E-galley Review: Death in the Cards by Mia Manansala

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Death in the Cards by Mia Manansala
Published by Delacorte Press on May 13, 2025
Genres: YA LGBTQ, YA Mystery
Pages: 336
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
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My Rating:

Blurb:

The young adult debut from the award-winning author of Arsenic and Adobo! When a high school tarot reader’s latest client goes missing after a troubling reading, she must apply everything she’s learned from her private investigator mother to solve a case of her own.B

Danika Dizon is a natural problem-solver. Thanks to her private investigator mom and mystery author dad, she’s equipped with the skills to offer guidance to anxious classmates who come to her for a tarot reading between classes. For a price, of course.

But when one of her clients vanishes shortly after they’re dealt a death card, the girl’s younger sister Gaby begs Danika to figure out what went wrong. Danika takes on the case, thinking it’s the perfect way to prove to her parents that she should be an official investigator in the family’s detective agency.

What starts off as a compelling challenge quickly devolves into something darker as Danika and Gaby peel back layer after layer of the secret life the missing girl has been living. A life that those involved would do anything to keep from being revealed…

My Review

I finally got around to reading the first book in this author’s adult mystery series, Arsenic and Adobo, which first drew me in because of the dachshund on the cover, and then I loved it because of all the food in the story as well as just a fun mystery. So not only do I want to read on in that series, but when I saw she had a YA mystery coming out, with tarot cards as a part of the story, I was intrigued and requested the e-galley.

The mystery was definitely one that I was kept guessing exactly what was happening all the way through. Especially as the family of the missing girl wasn’t honest with Danika or her mom, as well as they wanted it kept quiet, so asking questions to investigate was really tricky. I enjoyed all the different foods that were talked about in the story, as well as the tarot card readings. I remember in high school I decided I wanted a deck of tarot cards and got some. I did one reading for a friend who said it was on the nose. But I never really did much more than that.

There were a few parts that went a little slow for me. The romance wasn’t a big part of the story, although there were some possible love interests. But as Danika hadn’t really ever dated anyone, the way she handled those two was interesting and unique. I liked the way the author handled that. In the end there was a bit of a maybe cliffhanger/lead to a second story, and I’d definitely be interested in another case. Since Danika is hoping to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a PI, it could be fun!