The Fool Dies Last

Hope and Summer run the family shop in their grandmother’s old family Brownstone. While Hope reads palms, Summer works with crystals and makes tinctures and teas. Not your usual brownstone, nor typical entrepreneurs, the sisters are good and caring people who just want to help others.

When two of their grandmother’s friends killed and a tarot card is found on them, the sisters realize something is up with the murders and work to try and figure out who is behind the killings, as their grandmother is part of the group that seems to be targeted. Will the brownstone prevent the sisters from getting the answers they need? Will they be able to save Gram? Or will they become targets on the killer’s radar too. Only time and the spirits know.

I fell under the spell of this book the minute I started reading it. The next entry in this series can’t come out soon enough for me…it’s that good!

A cute book that is a quick read. A mix of magical realism, cosy mystery, and romance. If you’re more into traditional mysteries you’ll be disappointed, there is a mystery but it’s not a very plausible one. The story is about two likable sisters raised by their grandmother. They make teas and tinctures with herbs and read palms and tarot cards in their boutique in historic Asheville North Carolina. The two sisters get involved in a couple of local murders and are assisted by a hunky policeman and a suave doctor. A light hearted read perfect for escaping the present day challenges.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy.

Bodies Begin To Pile…
The first in the Fortune Telling Mysteries introduces the Bailey sisters and murder is afoot. In between palm reading and Tarot cards, bodies begin to pile up. Can the sisters prevent a further killing? Witty and warm and with an endearing pair of protagonists and a colourful cast, this is a delightful and promising start to a new series. Very enjoyable.

I enjoyed The Fool Dies Last very much. Hope Bailey is the main character of this story. The supporting characters add to the story. She and her sister, Summer Bailey Fletcher own Bailey's Boutjique-Mystic Shop. They sell crystals, candles, and the like in a brownstone owned by their grandmother, Olivia Bailey in Ashville, North Carolina. Hope lives upstairs in the brownstone with her grandmother. The brownstone has an attic that has ghosts that guard the attic. While doing a reading of one of her clients, Rosemary Potter a man comes storming into her store asking them which one of them tried to kill Betsy Hughes. He accused them of giving an old lady potions and salves instead of seeing a doctor. He stated that he was her doctor. While there, Hope gets a call from her grandmother telling her to come to the community center. There has been an accident. When arriving at the center Hope finds an ambulance and police there. She finds her grandmother and her boyfriend, Morris Henshaw. Detective Nate Phillips is very interested in what she has to say about Tarot cards. She also finds out that the man who came into her shop is Morris's son Doctor Dylan Henshaw. The body of Roberta King is dead. The doctor determines that it was an allergy that killed her. They also found the fool tarot card in her purse. Megan specializes in this card. The next day Hope goes to the Amethyst Hotel to read the hands of 3 clients. While there her friend, Megan Steele who works at the hotel tells her that a woman named Mystjique Monique is registered at the hotel and the second person with her is Summer's husband Gary. They go to the spa to confront him which they do. While there another woman Marilyn Smoltz dies at the hotel spa the same way that Roberta.did. She too has the Fool Tarot card in her robe. This is where the story takes off and the reader is taken on a journey of finding out who and why these women are killed. Hope finds out that 25 years ago her grandmother and 5 other women signed a tontine about who would die last. The last person gets all the money they put into the tontine. The two women who have died are one of the six.. The reader is taken on another adventure finding out who is killing them off. The story comes to an exciting ending.

I will be interested in reading the next of this series to find out what new adventure Hope and her family go on.

Thank you NegGalley and Severn House for this ARC.

The Fortune Telling Mysteries #1

The first in a new series! Hope and Summer Bailey are sisters who run Bailey’s Boutique, a shop in Asheville that sells crystals and tinctures as well as doing palm readings and the Tarot. Hope hasn’t done a Tarot reading in a long time. And she doesn’t want to discuss it.

As she is doing a palm reading for a regular customer, an irate man bursts through the door carrying a vial and accusing them of poisoning his patient with one of Summer’s tinctures. While he says he is a doctor, they have no idea who he is since their grandmother is dating the town doctor.

Things go from bad to worse when a woman dies in what looks like an allergic reaction. They also find a tarot card on her body. The Fool. And when another of her Grandmother’s friends dies in a similar way, also with a Fool card they realize it isn’t just a coincidence.

Then they find out their Gram is part of a tontine and things really heat up. To find a killer they need Hope to engage the tarot again. Can she do it?

There were some really good characters in this new series. Summer and her husband had their own thing going on as did a few of the other characters. Plenty of people to suspect!

