I thought the tarot card angle was inventive for a mystery. It was fun to play with! The humor made this book different than all the other mystery/thrillers out there.

I have to say I adored Katie. The book is full of interesting characters. I loved the dynamic between her and Jamie. The mystery was fun and I didn't see the end coming. The tarot aspect and how Katie saw them was unique. I'm really hoping there is a sequel. I'd love more of these characters!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Play the Fool follows tarot card reader Katie True as she investigates her best friend's mysterious death.

A solid debut with decent writing, Play the Fool felt like a surprisingly standard mystery to me -- not wildly mysterious, but certainly an adventure to watch the main character unravel. I think I went in expecting more, particularly the use of tarot cards since they are such a central focus on the cover, but overall I'm not unhappy with my experience with this book. I think readers who like a predictable mystery with an interesting main character will find lots to love here.

Katie, who's on the road to nowhere has a shabby apartment, a crappy car and a joke of a job in a rundown mall selling imported goods. Her only friend Marley disappears one day and Katie is determined to find her. Mistakes are made.

What follows is a debut book that reads like a noir mystery tempered with tarot readings and 10cc's Not in Love throughout. I loved the characters so much: Marley (I can't give spoilers but Marley!!!), Jamie, the big city cop hiding out in the small town after a shooting mishap, Owen, the neurodiverse brother, Jessie the overachieving big sister, Max, the owner of the stoner place at the mall, Joey and Nico, members of the local "moving company." Katie herself is an unreliable narrator, unsure of herself, and muddling along, guided by her tarot deck. Lina Chern writes great dialogue and action, and the mystery had me guessing til the end.

I'm going to be recommending this one as a not-so-typical murder mystery, yes police but not procedural, friends and family relationship issues, hoping for a sequel, read the person not the cards kind of book.

I loved it!

This was a totally fun amateur sleuth mystery with excellent pacing. It had just the right amount of character development and plot, so I read it in one day.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lina Chern for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Play the Fool coming out March 28, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Katie True believes a keen intuition and quick wit are necessities in surviving. After a failed attempt at living in Chicago, she’s back in the suburbs living a bit too close to her worried parents. She jumps from one short job to the next, and flipping through her tarot deck to plan her next move. Then along comes Marley.

Mysterious, worldly, and confident, Marley takes a job at the mall where Katie sells Russian tchotchkes. The two of them understand each other. Marley doesn’t try to fix Katie. Katie thinks that with Marley’s friendship, her life just might improve. Until the day when Katie, having been encouraged by Marley to practice soothsaying, reads the cards for someone who comes into her shop. When she sees his phone, she finds more ways to improve her clairvoyance. She finds a photo of Marley and a gunshot wound.

Katie’s world is shattered. Is her best friend dead? Who killed her? She realizes there are some things her tarot cards can’t see and she must put her instincts to work. But Katie finds herself in the crossfire of a danger she never saw coming. She must use her street smarts and her tarot cards to solve Marley’s murder. Will she be able to find the killer in time?

I did receive this book from NetGalley directly based on my other reviews. Overall, I liked this book. I thought the first half was fun. I think I was a little lost in the second half. I had the impression that this story was going to be set in a dystopian future of the United States, but then it kind of just felt like regular life with Katie having some clairvoyant powers. I thought there could’ve been a little more of Marley to get a sense of her personality and Katie’s friendship with her. I just didn’t feel like I knew her character enough. I think I would’ve liked to see more world building and understanding Katie’s gifts. I enjoyed the dialogue between the characters and I thought Katie was the most fleshed out character. I would check out other books by this author.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys coming of age Murder Mysteries!

A really fascinating read with memorable characters and an engaging mystery! I could definitely visualize Katie, Marlene, and the minor characters at one of the seedier malls near my area. One complaint is that the pacing felt a little slow.

