“Play the Fool: A Mystery” by Lina Chern ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery Thriller/Family Dysfunction. Location: The Chicago suburb of Lake Terrace, Illinois, USA. Time: present.

Katie True is a cynical card reader who sees people she meets in terms of their tarot card equivalent. She’s been working dead-end jobs for 8 years, currently at Firebird Imports in a dying shopping center. There she meets Marley, who works at the mall’s goth boutique. She’s mysterious and worldly, and Katie hopes Marley can help her get through her current rough patch.

One day Katie is reading a stranger’s cards. She peeks at his phone and sees a photo of Marley with a gunshot wound in her head. Katie tries to investigate, and her recklessness puts her in danger. After she’s caught sneaking into Marley’s empty house, she forms a tentative agreement with Detective Jamie to find the stranger with the photo.

About 1/3 through, we see a subplot of the hot mess that is Katie and her siblings. Her sister Jessie, the anxious overachiever. Her brother Owen, clearly on the Autism spectrum. Author Chern doesn’t label him; she lets us experience his single mindedness and lack of understanding of social nuances. And Katie herself, smart but easily distracted, completely disorganized in life, drifting through life with no friends except her oddly blank relationship with Marley.

Author Chern describes learning disabilities and disability spectrums without naming them. She creates really outstanding images through her prose. For example, Katie sees tarot cards flashing by in her mind until one stops and she focuses on its meaning. This method of corralling her scattered mind through images is similar to techniques used by people with learning disabilities.

Chern’s plot, however, could use some corralling- it’s pretty scattered. And her off-kilter characters can be a bit much. Setting the story in a dying mall was a unique twist. She leaves a lot to be learned about characters like Jamie, making one wonder about sequels. It’s 3 solid stars from me.🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️ Publishes March 28, 2023. Thank you to NetGalley, Bantam, and Lina Chern for this early copy.

I loved this mystery that plays with tarot tropes. Katie is an excellent character with a deep soul and her reationships have interesting dynamics. As she works to solve a murder she may find more than she expects.. Such a fun read, I couldn't put in it down.

Are you looking for a fun, fast paced and action packed book? Then this book is for you! We immediately jump into a crazy story in the first chapter! I loved how much this made me laugh, and also panic at the same time.

What I enjoyed:
- this was a fast paced read! I was able to finish this in one evening
- I loved the MC. Even though some of her choices made me panic
- I loved the mystery! And i couldn’t figure it out
- This had me laughing! It was the perfect book for a book rut

3.5 stars out of 5! Rounding up to 5. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was the kind of novel that you sit down with and finish in one evening, however, that evening is actually 6 hours long because you didn't check the time or pace yourself and well...you'll be tired the next day but it'll be worth it. The main character made some decisions that had me fearing for her life while simultaneously yelling at her for making dangerous choices (is this how my parents feel?). But she made me laugh and relate. Like, really, really relate...finding your path is hard. Having the 'perfect' siblings is hard. But I wanted Katie to succeed and find happiness and maybe hit it off with that nice cop she met. I loved the writing style, and the main characters, though frustrating at times, were interesting. I loved Katie's abilities with the cards and how she used them like a superhero.

This book immediately puts you in the action. I devoured this book in two days it was so interesting. I loved the tarot card element and the twist at the end. I will say it was a little dragged out in places but I loved the gritty-ness of the story itself. Even though there was some loose ends it was still such a solid story.

Good and fast paced read. The author does a good job at immersing you in the world of their story telling.

Thank you Random House, Ballantine imprint, for the ebook copy of Play the Fool by Lina Chern. This is a solid win for mystery fans who like the blend of mystery, coziness, and humor, somewhat similar to Dial A for Aunties. The humor really worked for me as did an engaging quick plot that lead to a solid conclusion. Thank you for a delightful early 2023 cozy winter read!

