Utterly fun and charming cozy written from the perspectives of the animals. Brandon and Ophelia, two little black kitties, are abandoned after the death of their owner. Ophelia shows an aptitude for finding the correct tarot card when she is adopted by Ruby Sparks who is filling in as tarot reader for her vacationing sister. With the help of other animals, Ophelia gets reunited with her missing brother and they all go on to help Ruby solve their original owner's death.

Fool's Moon by Diane A.S. Stuckart, ( aka Ali Brandon), is the 1st book in the Tarot Cats Mystery series, and a great start. This book is unique since it is told from the point of view of the animals. When Ophelia and Brandon's human died, her mean son put both black cats in a box and taped it shut. Next he took them out and abandoned them on the side of the road, left to die in the heat. Ruby Sparks is filling in for her half-sister at the Tarot Card Reader shop, when her dog, finds Ophelia, in the taped box. Ruby nurses the cat back to health, but Ophelia is worried about her brother Brandon, and what could have happened to him. What will happen to all these wonderful animals and their humans? There is wonderful twists and turns around every corner. I loved this book, and thought about it for days. I can not wait for the next book in the series. I strongly recommend this book for animal and cozy mystery lovers.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a very different sort of cozy as it features animals who are both psychic and capable of interspecies communication. Ruby, the human protagonist you would expect to be the amateur detective, is less interesting than the black cats Ophelia and Brandon, Zuki the pit bull, and Philomena the koi but she along with Luis investigate the murder of Luis's aunt Lucinda and her former employer, the owner of the cats. Phew. That's a lot for a first installment in a series but oddly it all makes sense. There are some twists, some turns, and you need to suspend logic for bits of it (especially that koi fish can tell cats and dogs how to find a killer). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

FOOL’S MOON is the charming first entry in the Tarot Cats Mystery series. The action starts immediately with two sibling black cats being thrown away in a box onto the streets. While they’d been adopted as kittens by a wealthy, elderly woman and had enjoyed her mansion and grounds, she recently died. The two are split up right away with Ophelia being rescued by a white pit bull on her walk with Ruby Sparks, half sister to the owner of Botanica Santa Rosa, a New Age shop offering tarot card readings. Brandon is taken in by a pawn shop owner nearby. However the brother and sister do not know where the other has gone.

Zuki, the gentle pit bull, introduces Ophelia to her home and housemates which include a psychic koi who will answer but one question a day, in verse. The animals talk to each other but not aloud in human language. However, a suspension of disbelief is required to follow the animals communicating with each other. Ophelia closely watches Ruby do tarot card readings and discovers a hidden talent for turning cards herself.

Zuki helps Ophelia find Brandon with clues from Philomena, the koi fish. My own heart quickened during these journeys, and I cheered at their reunion. They immediately put together the clues from their life at the Palm Beach mansion with what their former housekeeper Luciana had shared during her own tarot reading with Ruby. She suspects her former employer, Hilda, did not die an accident death but was murdered. When Luciana dies under suspicious circumstances, Ruby gets involved because of what she had shared during their reading. Hilda’s family members also get involved as does the pawn shop owner Luis who claims Brandon is his cat.

Four special animals and four human beings all are looking into why the two women died. The journey from mansion to new age shop was quite compelling, but the journey from shop back to the mansion is more gripping. First the cats return with secret help separately from Zuki and Luis and Ruby, and then they return covertly with the same three, but this time all are searching for answers together. What they find is a surprise to all but the koi, who knew all along.

Diane Stuckart, also the author of the Black Cat mystery series written under the name of Ali Brandon, has penned a delightful and enchanting adventure. The reader learns a bit about tarot card reading while getting to know the cats and pit bull. When not just one but two suspected murders take place, the animals deploy their skills and get their humans involved. All together they solve both mysteries in a surprising and satisfying finale. I highly enjoyed this heartwarming story and hope for many more entries in the Tarot Cats Mystery series.

Delightfully different describes Diane Stuckart’s new mystery, Fool’s Moon, in which four unusual characters join forces with Ruby Sparks to investigate murder.

Ruby is minding her half-sister’s New Age shop, Botanica Santa Rosa, and taking care of Zuki, a sweet-tempered pit bull who understands the ways of the world and the neighborhood, and Philomena, a 50-year-old psychic koi living in the courtyard pond out back. In a complicated sequence of events, Ruby adds Ophelia and Brandon, sibling black cats, to her family which completes the four very special characters.

As this story progresses, Ophelia and Brandon try to help Lucinda, the housekeeper from their first home who suspects her mistress was murdered for her money. Lucinda’s nephew, Luis, who runs a pawn shop close to Botanica gets involved when his aunt is killed under suspicious circumstances.

So now, Ophelia, Brandon and Zuki, having found a way to escape Botanica at night, are investigating based on clues offered by Philomena the psychic. And, yes, these are well developed characters with engaging personalities and a great sense of adventure. In parallel efforts, Ruby and Luis begin looking into how his aunt died.

Ms. Stuckart’s creativity is amazing. Imagine a koi who offers psychic readings in verse. A black cat learning to read Tarot cards to help Ruby. A friendly female pit bull helping two black cats learn the ropes in their new home.

This is a complex mystery weaving together the efforts of animals and humans to uncover what happened. The story is told with humor, insight and great skill. Suspend disbelief and enjoy a captivating tale in which animals are convincing primary characters. Let’s hope Ms. Stuckart is finishing the next Tarot Cats Mystery soon.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have a black cat so I couldn’t pass up reading this book.
I thought that this was a very cute and fun cozy mystery.
I would definitely read the next book in the series.

