I feel like this is a great mystery but def more of a cozy mystery. I think I like my mysteries a little darker which is why I just felt like this wasn't a new favorite but still just an okay read. I really enjoyed the characters; Katie and her brother were great characters. Loved their banter and her brother made me laugh out loud several times. Honest to a fault but loved some of the social awkwardness that followed. A few of the actions and turn of events needed a bit of an open mind as I don't think it would happen like that in real life (like her roaming around the police station, really?) but certainly resulted in intense scenes which is why I kind of just let it go. All in all, an enjoyable read but not a favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

PLAY THE FOOL is a contemporary murder mystery that follows Katie True, a rudderless woman working at the mall who gets accidentally caught up in solving the murder of her friend. Per the title, Katie is a major fool at times in how she stumbles upon evidence and solves problems. Her biggest strength is in being able to read people, as she’s quite good at tarot.

I both enjoyed and got really frustrated at how dumb Katie was throughout this book. On one hand, it’s refreshing to see a protagonist who doesn’t have all the answers in life, who maybe isn’t a genius. On the other hand…girl, what are you DOING?? She’s lucky to be alive, tbh.

I predicted the final twists but the journey was fun enough. I liked the detective love interest, who’s a weirdo in his own right. The sense of place was also really strong, set in suburban Chicago. I knew exactly the creepy semi-abandoned mall vibe the author was going for here.

Recommend if you’re looking for a quick mystery.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lina Chern for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC.

Play the Fool is a cute mystery about Katie True, her tarot card and people reading skills, and how she solves the murder of her friend Marley. This story was quite entertaining, and I found myself really enjoying seeing where the story was going and how Katie was going to save the day by solving the crime. I enjoyed this story overall and thought it was a great debut novel. I would recommend it.

I would definitely read from this author Lina Chern again.

Thank you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for my gifted digital advance reader copy.

After a failed attempt at independence, Katie True lands back in her hometown. She lives in a run-down apartment and lands a job at a Russian tchotchke shop at the local mall (to her perpetually disappointed parents' chagrin). Her only friend is a fellow mall worker, Marley, who really seems to understand Katie and doesn't pressure her to 'be better' or 'do more'. Katie also reads tarot cards, and while conducting a reading for a man who wanders into the shop one day, she sneaks a peak at his phone and is shocked to find a photo of Marley's lifeless body, setting Katie off on a quest to find out what happened to her friend.

The cover of this book attracted my attention, and the whole tarot reader/fortune teller as the MC reminded me of Cherie Priest's Grave Reservations. I was frustrated by the slow moving pace, and I really struggled to connect with Katie. She can't seem to get out of her own way, yet everything keeps coming together for her. I know a common feature of cozy mysteries is that the MC (not affiliated with LE) somehow becomes privy to information pertaining to the police investigation, but it frustrated me that she's handed everything by the cops with no objection.

I struggled to reach the halfway point, but was still moderately interested in the central mystery. After the 50% mark, things seemed to get more and more outlandish, and I became less invested in what was happening. I didn't really find the ending satisfying, and I skimmed over a lot of the descriptions and read only the dialog.

My other issue/dislike was Owen's characterization. Owen is Katie's brother, and it is implied that he is on the spectrum in some way, as he stims, misses social cues, etc. I felt that his character is merely a grouping of many stereotypical traits of those with ASD, some of which went together and some of which didn't make much sense as a composite. While it was exciting to see a neurodivergent character featured prominently, I wish that his portrayal was a little bit more nuanced and a little bit less of a caricature.

Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me. Cozy mysteries often are, as I have trouble suspending my disbelief and getting behind the (often hapless) main characters.

Katie True is known as the family screw-up. Her sister Jessie is married with successful ventures and her brother Owen is in school working on an advanced graduate degree. Katie, meanwhile, works in a store that advertises itself as selling fine goods from Russia and Eastern Europe but is really bric-a-brac. Though, Katie does have a talent; she can read people due to all the time she spent with her Aunt Rosie, a professional grifter. One day when a customer enters the store, Katie notices that he is in distress and offers to give him a tarot card reading. However, when he momentarily exits the store, she notices his phone is unlocked and takes a glimpse, wanting him to get his money’s worth. But what she doesn’t expect to find is a picture of her friend Marley, dead with a bullet wound in her head. Who killed Marley and why? Drawn to solve the case, Katie will do just about anything to find out what happened to Marley, the one person who didn’t see her as a failure.