A bit all over the place, if I'm being honest. I think some of my finishing it was a love for where it started, and a hope that I see more from the author and maybe in this world. Overall, worth a shot, but it's likely to be one I have to recommend with some strong heads up,

This book is hilarious even as it's a murder mystery! Katie works in the mall and meets Marley, an enigmatic woman a little older than she is, but they become fast friends. Katie loves tarot cards and is adept at "reading" them even as she admits she really just "reads" the person and tells them what they want/need to hear. So when Nico comes in to her store and she happens to see a dead Marley on his phone, she's worried and isn't sure where to turn. As she gets involved with Jamie, the detective, she isn't sure where the truth lies as she somehow gets in situations that make her look guilty as well. I can see this as a madcap adventure movie as I raced through it to see how it would resolve itself!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

2.5/5 stars! Loved the cover of this book. Loved getting to know Katie. She gave me tough, bad*ss, quirky vibes, like many of CN Crawford or KN Breene's characters. My problem with this story is that it didn't know what it wanted to be. Was it a mystery? Was it a romance? Was it a dark comedy? It didn't know, which left the story disjointed.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This was a really intriguing book. Katie is back in her small town after not finding success in Chicago. She is working in a store in the mall and develops a friendship with Marley. Marley encourages Katie to continue her tarot reading. Unfortunately while reading one day The Tarot cards for someone Kati sees a picture of Marley and it looks like she’s been shot in the head. From here on we see Katie trying to find out what happened to who she considers to be her best friend.The characters are quite intriguing and it’s really interesting to see how Kati changes throughout the story. It has lots of twists and turns and the ending is surprising but yet satisfying as well.

Play the Fool is a quirky, somewhat cozy mystery that takes place in the suburbs of Chicago and features a failure to launch young woman named Katie True who is a really talented tarot card reader stuck in a series of endless retail jobs. She gets sucked in to the murder of a fellow mall worker and proceeds to involve herself in solving the crime along with a love interest cop.

The initial two thirds of the novel have a great set up with interesting characters and a mafia hit-like crime. However, the story at this point sort of faltered for me and I felt like the author rushed to tidy everything up. The relationship between Katie and Jamie seemed forced and extremely platonic. There is zero spice in this book.

The ending was predictable and I felt like the theme of the tarot cards that was so well integrated in the beginning was lost by the end.

A quick, fun read for a new, younger generation of cozy mystery lovers. Although safe for your grandma to read, the characters and storyline will not be relatable to the older crowd.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bantam, and Lina Chern for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Play the Fool. It was a nice palate cleanse from grittier thrillers I’ve been reading. It kept me guessing and I had a hard time putting it down! Would recommend!

Play the Fool is an original mystery novel starring Katie True. Katie True is a tarot card reading working in a Russian store. Katie reads people as much as she does the cards. She believes she’s found a true friend in fellow mall worker Marley. But a bloody schmuck stumbles into the shop and Katie sneaks a look at his phone before she reads his cards. The phone has evidence that Marley was murdered so Katie sets up to find the real killer with a little help from her new friend a bored homicide detective. Twists and turns keep you guessing until the end in this action packed, danger filled mystery. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

Unfortunately, I decided to stop reading this book a quarter of the way through. I really liked the premise, which is why I requested the ARC, but the execution of it is not what I expected. The blurb gives you a lot of background about a friendship that is not as strong as it’s made out to be: it’s merely brushed over in the book. I expected to learn about our main character and the friend before the murder was revealed, but you don't. This lead me to become uninvested since I didn't know their bond, and in the brief descriptions of their relationship after the reveal, it seems flimsy at best. Too many unnecessary descriptions distract from the moment, and they happen way too often. At 26%, I was not interested or invested in the plot :( I also feel like the main character didn't have a specific vibe to her, she acted differently than you'd expect in some interactions based on her past ones.

