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.

I really enjoyed this book. Not your typical whodunnit though. Katie is a bit reckless in her attempts to find out who killed Marley and Marley is pretty edgy. Detective Jamie is a real nice guy and Katie’s brother is a gem and I loved their relationship with each other. The tarot cards brought in a touch of mystique that I also enjoyed.
The ending is a surprise as I changed my feelings about Marley several times throughout the story. A playful, refreshing mystery.

Katie True is a young woman struggling to get by in the suburbs of Chicago, working low-paying jobs and relying on her tarot deck for guidance. She meets Marley, a charismatic and self-assured woman who becomes her friend and coworker at the mall. When Katie reads tarot cards for a customer at the shop and finds a photo on his phone of Marley with a gunshot wound to the head, she is devastated and sets out to find out who killed her friend. However, her investigation puts her in danger and she must use her wit and determination to solve the murder and protect herself.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. As someone who doesn't typically gravitate towards the mystery genre, I was impressed by the engaging plot and relatable main character. Katie's struggles with finding her place in the world and dealing with overbearing parents will resonate with many readers.

One of the things I loved most about the story was the relationship between Katie and her scientist brother Owen. They didn’t have to speak a lot to understand or be comfortable around each other.

The friendship between Katie and Marley was beautifully crafted, and their strange bond added depth to the novel. However, the mystery surrounding Marley's murder was what really kept me on the edge of my seat, and I was invested in seeing Katie solve the crime. The twists and turns in the story kept me guessing and I couldn't even begin to predict the ending. The incorporation of tarot cards also added an intriguing and unique element to the story.

Overall, I found Play the Fool to be a captivating and enjoyable read. It's definitely a must-read for fans of mystery and coming-of-age stories.

I really enjoyed this book and love reading good ol murder mysteries every once in awhile. It was a fun read and I think if you enjoy fun murder mysteries then this will be one you will want to pick up! I enjoyed the characters and enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll probably pick it up. Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

An enjoyable and occasionally fairly clever novel, Play the Fool is the only “cozy” mystery I enjoyed this year.

The strongest suit this novel has is its main character, Katie True, who’s stuck in a dead end job in a bland mall with no ambition to escape. It’s not that she doesn’t know she can’t do better - it’s that she can’t find the motivation. But then she uncovers a murder by accident while reading tarot cards for a stranger, and in turn she finds something worth doing - solving a crime.

I liked Katie and some of the side characters - her brother, the detective on the case - enough for this story to keep my attention even when some of Katie’s actions were frankly kind of silly and out there. If you don’t mind suspending your disbelief in some places - especially the ending - this is a really fun read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

<i>Play the Fool</i> is at the grittier edge of cozy: not full on thriller, but there is profanity and some situations of moral ambiguity. That said, I enjoyed it immensely, even if the end was a touch predictable. Sometimes, that's just what the reader needs. The ride is still twisty-turny fun even if you know the destination.

Katie is a loser. Her family is wealthy and all about success, while she's an aimless college drop-out working at a lousy mall gift shop. The one thing she's good at is tarot cards--and her one friend is a fellow mall worker, Marley. When a bleeding guy staggers into Katie's shop one day, she's laying out her cards. As she starts a reading for him, she snoops on his phone, thinking she'll get a deeper psych profile on the mark--but sees a texted photo of Marley, dead. When she later goes to the dumpster shown in the picture, there's no body. Her only friend is gone. The police don't believe her, but Katie is determined to bring justice to her friend--and hopefully not die trying.

I have a hunch that this book will rub some people wrong because Katie bumbles through her mystery-solving much as she does life. She screws up, a lot. She's not the most brilliant of amateur detectives, but her heart is in the right place. She reminded me of friends I've had. Chern clearly knows her Chicago setting well, too, as the place is a vivid character, fragrant and grimy. There's a romantic subplot that to me developed in a more realistic and natural way than it does in many mysteries where it feels shoe-horned in to meet a trope quota. Also, as an autist, I loved how Chern wrote about Katie's brother who cues autistic in major ways but is never labeled as such, nor did he need to be--he was utterly accepted as he was.

In all, a fun book, and if there are more entries in the series, I'd like to read them!

This was definitely a solid debut. I loved the wit and humor sprinkled throughout the book, and it kept my interest to the very end. The characters were likeable and relatable, especially being from my home state of Illinois. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!

"Play the Fool" by Lina Chern was a great read! I love murder mysteries and I am usually very good at figuring out who did it, however, this book had me guessing until the end. I love a good twist at the end and this book did not disappoint. I was intrigued by the beautiful cover and its reference to tarot cards and glad I chose to read this book because it was really good. It reminded me of an episode of law and order which is a good thing because it is my favorite show. All in all, it was a great book! Be sure to pick it up.

The premise of Play the Fool was intriguing, but for me, the execution failed to live up to my expectations.

Katie True is relatable as she struggles to adult and find her place in the world, unsure of who she is and what she's really good at. The tarot/mysticism elements were nice touches, but during the second half of the novel, they sort of disappeared, which was a shame because I expected them to be more prevalent.

This book is more of a woman's fiction type read, with a touch of mystery and a hint of romance. I didn't feel like it delivered where I wanted it to based on the synopsis and proposed genres, and especially after an intriguing first chapter.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*I received a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review*
I didn't care for this at all. It was pretty scattered to me.

Play the Fool is a fun, light mystery novel set in the Midwest. I liked Katie's down-on-her luck storyline as she attempts to solve Marley's murder.

This story is a fun whodunnit mystery! Think like Knives out, but instead of a lead detective, we have Katie True who is still trying to figure out how to be an adult.

The story intrigued me as it starts out pretty quick, but then it felt kind of slow paced for me. Katie used tarot cards to help her solve the murder mystery of her best friend and then a romance plot is also added, which did not feel that developed for me.
Overall, it was a good time and a fast read (even though at times it felt kind of slow). If you’re looking for a short read with a murder mystery, look no further!

Mixed feelings about this one. I liked the character of Katie, quirky and cynical and the tarot aspect of it. The mystery started out good, she sees a picture of her best friend shot on a customer's phone. But overall the book couldn't decide what it wanted to be, romance, mystery, coming of age so it fell kind of flat for me