When Alanis McLachlan learns that her mother’s been murdered, she’s completely unsurprised. Not that Alanis had been given a glimpse into the future. That would be crazy, right? It’s just that her con-woman mom, Barbra, was bound to cross the wrong people sooner or later. It’s why Alanis was lucky to get out of her childhood alive – and why she hadn’t spoken to her mother in decades.But there is … decades.
But there is a surprise in store for Alanis. Barbra left her something in her will: a New Age shop in the tiny tourist trap town of Berdache, Arizona. The White Magic Five & Dime.
After going to Berdache to claim her inheritance, Alanis is drawn into the mystery around her mother’s death. Did one of Barbra’s customers finally get wise to her con-artist ways and take revenge? Alanis thinks she knows how to find out: She’ll make those customers her own until she can find the killer. Alanis McLachlan, cynic and unbeliever, is about to become a tarot card reader.
With a little help from her mother’s teenage apprentice and a snarky tarot how-to book called Infinite Roads to Knowing, Alanis begins bluffing her way through phony readings. But the more she gets to know the cards, the more she sees real meaning in them…and the closer the murderer comes to making her the next victim.
“Hilarious.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A clever and compelling tale filled with colorful and engaging characters.” -Foreword Reviews
“Hockensmith, author of the award-winning Big Red/Old Red series, and coauthor Falco deliver a charming comic mystery.” -Booklist
“The story is fun and light, and the mystical background and details of tarot reading are treated with good-natured skepticism.” -Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
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Alanis McLachlan is a kickass, funny, spunky, tough heroine. She was raised by a con-artist mother who looped Alanis into her cons from an early age. When Alanis thinks, “Turns out a girl can commit over a hundred felonies before she hits puberty and still blush when the right guy acts starry-eyed?” She’s not kidding about the felonies and puberty.
Which is why she ran away from her mother and never wanted to see her again in her life. Why she built an honest life. So when her mother is murdered and leaves her latest con — her fortune telling scheme at her business, The White Magic Five and Dime,” Alex A) doesn’t care that she’s dead, and B) doesn’t know why on earth her mom left this to her.
And yet… she has to know who murdered her mom. And why. And that, my dear friend, is how this book begins.
I fist clicked this book because of the cover. I think it was free? I don’t read any more. I listen to audiobooks. But this book? I read. From the time I read the opening pages I was hooked. This is the first book I have actually sat down to read in years. And I loved it so much that I immediately went and bought the other two in the series. And I’m reading the whole series. Because it’s not available as audiobooks.
Whilst reading I highlighted and highlighted and even added a note or three. The voice–Alexis’s first person voice–kept slaying me. The book was funny and a page-turner, even had a bit of kissing in it. Five stars.
It’s been over twenty years since Alanis has spoken to her mom, sl Alanis is shocked to learn that, at her mother’s death, Alanis has inherited a black Cadillac, a business in Arizona, and over $45,000 in the bank. The Tarot is the most important part of this novel, but occasionally Alanis remembers what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a con-woman and to be sucked in as a player in the schemes her mom and Biddle came up with. Shortly after arriving in Arizona, Alanis that her mother was murdered. She decides to stay in town long enough to find the murderer. This is a well- plotted book filled with finny scenes. It is also a tale of Alanis trying to make restitution for those hurt by her mom’s last con.
Loved this book so much I went right to the next two that make up the series. That is the highest praise I can give an author and a book. Try it, if you are in the mood for quirky!!
Not your typical murder mystery! Fun, easy read. Lots of interesting, to say the least, characters. One a real hoot with her wit and sarcasm … which have been well earned …growing up as she did. Lots of interesting twists turns and story lines … plus some insight into “the cards”. Read it … you’ll see. Now for book 2.
Cute story
YUK didn’t even get to the third chapter–too strange for me
Steve Hockensmith is a good writer, I’d recommend any of his novels. Always entertaining and humorous.
This story has a very unique premise which is well carried out. The characters are unusual and unexpected. A very entertaining read.
This is the first novel I’ve read that centers on tarot reading con women. But basically it’s a murder mystery.
good
“The day got off to a good start. I was alive when I woke up.” Such a snarky, attitude-filled protagonist makes my heart happy. I’ve always wanted to be quick with the comebacks. Couple all of that with a coming of age novel, even though she’s in her thirties, and it makes a winning combination.
Beginning of a fun series. Loved it.
I’m a Tarot card fan and really enjoyed the irreverent descriptions of the cards as provided by Miss Chance. Also, the story flowed well and the characters were damaged, quirky and worth getting to know.
I have never met anyone like Alanis, considering her childhood, one can see how she learned to survive. Alanis is a telemarketer and a good one and nothing surprises her until the call that her mom is dead. She hadn’t seen her mother since she turned her into the cops years ago.
Alanis can read a situation or a person by being still and assessing, her way of surviving her strange up bringing and the people her mother exposed her to while running scams.It seems her mother was murdered, not shocking, but the fact she left a tarot and trinket shop to Alanis…wow, THAT is a shock.
Welcome to Berdache, Az to the business formerly owned by her mother, The White Magic Five and Dime. Meet the people in the town, hunky detective Logan, Victor, Josette, Ken and the rest including Clarice. It seems Clarice was living at the business with her mom and is in high school.
Not sure why I absolutely love this book, but the plotting is great, the characters are a hoot, there’s plenty of humor, snide comments, and grief. And the tarot cards and how to read them to do a con or in Alanis plans….to find her mother’s killer and help the people that were conned out of money. The building alone has plenty of atmosphere and it’s easy to imagine this tiny town, in the desert, where murder could go undetected and the good guys are hard to tell from the bad guys.
The author does a wonderful job of making Alanis real and the telling of her past is interspersed throughout and just keeps adding layers and depth to Alanis and eventually includes Clarice. It ends up as an inspiring book at the end…but not with balloons and flowers but with a deceased person in a container. 5 stars
Couldn’t put it down. Tarot cards might help you interpret your life or in Alanis case, you can interpret and make changes necessary to live a good life.
It was a very interesting book, about a girl who had a mother that was a con artist this time it was tarot cards. And she trying to find her killer. Love all the characters.
Not the greatest mystery I’ve read, but it was full of laughs.
Loved this book.. great characters.. fascinating story and mystery. totally enjoyed the humorous interpretations of tarot cards.. this is the first in a series and can not wait to read the next one.
I loved the Tarot cards and how they featured in the story, and i was blind-sided by the mystery resolution. Really quite a good story.
A mystery that has a twist! The tarot part is a bonus.
First in a series. From the book: “Much to Alanis McLachlan’s surprise, her estranged con-woman mother has left her an inheritance: The White Magic Five & Dime, a shop in tiny Berdache, Arizona. Reluctantly traveling to Berdache to claim her new property, Alanis decides to stay and pick up her mother’s tarot business in an attempt to find out how she died.”
Right when Alanis, immediately after hearing her mother is dead, asks “Who killed her?”, I was hooked. I liked Alanis’ voice, the other characters are nicely quirky, the descriptions of the Tarot are amusing and the puzzle is a good one. I didn’t guess the murderer and there are a couple of fun plot twists.