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Steve Hockensmith

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The White Magic Five and Dime: A Tarot Mystery (Tarot Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Steve Hockensmith (Author), Lisa Falco (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 1,362 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Tarot Mysteries

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When Alanis McLachlan learns that her mother's been murdered, she's completely unsurprised. Not that Alanis had been given a glimpse into the future. That would be crazy, right? It's just that her con-woman mom, Barbra, was bound to cross the wrong people sooner or later. It's why Alanis was lucky to get out of her childhood alive - and why she hadn't spoken to her mother in decades.But there is a surprise in store for Alanis. Barbra left her something in her will: a New Age shop in the tiny tourist trap town of Berdache, Arizona. The White Magic Five & Dime.After going to Berdache to claim her inheritance, Alanis is drawn into the mystery around her mother's death. Did one of Barbra's customers finally get wise to her con-artist ways and take revenge? Alanis thinks she knows how to find out: She'll make those customers her own until she can find the killer. Alanis McLachlan, cynic and unbeliever, is about to become a tarot card reader.With a little help from her mother's teenage apprentice and a snarky tarot how-to book called Infinite Roads to Knowing, Alanis begins bluffing her way through phony readings. But the more she gets to know the cards, the more she sees real meaning in them...and the closer the murderer comes to making her the next victim."Hilarious." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A clever and compelling tale filled with colorful and engaging characters." -Foreword Reviews"Hockensmith, author of the award-winning Big Red/Old Red series, and coauthor Falco deliver a charming comic mystery." -Booklist"The story is fun and light, and the mystical background and details of tarot reading are treated with good-natured skepticism." -Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Alanis McLachlan is shocked to discover that her murdered mother, from whom Alanis had been estranged for 20 years, has left her daughter, of all things, a tarot shop in Berdache, Arizona. Why would she do such a thing, knowing that Alanis would see tarot reading as just another con in her mother’s long history of scams. Could the shop have something to do with why she was murdered? Intrigued in spite of herself, Alanis goes to Arizona and finds even more unanswered questions, chief among them, Who is the suspicious teenage girl who was living with Alanis’ mother? Filled with humor, this engaging mystery turns many staples of the amateur-sleuth story on their heads, with each chapter bringing new quirks and surprises—Alanis even finds herself drawn to the tarot cards and discovers an ability to use her readings to help people. Hockensmith, author of the award-winning Big Red/Old Red series, and coauthor Falco deliver a charming comic mystery, which one hopes is the beginning of a series. --Amy Alessio

About the Author

Lisa Falco (Los Angeles) received her first tarot deck at the age of eight years old. She holds degrees from both Northwestern University and Cal State University Northridge, and is the author of A Mother’s Promise (Illumination Arts, 2004).

Steve Hockensmith (California) is the author of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombiesnovels Dawn of the Dreadfuls (Quirk Classics, 2010)and Dreadfully Ever After (Quirk Classics, 2011). His book Holmes on the Range (Minotaur Books, 2007) was a finalist for the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07QDF24ZL
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 5, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 9898 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #619,564 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #14,772 in Cozy Mystery
- #16,148 in Women Sleuths (Kindle Store)
- #23,244 in Women Sleuths (Books)

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4.4 1,362 ratings

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Steve Hockensmith

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Steve Hockensmith’s first novel, the mystery/Western hybrid "Holmes on the Range," was a finalist for the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony and Dilys awards. He went on to write several sequels (with more on the way!) as well as the tarot-themed mystery "The White Magic Five and Dime" and the New York Times bestseller "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls." He also teamed up with educator “Science Bob” Pflugfelder to write the middle-grade mystery "Nick and Tesla and the High-Voltage Danger Lab" and its five sequels. Learn more about him and his writing at stevehockensmith.com.

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4.4 out of 5

1,362 global ratings

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Sarah E. Bewley

Fun With Tarot Cards

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2023

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The White Magic Five and Dime is an entertaining mystery, while at the same time a story of growing up with the only family you know being con artists and thieves. It removes the romance from a life of crime, and makes you wonder about the power of the tarot.

Ultimately it's a story of finding family, using instinct and psychology to strip bare the lies people tell.

The mystery is satisfyingly resolved and a new home with actual family is created.

Do you have the instincts to see the truth in the tarot? By the end of this story, maybe you do.

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Kindle Customer

Unique and Wildly Entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023

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Unique and wildly entertaining. I will definitely be following this author. Hope there are many more books in the series.

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L. Burns

"Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool" - Mark Twain

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2016

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This book opens with thirty-something Alanis McLachlan getting a phone call advising her that her estranged mother has died:

“Athena Passalis, aka Barbra Harper, aka Mom had finally done the one and only thing she ever could or would do to make the world a better place. She’d left it.”

Alanis heads to tiny Berdache, Arizona to collect her “inheritance”, a shop where her mother did tarot readings (and other things that involved parting fools from their money). Yep, Mom was a con-woman and her death was not a natural one. Despite her distaste for her mother’s lifestyle, Alanis feels that she owes it to the woman to find out who murdered her. Once ensconced in Berdache a funny thing happens to Alanis - she gets the urge to ‘set things right’ with the people her mother has conned, but things are not exactly straightforward…

I loved this book – it was a thoroughly entertaining mystery told with a wicked sense of humor. Each chapter starts off with an irreverent (and usually hilarious) interpretation of a tarot card, and even though I know next to nothing about the tarot I found myself intrigued. Alanis’s narrative is clever and full of her (often) snarky observations about human nature – including her own. The dialog is nicely written, the mystery plays out well and the characters are well developed. My one and only gripe – and admittedly it’s a petty one – is that the author doesn’t make the most of the location. Berdache is located right outside of Sedona, and somehow the locale just never comes to life in the book. I felt that this story lacked a tangible sense of place, and that was a bit of a disappointment.