NetGalley/April 5th, 2022 by Severn House Publishers

Occasionally, a book comes along that I enjoy, but it’s hard to put my finger on the reason I enjoyed it. Carol Miller’s first Fortune Telling Mystery, The Fool Dies Last, has a few elements that would normally bother me. Maybe, it’s her writing, but for some reason the characters, the humor, and the touches of paranormal and romance just worked. The book was just fun.

Hope Bailey and her sister Summer Bailey Fletcher are the current owners of Bailey’s Boutique, established by their grandmother, Olivia. The mystic shop in Asheville, North Carolina sells crystals, candles, herbs, and Hope reads palms. She is an expert at reading the Tarot cards, but she gave that up in February. But, it’s Summer’s tincture, lemon balm, that brings Dr. Dylan Henshaw storming into the shop. He accuses the sisters of trying to kill one of his patients, but before they can get into a fight, Hope receives a call from their grandmother. Olivia is at the community center for bingo and dinner, and she’s asking for help.

Dylan is called to the center because his father is Dr. Morris Henshaw. He’s seeing Olivia, and he was on the scene when Roberta King collapsed and died. Why did Olivia call Hope? The victim has a Tarot call, the Fool, in her purse when she died. Olivia and Morris can provide all kinds of information about the victim and other people at the center. Hope is the only one who can tell Detective Nate Phillips about Tarot. Dylan, a man of science, thinks Tarot and all of the mystic items from the boutique are ridiculous. However, when another woman from Olivia’s circle of friends dies at the local spa, with another Fool card on her, everyone begins to wonder what the connection is.

As I said, I like the characters. Hope is a generous person who loves her sister and grandmother, and worries about them. Gram is seventy-four, but she’s not treated as an over-the-hill senior. She’s dating Morris, spends nights at his house. Even though she and several friends hide information from the police, Olivia is sharp. Then, there’s the secret of the attic in the brownstone where Hope lives. It’s an interesting paranormal element that leaves room for development in future books. And, there’s enough hints of future romance to entice the reader while not overwhelming the mystery.

I’ve never read one of Carol Miller’s mysteries, but I’ll be waiting for the next in the Fortune Telling Mystery series. It’s hard to go wrong with an interesting cast of characters, a twist in the mystery, a little humor, with a touch of paranormal and romance. Carol Miller brought all those elements together with skill.

The Fool Dies Last by Carol Miller is a welcome addition to the cozy mystery genre. The protagonists are all involved with tarot reading, palm reading and herbal medicines. This makes for some sparks flying when they have to deal with a skeptic young doctor in the course of solving multiple murders.

This was an intriguing and entertaining book. Great characters with an interesting premise and a whodunit that kept me guessing.
I hope to read more books featuring these characters.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

The excellent start for a new cozy series, I'm sure it will become a favorite as I loved the characters and the mystery was solid.
I loved Hope and Summer and the cast of characters: they're fleshed out and relatable. The paranormal side is light and enjoyable.
The solid mystery kept me guessing till the end.
I can't wait to read the next novel.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is the first title in what looks like a great new cozy mystery series -- perfect to recommend to your readers who love cozies and are looking for something new to get started on. The setting is Asheville, North Carolina, which adds lots of appeal. The sleuths are a multi-generational family of mothers and daughters who run a magic store and give psychic readings on the side. I think this is going to be very popular with readers of traditional, small-town, family cozy mysteries. I look forward to recommending it.

The Fool Dies Last is the first book in a new light paranormal cozy series by Carol Miller. Released 5th April 2022 by Severn House, it's 224 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. 

This is an easy and quick read and a solid series starter. The protagonists, sisters who co-own a new-age boutique are 30 somethings, intelligent, quirky, and relatable. They're drawn into trying to solve modern crimes which have links to the long ago past. 

The setting of Asheville, North Carolina, is well written and believable, with the codicil that readers who are intimately familiar with the environs might find discrepancies which aren't obvious to readers from other areas. I liked the shopfront cozy aspect and there's an intriguing paranormal subplot with irascible ghosts in the attic which I hope the author explores more deeply in future volumes.

Much of the characterization, especially secondary characters, is sketched in lightly. My only other quibble with the book is that I found the motive for the murders strained the bounds of credibility. Readers should be prepared to bring a healthy suspension of disbelief. (Then again, there are ghosts in the attic, so there's that). 

Three and a half stars. Eminently readable and enjoyable. The second book in the series was released on 6th Dec. 2022, making this a good candidate for cozy readers for a mini-binge read. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.