Play the Fool A Mystery

WINNER OF THE MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD – This wickedly clever debut mystery has critics and readers buzzing with its perfect blend of sharp wit, genuine heart, and page-turning suspense.

Meet Katie True: tarot card reader, professional drifter, and reluctant detective. After her Chicago dreams fizzle out, Katie’s back in the suburbs, living too close to her parents and working at a Russian tchotchke shop in the mall. Enter Marley – mysterious, magnetic, and the first person in ages who truly gets Katie. Their friendship becomes Katie’s lifeline, proof that maybe things are finally looking up.

Then everything shatters. During a tarot reading, Katie glimpses a customer’s phone and sees the impossible: a photo of Marley with a fatal gunshot wound. Her best friend is dead, and nobody seems to know why or how.

What follows is a deliciously twisty investigation that Library Journal calls “a delicious blend of suspense and madcap humor.” Armed with nothing but her street smarts, razor-sharp instincts, and an uncanny ability to read people, Katie plunges into a dangerous search for answers. But asking the wrong questions puts her directly in a killer’s crosshairs.

Lina Chern crafts an unforgettable protagonist in Katie – cynical yet vulnerable, reckless yet relatable. This is mystery fiction with soul: a story about friendship, grief, and finding your inner strength when the cards are stacked against you. Perfect for fans of amateur sleuths who prefer their mysteries served with wit, warmth, and a touch of the mystical.

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