Review: Death in the Cards

 

Danika reads Tarot cards at school to make a little extra money. One day a girl she's never seen before approaches her. It turns about her sister is missing and Danika read cards for her before her disappearance. Gaby needs answers.

Danika's mother is a private investigator. Danika longs to join her in cases, but so far, she's being kept to the business side of things. Until her age is beneficial. She can ask questions and get into places her mother can't. Maybe this could be her big break.

My Thoughts: I really loved this book. It reminded me a little bit of Veronica Mars. I loved the tarot card readings. I loved watching Danika work her magic. Her family was great - I especially enjoyed her cousins. I like how Danika works at her relationships because she's not great at them. Obviously, I was a huge fan of all the food described. The mystery was great with twists and turns and a little danger.  

I hope this is the first book in a series! 

Cover Thoughts: Fantastic

Source: My Library

Why I Read This: While I do love mysteries, I read this for the Tarot card aspect

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your school and public library's mystery collection

Hand this to: Everyone who likes thrillers

Book Spotlight: Homicide and Halo-Halo

 

About the Book:

Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie's Kitchen upside down in the latest entry (Book 2) of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.

 Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can't bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt's Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie's Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.

 To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila's little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago—a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next.

About the Author:

Mia P. Manansala is a writer from Chicago who loves books, baking, and badass women. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture.

She is the winner of the 2018 Hugh Holton Award, the 2018 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, the 2017 William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers, and the 2016 Mystery Writers of America/Helen McCloy scholarship. She's also a 2017 Pitch Wars alum and 2018-2019 mentor.

Doesn't this sound great?