This was a fun, quick read, as most good mysteries are. In terms of the plot, this proceeds at a decent pace. There are some slower areas, but this provides for character development. Additionally, Lina Chern has a way with words. In moments of high tension, Chern chooses her words carefully for both suspense and humor. There’s one scene that had me outright laughing. I’ll just say gardening tools plus paint don’t mix, but they do create a hilarious moment. And while I did guess every twist before it happened, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the novel.

The characters were also key to the plot and my own love of the novel. Though I can see some readers being put off by Katie's self-deprecating outlook, I firmly believe that she’s filtering through a number of jobs and interests to try and find her passion. Having had similar conversations with students in their early 20s, it’s just as important to discover what individuals aren’t good at or interested in. Thus, I believed her motivations. After all, Katie is on a similar journey, though she does know that she’s good at reading people. However, her family of overachievers has beaten it into her head that this is not a marketable skill. Katie changes throughout the novel as she learns to see this as a strength and trust herself. And though Katie doesn’t always make the best decisions, they are all coming from an honest place with noble intentions. Other notable standout characters include Jamie, Owen, Max, Jessie, Marley, Nico, and Joey.

Overall, this is a good debut novel. I would certainly read more by Lina Chern in the future.

3.5/5
This was an entertaining mystery with some humor weaved in. I liked Katie's character and the relationship she had with her brother Owen and the friendship she developed with Jamie, the good looking police officer. Suspenseful and an overall good debut. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
Play the Fool by Lina Chern is a lightly dark and gritty whodunit told by Katie True. Katie is a part-time psychic and a clerk in a small Russian tchotchke store in a run-down mall. When a man comes in and agrees to a tarot reading, Katie can't help but look at his phone when he leaves it unattended. You never know what information might help the reading. When she finds a picture of her one friend, Marley, dead in the alley behind the mail, Katie takes action, and what ensues is a witty story as Katie is determined to find out who killed her friend.

Bullet Point Review:
• I love humorous and thrilling whodunits; this one had plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
• The story suffers from a lack of a clear identity – is it cozy? Is it hard-boiled? Is it romantic suspense? Is it dark and gritty? Is it entertaining? 🤷🏻‍♀️
• I loved the tarot card angle and how Katie saw people and events in terms of specific tarot cards. It's fun, unique, and adds a mystical angle that I enjoyed.
• My suspended disbelief disintegrated around the halfway point when the story took a turn, but I kept going straight. After that, I had a very bumpy ride.
• Katie True is a delightful character; I loved her quirkiness and pluck. She fascinated me more than the mystery.
• The first-person narration didn't add anything to this story. Even though I adored Katie, her head isn't always an easy place to be.
• The pace slowed down due to the weight of the atmosphere, and I always struggle with that.
• Read, if you like:
o Humor mixed with thrills
o Whodunits with mystical aspects
o Fun and quirky main characters

3.5 stars rounded up because I love the cover.

This was an interesting premise with a protagonist who is a complete mess. I don't know if it was deliberate, but she has all the hallmarks of severe and undiagnosed ADHD with a family who doesn't understand her. Most people don't get her and all they see is someone from a well-to-do family who has all the advantages, but whose life is a complete mess because she is lazy, unmotivated, etc.

This was a debut novel for the author, and I think it shows in the scattershot approach to including too much in one story. And yet I found myself rooting for the protagonist. As much as a mess her life was and her decision-making was questionable, I understood it and wanted her to succeed. I am a tutor and I work with all sorts of students whose life "is a mess" and my goal is to help them figure out a way to be successful despite their challenges. Part of that is finding a way for them to do "their thing".

I also really liked her relationship with her brother Owen. What I didn't like was that as much as her parents loved her, they never saw her as needing help from a therapist. Their son Owen? Yes. Their other daughter? Yes. But never Katie. It's like they knew her life was a mess, but they never thought that she might need a little more support than just telling her she could do better if she just followed the pathway they laid out for her

I liked her relationship with Jamie, which was much more of a friendship between two people who didn't relate well with the rest of the world--for different reasons, yes, but still. I liked that he accepted her fully without judgment and believed that she just needed a chance to do what she was good at. I did not like her sister Jessie, but I did like how they resolved the conflict between them.

There were definitely aspects that stretched the believability factor, in particular with Jamie sharing sensitive info with her and also the whole thing with the Italian mob as well as the other thing with Marley (which I actually suspected from the beginning). But you know what? I don't care. It was a fun read and I enjoyed suspending disbelief and just going along for the ride.

