play the Fool comes out this Tuesday, March 28th.

3⭐️

This was an interesting read. I did enjoy the writing and there were some pretty unique turns of phrase that had me laughing. But the plot a bit flat for me.

Katie lives with a pretty mediocre life. She works a dead end job at the mall, lives in a crappy apartment, and avoids her family because she doesn’t want to deal with their disappointment that she isn’t living up to her full potential. Until one day she sees a photo of her best and only friend dead. When a he can’t get the cops to take her seriously she decides to start investigating on her own with the help of the one cop who believes her. But Nancy Drew she is not and more often than not ends up in hot water or handcuffs.

I really liked the idea of this book. I was excited by the idea of a perfectly ordinary person investigating a murder. I expected things to go horribly wrong and for mistakes to be made. I didn’t expect her to make the worst possible decision every single time. Like following a murder suspect into a house they just broke into.

I also didn’t really like Katie. I think as readers we like it when characters are flawed and relatable. But she was too flawed, she kinda just depressed me. She was just such a screw up stuck in a vicious cycle of constant self sabotage. And for the love of all that is holy, she needs to buy a second cell phone charger. The number of times her phone was dead drove me batty.

I did really like that she read tarot cards. It made her interesting. I also liked her overall growth throughout the book but thought the pacing was off. There were times when it felt like nothing was happening. But I would give this author another try.