The cover for this book is absolutely stunning and I loved the idea of this book. A tarot card reader trying to solve the mystery of who killed her friend? Sign me up! Unfortunately, this story was mostly great idea, not great execution. It's not a very long story. It's only 320 pages. So it should have been a snap to read, but I felt my attention wandering frequently. The story jumps around a bit between present day and very random flashbacks Katie, our tarot reader, has about her friend Marley. For the first chunk of this book, I wasn't sure why I was supposed to care about what happened to Marley. I didn't really feel like Katie actually cared about Marley as a person. We eventually get some flashbacks that try to show why Katie cares, but I feel like they still kind of missed the mark. The story read like a first draft. We started in what would normally be the first little twist in the story. I think it would have been stronger to give us the last scene of Katie and Marley chatting. Just to establish their relationship a little bit before the murder happens. I feel like I would have cared a bit more. Once we get into the story a little bit more, it's just fine? Katie gets a ton of leeway and access to police information, which isn't out of the norm for a more cozy type mystery. I think a lot of the problem really just lies with the characterization of Katie. She is the most negative of the Nancies, her inner monologue typically just makes fun and tears down the people around her and herself constantly. She has no drive, no ambition, which is fine, but she mostly just lets everything fall into her lap rather than actually go for anything. She just comes off a little bit pathetic. I wish I could say that she exhibits lots of growth throughout the story, but she doesn't really. She makes up with her sister kind of and eventually figures out what she wants to do, but it's technically been figured out by someone else entirely? I don't know. I felt like Katie needed more growth after having to read her kind of insufferable complaints the whole time. There's a vague will they won't they relationship hinted at between Katie and Jamie, a cop on the case. It was not necessary other than to explain maybe why she was able to get so much insider information about the case.
There are times where I was really enjoying a certain scene. I think there was promise in the writing. I checked the author's website, and they usually write short stories. This tracks with there being really strong scenes. I think there just needed to be more drafts and more editing to help pull together the space between the scenes and to keep this story interesting.
The last thing I want to mention is Owen, who is Katie's brother. We are not specifically told, but this character seems autistic and ADHD coded...but in the most stereotypical way I've read in a while. He doesn't understand boundaries, appears unempathetic, hyperfocuses on things for hours on end, blurts things out he shouldn't, Katie treats him like a kid when he's a full grown adult. It didn't feel right. I felt really uncomfortable about the descriptions of Owen.
The only other positive from this book was that I liked the little wheel of tarot cards in Katie's head. When she meets people she tries to assign them a tarot card, which I thought was interesting.
Sad to say this book did not work for me. 1.5 stars

Play the Fool is a fun whodunit. Katie was a really interesting character, her actions can seem rash but her intentions were always good. I was intrigued by the tarot cards and would love to see more than that. One thing that slowed me down was Jamie. He didn’t feel like his place fit well with the story. I would read another book about Katie to see how she grows.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing -- Bantam for the ARC of this book. The opinions are mine alone and given freely and honestly.

Katie True works in a Russian tchotchke shop in the local mall. She also has an affinity for reading tarot cards. A loner most of the time, she befriends Marley, who works in another mall shop. Her world is turned upside down when an injured stranger wanders into the shop and has a picture of Marley's dead body on his phone. Katie has to know what happened to her friend.

I wanted to like this book. The early part of the book moved a little slow bit pulled me in. The characters were interesting. Then the plot took a turn and tried unsuccessfully to be mysterious. I figured out the situation a little after halfway through. This book takes itself too seriously.

Katie's interactions with law enforcement are not believable at all. The actual crime is needlessly complex and again not belelievablem It just falls flat.

"Play the Fool" is an amusing tale about a young lady, Katie True, searching for her place in life and realizing she is capable of more than she (and others) believes. Katie is a disappointment to her family due to her inability to hold a job. She is talented with tarot cards and talented at reading people, getting them to reveal more about themselves than they intended. However, she does not know how to translate that into a successful career. However, when her friend Marley disappears and appears to have been murdered, but the police don't show much interest (as there is no proof of a murder), Katie has to use her talents, determination, and the tendency of others to misjudge her to solve the mystery.

Play the fool is a fun, light, mystery filled with sarcasm and self-depreciation. I thought Katie was very real, and I really related to her in a lot of different ways, she isn't perfect by any means and isn't really happy with what she's doing with her life. Katie knows what she wants but not exactly how to get it. When she meets Marley, Katie feels like she's met a kindred spirit. Marley doesn't judge or make her feel like less for working in a trinket store in the mall.

So when Katie sees a picture of a dead Marley on this strange guy's phone she knows that she has to figure out what really happened to her friend. This gets her into some trouble. Thankfully one of the police officers she met seems to believe her and actually helps her investigate. I really liked the cop Jamie, he's definitely a workaholic when we first meet him, but when he meets Katie things start to shift a bit, and they find themselves hanging out, well it was after she was threatened but it happened, and you could see the feeling developing between them.

I thought the mystery was good, I didn't have any idea what was going to happen from one moment to the next and had no idea how it was all going to end. I loved the tarot angle, and do wish we got a bit more of it, I also loved how Katie just kind of stumbled into all these clues, and ends up solving the case.
I will definitely be looking out for what this author writes in the future.

Play the Fool is a whodunnit mystery where, tarot card reader, Katie True discovers her friends missing and sets about unraveling the mystery of what happened to her.