While I wasn't sure about the premise of this book (cats that know Tarot), after reading it I'm hooked. However, I also found out this is the same author that wrote the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery series (written as Ali Brandon).. While the cats and dogs talk it is only to each other not to humans, so it is left up to Ruby to interpret what hints the cats leave with the Tarot cards.
I look forward to more in this series.

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest review.

A Great First Installment in a New Cozy Series
Ophelia and Brandon are two black cats that were living the life of luxury until their human mother died and they were dumped on the roadside. But they find a new human Mother who is a tarot card reader and Ophelia finds that she has a knack for the cards as well.

When their past life crosses with their new life, the cats and their new family find that their first human Mom might not have died accidentally. Chao ensues and the kitties are on the case!

This is an adorable new series that reminds of of the movie Homeward Bound, as it is told from the perspective of the animals. An enjoyable read and a wonderful cozy that does not follow the standard cozy cookie cutter model of female main character and a law enforcement love interest. A refreshing change!

amateur-sleuth, pets, murder, murder-investigation, supernatural, suspense, cozy-mystery

A different kind of fun cozy! The protagonists are pets, the positive humans are kind but unexpected, the negative humans are. . . well, that would be spoiling things. There are plenty of red herrings and the twists are real surprises, with the Tarot theme setting up some interesting dilemmas. The publisher's blurb is pretty good at giving hints, and being a pet lover means that I truly enjoyed having them narrate this fun whodunit set in Florida.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Midnight Ink via NetGalley.

This is an ok book with a terrific ending. Funny and visual. The story moved too slow but the end was just a funny visual!

Good start to a new series. Usually with a first book in a series there's more character description however what I really liked about this one was the way the characters were introduced.
Good story line and the buildup to the conclusion kept me turning the pages.
All in all, a very good read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, atmosphere, and characters. I would recommend the book to friends and family for their reading pleasure.

This book was not what I expected from the blurb provided.
The tarot card aspect and cats were what drew me to this book, but the cats themselves were what turned me off.

Ophelia and Brandon, two black cats who were abandoned, find a new home with Ruby, a Florida tarot card reader. With the help of Ruby’s pit bull, Azucar, aka Zuki, they help to solve the mystery of two deaths and some missing money. I know that some of the books featuring talking animals are irritating, but I really liked this one--suspend disbelief and enjoy this fun talking animal mystery.

This book has a wonderful concept! I have never read a cozy mystery where the pets actually help solve a murder! So this book was a complete delight for me. Not only this, I loved everything about the plot. The author has a keen ability to leave her readers gripping the pages in anticipation of what the outcome will be. What a wonderful read!

I was skeptical about this book, because I'm not really into tarot cards. But, it promised me cats, so I requested it. I really enjoyed the book, for the most part. If you're not into animal communications, this might not be your book, but I thought it was done well, with lots of humor. The place where Ruby (the tarot reader) lives seems really interesting, with a koi pond (and a koi named Philomena, who speaks to the cats in rhymes), plants and chickens!

The one thing that puzzled me has to do with the ending. It's hard to comment specifically on it without giving it away. Let's just say that the actions of one of the suspects at the beginning of the book just didn't seem to be characteristic of what we're supposed to believe about that person at the end of the book. So, for this reason only, I'm giving it 4 stars. Otherwise, it would have been 5! Loved the animals and the humor!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

This one has been on my radar for a while, thanks to the fact it is written by one of my favorite cozy authors. I absolutely adored the Black Cat Bookshop series by Ali Brandon, and I was so disappointed to see that they were ending due to publishing difficulties. But Ali/Diane writes under different names, and when I heard this was coming out....huzzah!

It's a little different for a cozy, with the cats and dogs able to communicate with each other and solve the mystery without being able to read much or fully understand the motives of the humans around them. At times the writing in simple, as if trying to show the less complicated views of the animals, and I found myself liking this style. It was harder to pin down a motive for the murder, because the animals weren't sure and the human investigating was further removed from the situation too. All these things came together for a slightly quirky but very fun cozy.

If you're waiting for this one then you won't be disappointed. Another awesome series from a talented writer! Five stars.

Fool's Moon is a fun start to what promises to be an interesting series. It's not often that you get a story from the pets' point of view, but that's exactly what Fool's Moon delivers. I loved getting to know Ophelia, Zuki, and Brandon. Because it focused mostly on the animals, I was able to forgive what otherwise would have driven me bonkers - a pretty uneventful mystery, terrible character chemistry, and an entirely-too-obvious ending.

This was a really interesting start to a new mystery series. I thought that the premise was fresh and interesting for a cozy series: there are fewer magical cozy series than some of the other subsets. Of course, there are lots of cats in cozies, but Ophelia and Brandon were fun additions to that tradition! Overall, I thought this was a good book and I'd be happy to read the next in the series.

I received a free copy of FOOL’S MOON (Tarot Cats Mystery Book 1) by Diane A.S. Stuckart in exchange for an honest review. This story is told from the viewpoint of Ophelia, black cat extraordinaire; her brother Brandon, he of the bobbed tail; and Ruby Sparks, fairly competent tarot reader. We meet the felines amidst a downturn in their fortunes. Their rich human “mom” has passed away, and her son has just boxed them up and dumped them in an alley. We meet Ruby who is living with her sister and running her sister’s Tarot shop after a downturn in her circumstances. They all end up working together, along with the pitbull Zuki, to solve the mystery of the first “mom’s” death.

This was a terrific book! I definitely look forward to reading the future books in the series. The author has also written the Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries under the name Ali Brandon. I loved that series, wish there had been more books, and expect to love this series as much or more.