Alanis McLachlan, reformed con artist turned tarot reader, gets paid for predicting the future–too bad she didn’t see all the trouble in hers. First a figure from her past tries to drag her back into the life of crime she thought she’d left behind. Then a new suitor tries to sweep Alanis off her feet, threatening her on-again, off-again romance with hunky teacher Victor Castellanos. And there’s … there’s the little matter of the ominous reading she gives to a new client, which could have deadly consequences. Danger is in the cards for Alanis, and she’ll need all her skills at reading both people and tarot if she’s going to survive.
Praise:
“It’s every man, woman, and teen for himself as the authors unlock their third free-wheeling adventure set in the craziest town west of Maggody, Arkansas.”–Kirkus Reviews
“[A] quirky series…filled with eccentric protagonists and engaging banter, insights into the art of grift, and tantalizing love interests. Apt to appeal to Jim Swain fans and lovers of Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg’s Fox and Hare series.”–Library Journal
“[Hockensmith and Falco] keep the surprises coming while maintaining a consistently humorous tone.”–Publishers Weekly
“A perfect, frothy confection, swirls to an ending suitable to the entire enterprise. Hockensmith is a worthy heir to the late, lamented Donald E. Westlake.”–Mystery Scene
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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.
4 stars
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the third installment and I must admit, I liked the first two better… This one was fine: it was still entertaining, the characters were still fun. But the plot felt a bit more contrived and the pacing wasn’t quite as spot-on for a cozy-crime story as it was in the previous two books. This one was also substantially longer – 500+ pages, as opposed to 300+ for the previous two – and I think that’s the issue. It felt like it rambled on a bit, where the other two felt tighter. I also think (personal bias) that books like this should restrain themselves to 300/so pages max. This isn’t the great American novel; it’s a fun cozy-crime read. It is designed to entertain, and shouldn’t take days to finish. The resolution felt unnecessarily drawn out, and while that didn’t render it unenjoyable, it did change its tone just enough that I have to admit that I prefer the shorter installments…