A fun mystery that links a psychic tarot card reader with a missing person crime. Katie is in a rut with her life and her dead end job at a Russian odd and ends store at a mall in the suburbs. When she makes friends with Marley she thinks things might be looking up until Marley ends up missing and most likely dead. Partnering up with a cute detective and her ragtag group of friends gets her thrown into a dangerous game. All the cards in the world can't predict how she will get away from the bad guys who are looking at her as having something they want badly and how ill equipped she is at playing detective. Fun characters that feel like real people who get pulled in over their head. After all, we all have a bit of armchair detective in us and this will scratch that itch. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Katie is a screw up. She has no career but does read Tarot cards, has had a number of jobs none of which lasted a year, is single and has lived in a dumpy apartment for the past 8 years. She is presently working in a nick-nack store in a dying mall. She has a friend, Marley who is older, tough, somewhat of a biker babe and who knows what. She runs into Nico at the shop where she works. He tells her he is Marley’s boyfriend and Katie gives him a Tarot reading…she also steals a look at his phone and sees a picture of Marley’s murdered body. She does go to the Police with her information and meets Jamie, a detective. Katie continues to “investigate” the disappearance and death of Marley and, being a screw up, manages to confuse and complicate everything. It is filled with humor and fun, fast reading. Thanks to Net Galley and Bantam for an ARC for an honest review.

The best thing for me coming out of 2022: the discovery of cozy mysteries and I am so happy I had the chance to get my hands on another.

Play the Fool follows Katie and she tries to uncover who murdered her (kinda) best friend and makes... maybe not the best decisions in doing so. If you are looking for a mystery that will make you LOL (literally), provide enough suspense but not keep you up at night and hook you from page one - do not sleep on this book.

While the ending was (maybe) a little predictable, there was enough humor + mystery to keep me engaged.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

I struggled to connect with the writing style and the main plot, so I will not be finishing this novel. Thank you, publisher and netgalley for the early copy!

Full disclosure - I was provided an advanced reader’s copy of this book by the authors but have voluntarily provided a review. All opinions are my own.

Play the Fool is scheduled for a March 28,2023 release

The Luck of the Draw

Katie True’s life is not the greatest, but she makes it work. After trying her hand in a slightly more professional setting, she is currently working at a dying mall in a shady area of the Chicago suburbs. Much to her affluent family’s dismay, she spends her days reading tarot cards while manning the register at a Russian tchotchke store. But all is not completely horrible for Katie. Her best friend Marley works across the hall, and they frequently hang out together on breaks. Things aren’t fabulous but they also aren’t horrible. That is until a really strange acting guy stumbles into her shop just before closing. Jittery and visibly shaken, Katie offers to do his reading but after a sneaky look at his phone when he is distracted her world falls apart. On his phone is a photo of what appears to be dead woman…but it’s not just any dead woman, it’s her best friend Marley. Katie is devastated but launches a one-woman quest (with the unofficial help of a local cop) to find Marley’s killer and bring them to justice. With nothing but her wits to guide her Katie sets out on a quest to find her friend’s killers and bring them to justice without getting herself killed in the process.

Play the Fool, the debut novel by author Lina Chern, can best be described as a quirky mystery that is a little bit cozy, but it definitely does not fit into that genre. Chern has managed with her debut novel to create a story that cannot be labeled easily. With a more current setting, it was very easy for me to picture the various places described even though I have never set foot in Chicago or her surrounding suburbs. Using descriptions that were as vivid as they were simplistic the author pretty much captured modern day urban any town USA. From the Asian market behind Katie’s apartment (I could literally smell the kimchi and other various spices), to the must have athletic store, and even the “once upscale but now slightly run down but still hanging on” neighborhoods, Chern’s visualizations really helped to bring her story to life. The concept the dying mall in particular was so brilliant! What town does not have one of those and this really intrigued the urban explorer enthusiast in me, particularly in the closing parts of the story. Not really being familiar with tarot, Chern’s use of Katie’s overactive (at times) imagination to associate certain people or situations with a specific card was an effective and simple way to incorporate this aspect into the overall story line. For a debut novel I feel this was a strong offering. The characters held my attention, and the locations were clearly defined. Even though there was a definite ending to the narrative, I love how Chern leaves the door cracked for future escapades with this cast of characters.
If you like mystery that is witty, characters that are snarky and relatable, and a headstrong female lead that does not intimidate easily, Play the Fool would fill that bill. After this debut, I am looking forward to what Chern thinks up next and while I’m hoping we get some of the same themes, something tells me this author is only getting warmed up. Whether it be a return to Lake Terrace and more escapades with Katie, Jamie and the other cast of characters or a new storyline I am confident Chern will not disappoint.