Fool Me Once

A wisecracking magic-shop owner turns sleuth to exonerate a friend from a murder rap. Sassy first-person narrator Alanis McLachlan, who has recently inherited the White Magic Five and Dime from her mother, unfolds the story of Marsha Riggs, who's such a regular client of the shop that her angry husband, Bill, has to physically drag her out of the place in the middle of one of her frequent tarot readings. Turns out that Marsha has a restraining order against her husband, and right after they leave, Alanis calls the police. It's only a hop-skip for Alanis to drive by the Riggs house and then check on Marsha at the motel she currently calls home. Everything changes when an early phone call from crusty Detective Burby of the local police department informs Alanis that Bill Riggs is dead. Naturally, she feels a duty to investigate. She finds many clues at the Riggs home and, maybe more important, finds that she loves being a sleuth. Even if the mystery is fairly standard, Alanis' sophomore adventure (The White Magic Five and Dime, 2014) is delightfully quirky. As a bonus, several informative tarot readings are embedded in the narrative, and each chapter begins with a pertinent card and quotation. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2015

After inheriting her late mother's tarot reading shop in tiny Berdache, AZ (The White Magic Five and Dime), Alanis McLachlan wants to help anyone who had been flimflammed by her con-artist parent. Yet it turns out she has a gift; the cards are definitely a gateway to...something. Meanwhile, a reading for Marsha Biggs, who might be ready to file for divorce from her abusive husband, Bill, backfires when Marsha disappears and Bill is found dead. VERDICT This amiable sophomore effort in Hockensmith's cozy series is filled with the lore of tarot (provided by expert Falco). The protagonists--Alanis and her half sister Clarice; Clarice's girlfriend, CeeCee; and Eugene, their lawyer--create a curious crime-fighting team. Readers who adore the women detectives of Dorothy Cannell and Maggie King will be pleased by this quirky series.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 22, 2015
In Hockensmith and tarot expert Falco’s winning second Tarot mystery (after 2014’s The White Magic Five and Dime), Alanis McLachlan, who has taken over her late mother’s shop, the White Magic Five & Dime, in Berdache, Ariz., draws the wrath of Bill Riggs after she intervenes on the behalf of his wife, Marsha, a victim of domestic abuse. Marsha has resisted seeking an order of protection, despite almost a decade of suffering, but the issue becomes moot after someone batters Bill to death with a bat. When Marsha becomes the obvious suspect, Alanis supplements the official investigation with her own sleuthing, making use of con-man skills that used to be her mother’s stock-in-trade. Hockensmith manages to keep things light with humorous asides (one suspect looks like “He-Man after two decades of retirement and two thousand visits to the Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet”). Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency.