A Deck Stacked for Murder is the first book in the new Cafe Arcana Mysteries by Aliza Levine, featuring Ava Goldberg, owner of a new tarot cafe.
Title: A Deck Stacked for Murder
Author: Aliza Levine
Series: Cafe Arcana Mysteries
First Published: August 20, 2024
Publisher: E.L. Judds
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the author
*** Thank you to the author, Aliza Levine, for providing me with an e-copy of this book for review purposes. ***
Ava Goldberg’s life in suburban Chicago was perfect—until it wasn’t. Eager to leave her cheating ex-husband behind, Ava opens a tarot cafe in the tiny town of Shiloh, Nebraska. Although finding her place in Shiloh as a tarot reader—and the only Jewish person—brings more tsuris than Ava bargained for, she hopes that with the support of her childhood friend, Rose, she can pull through. But when a body winds up in the Main Street fountain and Rose’s husband, Joel, is the primary suspect, the whole town is thrown into chaos.
Armed with her tarot deck and a whole lot of chutzpah, Ava sets out to gather the evidence she needs to clear Joel’s name and keep her friend’s family intact. With her struggling shop just barely afloat and constant reminders of her past creeping in, Ava enlists the help of Owen, the dashing hardware store owner she can’t seem to get rid of, to track down the killer. But as their hunt continues, it becomes clear the town harbors more than a few secrets—and that someone will stop at nothing to keep them buried.
Prediction: Mystery mayhem ahead!
I’ve always been curious about tarot cards but a cozy mystery featuring the tarot is definitely a new one for me! I really enjoyed how the tarot cards play into the story. The author’s attention to details makes the setting come alive and it was so easy to become immersed in the mystery. The light, easy way that tarot cards and coffee shop lingo are weaved into the story allows any reader to understand and I found the flow of the book really smooth. There were a lot of characters to get to know and I did appreciate that we got to spend a good amount of time getting to know the main character Ava. She’s a bit rough around the edges as a protagonist at first but I found myself really warming up to her as the story progressed. She’s very relatable and by the end I was a fan. The mystery itself was well paced and while I thought I had a pretty good idea of who the killer was early on, their motivation was harder to figure out and the reveal was well done.
I’m looking forward to the next book and have also pulled out my own tarot to learn a bit more! (You can see a few of the cards from my Phamtomwise Deck in the photo above!)
Quote from A Deck Stacked for Murder