This was a debut novel that shows promise and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I received an advance review copy for free from the publisher and NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I thought that this was a pretty good read. Overall, I found this book fun and enjoyable. Personally, I really liked Katie. I felt she came across as quite quirky and unique while also having an almost raw genuineness to her. I greatly admired her desire to be herself. As for the story itself, I enjoyed the blend of mystery, danger, humor and twists.

Play the Fool was a great concept that ultimately fell a tad short for me.

Readers follow Katie True, a down on her luck tarot reader who isn't finding being an adult suited to her liking. When the mysterious Marley crashes into Katie's wolrd her life will never be the same. Inspired to pursue her clairvoyant nature by Marley, Katie quickly find herself wrapped up in a world of danger and deception.

I simply didn't find either of the characters likable and because of that the story was hard to get invested in. It didn't seem to be a cozy mystery or a dark murder mystery. In the end I just didn't truly understand what the book was trying to be.

NetGalley provided an advance reader copy of this cute mystery, which RELEASES MARCH 28, 2023.

Can we give it up for the cover? It is simply beautiful and what drew me in to read this book and it did not disappoint. The journey that we get to follow the main character Katie go on was a wild ride. While this wasn't the best most original story I have read, I can say that it kept me entertained throughout.

This is a mystery novel that follows Katie as she tries to uncover what happened to her friend that has disappeared and now confirmed to be dead. Katie gets herself into a lot of mess I can say that.

I loved the tarot card element to the story and the characters were relatable. Would read more work by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Play the Fool
by Lina Chern
Pub Date: 28 Mar 2023

This book was a "cozy mystery" with Interesting and quirky characters. While some of the situations were far- fetched, the storyline was still attention worthy. My favorite character was actually Owen, Katie's brother. And my romantic heart would have liked a more solid romance (or any romance!) and not just the hint of something that could be between Jamie and Katie. I could almost see this as a series with Katie getting inadvertently involved in Jamie's police cases. Hmm...just a thought.

3.5 stars

2.5 stars.

I love the cover of this book the neon look is fantastic, it is what drew me to the book in the first place.

I enjoyed some things about this book like learning about Katie and her life as well as about her connection to her tarot cards. I thought it was really cool to see. As someone who reads cards also to see someone who has images of them just pop into her head during a conversation like mine do.

The main thing I had an issue with was the mystery part of this book. The police angle was a whole lot and didn't quite feel believable. It just came out just a bit over the top and i didn't really enjoy that part.

Thank you to Bantam and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katie True is zooming out of her twenties with a dead end job, no romantic prospects, and a family that, for the most part, thinks she could do better if she would "only" apply herself. Apart from her neurodivergent younger brother Owen, the one person who will listen to her without judging is her best friend Marley, who works in the edgy clothing and notions store across the hall from where Katie peddles Russian knick-knacks. Though Marley is at least a decade older than her, Katie finds herself drawn to the bold redhead, as the two spend their lunch breaks together at an outdoor table behind their slowly dying shopping mall.

It’s on one of these breaks that Katie confesses to Marley her fear that the only thing she’s really good at is reading Tarot cards. Or, as her grifter Aunt Rosie taught her, reading people while ostensibly reading their cards. While so much else in Katie’s life is unfixed, she knows she can rely on her gift to help her get to the bottom of people’s issues:

QUOTE
I just sort of let my mind go blank and catch it all, like one of those giant satellite dishes I’d seen on a science show, standing in the desert, gathering signals from space. There was always a pattern in the noise, a story in code. I laid it out, watching the customers’ faces. Sometimes they didn’t see it. Other times it hit them like a ray of light splashing over what was in front of them all along. <i>You know what?</i> a teary-eyed dad said during my first reading, after he decided to reconcile with his son, who was living on a survivalist organic farm in Montana. <i>You’re pretty good at this</i>. I stared at him as he left. I’d never been good at anything before.
END QUOTE

When a gym rat with a gash on his forehead stumbles into her empty store one day, Katie is spurred to do a reading for him. In the process, however, she discovers a terrible photo on his phone, of Marley shot to death beside the dumpster behind the mall. The gym rat runs away before she can find out more, leaving a frantic Katie to search for her friend. Everyone else who knows Marley is certain she’s just picked up and left town, but Katie knows what she saw. Besides, Marley would never leave without saying goodbye, would she?

When Katie’s search for Marley finally brings her to the cops, they’re skeptical of her claims. However, her plight does pique the interest of new transfer, Detective Jamie Roth. While he does warn her about the dangers of investigating, he’s surprisingly helpful when her efforts land her in difficult spots, such as when she needs a ride from her parents’ place to work. Unfortunately, this also opens him up to inspection from her entire family:

QUOTE
“Jamie is a police officer,” Owen intoned. “He is not married and has trouble maintaining relationships due to the dangerous and inconstant nature of police work. He has a very symmetrical face.”