At the beginning I wasn’t so sure if I was going to like this book, it took me a few chapters, but once I got wrapped up in the story there was no going back. I definitely enjoyed this whodunnit that had me guessing until the very end. I’m usually more of a cozy mystery fan, so the cynicism in the main character was a little much to me, but I quickly got used to it and started to like Katie a lot. This was a good read and I would recommend it to mystery fans, especially if you have some interest in the psychic elements found in it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

Katie True is an amateur tarot card reader, working in a strange import shop as the latest long series of jobs she can't quite keep and doesn't care much about. When she accidentally discovers that her best friend Marley is dead, she decides to doggedly pursue a series of random clues and serendipitous happenings to discover what happened to Marley. Along the way, she will be aided by an inscrutable (and cute) police officer and her socially awkward brother as she faces off with burglars, mobsters, sentimental bodybuilders, and classmates-turned-cops.

If you like cozy murder mysteries featuring quirky characters, you will probably enjoy this one. Everyone here is quirky, other than perhaps the cute police officer with whom Katie has a "will they or won't they" vibe going on. Katie is a bit of a challenge as the plot's anchor: she seems to have no appreciable skills, can barely take care of herself, and as an amateur detective is rather incompetent. Her best asset seems to be her inability to recognize boundaries or danger--but maybe that is what it takes to be a good detective. She's likeable, at any rate, and that goes a long way in a cozy mystery.

Solid story, predictable ending, oddball characters, a hint of romance. Oh, and a gorgeous cover.

Read if you like:
👀 Mysteries
🃏 Tarot Cards
🔪 Who Dunnit
👩🏼 Relatable MC’s

Katie is written as such a relatable character. She is a bit messy and doesn’t believe in herself which is why she looks to the Tarot cards to help her with her life.

But when she sees a picture of her friend murdered, her tarot cards won’t be much help.

This one is trying too hard to be too many things in my opinion as there is romance, mystery, mafia, and many characters.

I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed and didn’t feel like it wrapped up well because of the speed of the wrap up.

Thanks to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my review!

Katie True is not winning at life and finds herself working at the mall selling Russian tchotchkes. The one bright spot is her friend Marley who also works at the mall. Unfortunately, one day while giving a tarot card reading, she sees a picture on the clients phone of Marley dead. It is here that the story really jumps off. Katie, who is determined to find out what happened to her friend. I liked how much the use of tarot was used in the story and Katie's connection with the cards was entertaining. The story is not complex but it is enjoyable.

Thank you Bantan Books for the advanced reader copy.

Katie True tried to make it in Chicago but is now back living with her parents and jumping from one dead-end job after another. Finally, she meets self-assured Marley, who convinces Katie to use her tarot reading skills professionally and make a living doing readings. During a reading, Katie glances at her client's phone and, horrifically, sees a pic of Marley with a gunshot wound to her head. She's desperate to find out what happened to Marley, so desperate she's reckless around some very dangerous people.

This has an intriguing premise with mystery, thriller, and romance elements. I found the characters interesting and well done, and I appreciated the neurodiversity representation. Katie is a quirky, relatable, and chaotic character who has not lived up to her family's expectations of her. She dives headfirst into this murder investigation that spins out of control. I appreciated that she wasn't depicted as an instantly capable sleuth, though she did have good intentions and insights gleaned from her cards. Katie miscalculates at times, making bad decisions along the way. The character development was good, and I liked the characters, including Katie and especially her brother Owen. The banter between Katie and police detective Jamie was funny. I enjoyed the first half and would like to read this author in the future. However, a lot is going on in the book, and the mystery ended up falling a bit flat for me. Still, this will be popular with readers looking for a book that mixes tarot with mystery, humor, and romance that falls somewhere between dark and cozy. And the cover is fabulous!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballentine for the opportunity to review this ARC!

*3.5 rounded up

I probably would’ve bought this just based off the cover. Play the fool has a little of everything. Think Finley Donovan but with tarot cards and no kids. Laugh out loud funny moments and a good mystery I hope there’s more to Katie True’s story. I’m so glad my wish for this was granted!! Thank you

Unfortunately this book didn't quite work for me, the plot and the characters were all over the place and it didn't feel engaging to me, and I wasn't sold on why Katie would investigate Marley's death in the first place-- so much seemed more contrived than not. I love tarot themed stories, but their role in this story didn't feel as genuine as I had hoped. I'm sure others will like this more than me, and I'm truly thankful to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a widget of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The story line was pretty good. It was a little mysterious how Marley disappeared in the book. It wasn't too bad, but it was long and not really a true mystery how Kattie was left in the dark about everything. I read it it was relaxing but very different than a usual mystery book.