Fortune Telling Mysteries #4
Disclosure: this is the first book of this series I have read. Apparently the theme of each Tarot-themed book comes from the main card of a Tarot reading done at the beginning of the book. Although Amazon describes the series as “hilarious,” that was not my impression. It’s fun and cozy, but not laugh-out-loud funny.
Sisters Hope and Summer Bailey run Bailey’s Boutique, a mystic shop in Asheville, North Carolina which features palm and tarot readings, tea, and mystical gemstones. When Hope does a one-card Tarot reading for a customer, her Gram peeks at the next undrawn card. It’s the Magician, which means “beware the deceitful stranger.” It’s enough to give Gram pause and for her to consider cancelling her school reunion trip with her boyfriend “Because it’s almost Halloween, my dear, and everything is turned around on Halloween.”
Hope and Summer convince Gram to go to the reunion and promise to do their best to avoid strangers — but the shop’s Halloween party is approaching. The party is well-attended, so this year it’s being held at a local restaurant to accommodate the crowd and to boost business at the restaurant. Things go well until literally carloads of strangers arrive for the party, including a childhood friend of the sisters. Does he count as a stranger? The conspiracy theorists who arrive to experience the local UFOs are strange (and funny) in more ways than one!
The threat of the Magician card becomes reality when the restaurant’s newest investor is killed in the restaurant’s wine cellar. Is the killer a stranger or an unsuspected friend or acquaintance? And where can they relocate the party to now that the restaurant is a crime scene?
I really enjoyed the Halloween party and all the people who showed up for it, especially the conspiracy theorists, UFOlogists (who study UFOs), cryptozoologists (who study cryptids). A cryptid is a creature whose existence is not confirmed by science, like vampires, werewolves, Big Foot, extraterrestrials, etc. I had no idea there was a word for such creatures! The conversations about all of the above are funniest part of the book (for me).
I found the book appealing enough that I’d like to read more of the series. The sisters and their shop are interesting and I suspect there’s a lot more to Gram than we see in this book. I was a little confused about Hope and Summer considering themselves witches. They’re not Wiccans or the Bewitched type of witches but exactly what they are is not specified. I suspect that, too, is explained in previous books which I’m adding to Mount-To-Be-Read. — Cathy Akers-Jordan