My mom’s eyes grew wide, then narrow. “I can see that.” She turned to me. “Well, that clears a few things up.”

“What things?” my dad said.

“That is totally unfair,” I said. It wasn’t. I had a long history of getting absorbed in weird shit for the sake of some dude, as evidenced by the mountains of “gently used” fencing equipment, coin collecting albums, and fusion cookbooks moldering in my parents’ attic.
END QUOTE

But this investigation is not about Jamie or even, as Katie keeps telling herself, about anything apart from justice for Marley. Katie is used to finding herself in humiliating circumstances: what difference do a few more make if it means figuring out who killed Marley? But when things go from embarrassing to downright dangerous, will even her astonishing ability to read people keep her safe from mortal peril?

I loved this charming, clever Tarot-themed novel, and sincerely hope it’s the beginning of a series. I felt so much empathy for a directionless Katie, who’s only jolted into action by some of the most terrible circumstances. I loved the humor throughout, and especially appreciated how the relationship between Katie and Jamie developed over the course of this book. It didn’t feel forced at all, and I’m absolutely rooting for the continuation of what looks to be a healthy and respectful romance, hopefully in more books about this duo and the people around them!

This cover is stunning and definitely made me want to read the book.

I liked the idea of the tarot card, some mystery and suspense.

I really liked Katie True. She is quirky and unique and doesn't want to fit in the mold her family is trying to shove her in. She meets Marley at the mall where they work and they become, if nothing else, "lunch friends".

When she accidentally stumbles upon a murder, she is sucked into the mystery and can't seem to step back, even when told to by police.

The downfall for me is I never felt like the book committed to exactly what the main storyline was.
Katie and her trying to find her place in the world. There's Marley and the mystery there. The Nico and family stuff. And a spark of a romance with Jamie, the LA officer who is here now - why?

I was invested in the mystery, and in Katie. But felt that it had maybe too many irons in the fire. I believe it is a debut, and I would definitely try another book by this author. The book had a lot of potential, and taken another direction I think would have been fabulous!

Many thanks to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. The Plot was amazing and I can't wait for others to read it too.

4 1/2
I didn’t realize how desperate I was for a book fresh and different until I began reading Lina Chern’s Play the Fool. Katie True is a special kind of character. She’s smart but underachieving. The kind of girl that teachers would frequently say never met expectations. But Katie is good at tarot and reading cards, although self-deprecating. She’s funny and sweet and infrequently jaded.

She’s also lonely for someone who understands her until Marley enters the scene. She accepts Katie as she is. And though they never spend much time together, Katie feels Marley is her best friend. Then her best friend is murdered, which she finds out from a photo on the cell of a man that Katie discovers is Marley’s ex-boyfriend. From there everything falls apart and Katie finds herself frequently in over her head. She meets police detective Jamie, who unbeknownst to her is facing down his own demons. But he’s also attractive and accessible and perhaps too permissive in what he’s willing to share with her.

I very much enjoyed this debut novel by Lina Chern. I loved brother Owen and his interactions with his sister. I don’t know that it was ever explicitly mentioned but Owen is on the spectrum and hugely intelligent. I loved that Katie is so entangled in her tarot, believing that she’s just a grifter when I think she might actually have a talent. I recognize the person who all the teachers say is an underachiever and who is as smart as they think she is. She is also caring and despite what everyone thinks, responsible.

While I did suspect the outcome, I think that Chern did a great job at bringing it about. She tweaked the reader about the nose and then said: yep, there it is. And I didn’t mind.

This is a quirky and interesting book with a sense of humor and mystery. I can’t wait to read more by Lina Chern in the years to come.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A whudunit with a tarot card reader solving the murder? Sadly, the cover made it too good to be true for me and it felt wildly unbelievable after a certain point in the story and not the fun kind.

I could not connect to the characters. It almost felt like I was dropped inside a story and there wasn’t enough background to make me care about Katie or even Marley. I felt like I was being told how I should be feeling rather than having the emotions invoked through writing. Sadly, this book just didn’t work for me.

I read "Play the Fool" by Lina Chern on NetGalley. Katie True is working a dead-end job at a mall when she meets Marley. The two become friends and Marley encourages Katie to try to start a business reading tarot cards, but before Katie can pursue that she sees a picture of Marley dead on a customer's phone. This leads Marley to an investigation of what happened and why. I really enjoyed this book and was kept guessing until the end.