Publisher’s Weekly referred to this book as a “cozy”, but I’m not sure that I agree with that. While I like cozy mysteries, they usually have a kind of twee quality, and this book definitely doesn’t fall into that category. Biting sarcasm, a bit of dark humor, a smattering of profanity…not exactly a textbook cozy. I’m more comfortable categorizing this as a ‘Humorous Mystery’, and I’m even more comfortable highly recommending it.

The series, in order:

* The White Magic Five and Dime (A Tarot Mystery)
* Fool Me Once (A Tarot Mystery)
*Give the Devil His Due (not yet released)

17 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Different and slightly touching

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2021

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Not sure what to say. Didn't have a clue where this would take me but I enjoyed it. Interesting premise of a woman using all the bad she learned in life to solve a crime and at the same time learning/proving she is the person she thinks she is. I will continue with series, especially once I was reminded the author wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Good stuff!

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Dormouse23

Well plotted, well written and really original

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2014

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This book is fantastic. Not only is it a great mystery, I'd say it works well just as a novel. The story takes its time, interpolating flashbacks of the heroine's childhood being raised by an amoral con woman. Flashbacks often drag down a storyline, but that is absolutely not the case here. The tension builds as Alanis gets older, and some of these chapters are pretty dark. The flashbacks also do a great job of character development: Alanis basically educated herself, sitting in libraries all day while her mother worked her cons with Biddle (the only father figure she ever had in her life). She has an encyclopedic knowledge of old TV shows and 1980s movies for the same reason. It adds some humor when Alanis introduces herself as Julie McCoy or refers to "the writings of the great Roarke Villechaize Ricardo."

Alanis is living in an Illinois suburb working as a telemarketer (she's quite good at it, thanks to her upbringing) when she gets the news that her mother has been murdered. Off to Arizona she goes, having decided to avenge her mother's death, and is surprised to find her mother was reading tarot. This apparently was not one of her mother's con tricks when she was growing up. She's also greeted by a teenage girl who was her mother's ward/assistant, a hunky cop who's in charge of the investigation into her mother's murder, and several angry former customers who her mother swindled. The plot is really well done and the killer came as a surprise to me.

I've read many of Steve Hockensmith's books and love them. He is a wonderful writer. "The White Magic Five and Dime" is a great intro to a new series. Hockensmith doesn't lay on the supernatural too heavily, and this is a wise decision in my opinion. Mysteries that are heavily doused with witchcraft, ghosts, etc. are not really up my alley. Alanis does have a gift for reading the cards, but it's clear that her training at reading "marks" or con victims has a lot to do with it. The readings are scattered throughout the story, and the more she handles the cards, the better she gets. Eventually even she, the hardened skeptic, has to admit that there is "something in it." If you are a mystery fan, I highly recommend this book.

9 people found this helpful

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The Pencilneck ®

Terrific!

Reviewed in Canada on March 16, 2024

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Steve Hockensmith I'd one of my fav writers, and this is no exception!

Sondra

Perfect weekend read

Reviewed in the Netherlands on September 18, 2022

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Great characters, kept me guessing and amused to the very last word. The tarot interpretations are fantastic, too. I'm still smiling with the after effects of the clever patter and snark of the dialogue.

Charlie&Dean

Ein Tarot-Krimi

Reviewed in Germany on September 21, 2015

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Alanis McLachlan erbt überraschend den Esoterik-Laden ihrer verstorbenen Mutter, zu der sie seit Ewigkeiten keinen Kontakt mehr hatte. Das Problem: ihre Mutter war berufsmäßige Trickbetrügerin und hatte auch begonnen, ihre Tochter dazu auszubilden. Irgendwann hielt diese das kriminelle Leben nicht mehr aus, zeigte ihre Mutter an und floh. Ein anderes Problem: jetzt, Jahrzehnte später, ist ihre Mutter in einer Kleinstadt ermordet worden. Alanis will weder den Laden noch die Erinnerungen an ihre Kindheit, die zurückkommen, aber sie will den Mord aufklären. Hilfe erhält sie vom Sheriff und einer ehemaligen Mitbewohnerin ihrer Mutter. Ich will ab hier nicht zu sehr ins Detail gehen, denn das würde die Überraschungseffekte des Buches verderben. Nur so viel: um mehr über ihre Mutter und deren Klienten zu erfahren, übernimmt Alanis vorübergehend den Laden ihrer Mutter und erlernt das Tarot-Kartenlegen. Die Handlung ist locker und leicht humorvoll, der Stil ist gut, es könnte eine interessante Serie daraus werden, allerdings war mir zu wenig Esoterik, also das "echte" Übernatürliche im Buch. Leser erwarten evtl. mehr übersinnliche Ereignisse (gibt es gar nicht) oder mehr echtes Tarot (gibt es auch nicht), statt dessen bleibt alles sehr in einer normalen Krimirealität.

One person found this helpful

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Fliss j

Quirky and fun

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2021

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Really enjoyed reading this book, it was different, unpredictable and great fun. Central character is struggling to come to terms with her mothers death only to find that things are not what they seem and now someone is threatening her.

Reader from Toronto

Tarot cards and grifters and a murder mystery

Reviewed in Canada on June 9, 2020

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Love, love, love this new mystery series. Alanis is estranged from her con artist mother after a lifetime of neglect. Her mother is killed and her will leaves everything to Alanis, a magic and tarot reading shop in Arizona. Fast, funny, and full of quirky and endearing characters. Highly recommended. Freshest mystery around. Loved it. Hope he writes many more in this series.

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The White Magic Five and Dime: A Tarot Mystery (Tarot Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

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