I really enjoyed the first Dolly Green book and, although I found this one a bit slower-paced, it was nice to revisit the characters and this bit of London. The Tarot angle is a refreshing and interesting one.

Most enjoyable! The second mystery from E.V. Harte featuring tarot reader, and sometime amateur sleuth, Dolly who returns to reality here with a bump following a relaxing sojourn. Needless to say, foul play is soon afoot. A gentle, cosy mystery, well written with engaging characters - this makes for a really entertaining and satisfying read. Great fun.

“The Case of the Fool” by E. V. Harte

This was a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the second mystery from the pen (laptop? tablet? quill?) of E.V. Harte to feature her gloriously bonkers heroine, Dolly Greene, aka The Tarot Detective, and it is equally as enjoyable a read as her inaugural adventure, “The Prime of Ms Dolly Greene”.

The story begins as Dolly returns from a romantic holiday with Raff, her police sergeant boyfriend, both of them relaxed and content from enjoying a fortnight of sun, sea, sex and (presumably) sangria (or, other, similar, alcoholic beverage(s)). But, as anyone who has ever been away on any sort of holiday can readily tell you, real life is always sat waiting for you when you return, keen to remind you exactly why you packed your suitcase and decamped elsewhere in the first place. And, for Ms Greene, this is no exception.

On her return to Tinderbox Lane, Dolly is immediately confronted with a new client, a moody Russian girl, who demands a tarot reading. Dolly also discovers that the exotic dancer girlfriend of her recently deceased neighbour has moved in next door and that squatters are occupying an empty property in the lane. Dolly’s post holiday romantic bliss is further shattered when her daughter, Pippa, who shares her one bedroom cottage, supports the squatters and begins a relationship with one of them. This puts Pippa at odds with Raff and Dolly makes for an unhappy situation all round.

When an anonymous telephone caller alerts the police to the discovery of a dead body in a nearby house and gives Pippa’s name, Dolly and the residents of Tinderbox Lane are thrust into a mystery.

This is a really enjoyable read; it deals with death and murder in a “cosy” manner - nothing too gritty or shocking in the crime details to upset the more mild mannered of readers. The Tinderbox Lane regulars are a delightful bunch of dotty, bizarre and likeable characters and I had fun spending time with them. And Dolly is a really engaging protagonist I liked her in book one and have grown fond of her already. My one gripe is that, on reflecting back over this book, I think that Dolly didn’t appear often enough in the plot. I may be wrong but that is the feeling I got. However, that probably is not be a bad thing, as it shows that E. V. Harte’s other creations, Pippa, Raff, Professor Filthy and co are more than capable of stepping up to the crease.

In my review of the first book in the series, I mentioned the similiarities to the Agatha Raisin books. However, having read both of E.V. Harte’s novels, I think the time will soon come when books like this will be referred to a “Dolly Greene-esque”.

Another thing that I really like about these books are the covers. I think the artwork is superb, really evocative of the settings and style of the writing, and the typography is delicious.

I look forward to book three and spending more time with Dolly.

I would classify this book as a cozy mystery, a very good cozy mystery. An entertaining read, full of nice characters and with an interesting plot.
I liked the way the characters were written as well as the plot was developed.
I really enjoyed Dolly, her daughter and the cast of neighbour.
I look forward to reading the next instalment in this series
Recommended.
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the ARC

Well worth reading. Fairly lighthearted for a book with several murders. No really gory stuff, but a nice, gentle read that's interesting and quite gripping.

Dolly Greene, tarot reader extraordinaire is back home in Barnes and Tinderbox Lane , returning from a holiday in the Caribbean with her beau, Sergeant Raff Williams, with the pair ridiculously happy. All that is set to change as Dolly finds Marina, a beautiful young Russian woman, obsessed with getting a tarot reading that will confirm her hopes of marriage to her unpleasant boyfriend will materialise. Dolly finds the hard faced Marina difficult to like, and the future she sees in the cards is an unpalatable one, with misery and death and certainly no wedding in the future. When she tries to warn Marina, the girl is unwilling to listen and flounces off. There are many changes, Professor Filthy, Derek West, is firmly esconced as a lodger with Rosie Buck, whose husband fled, and No 3 Tinderbox Lane has been taken over by 3 squatters, Geordie, Trek and Gigi, spurring most of the neighbours to group together to get rid of them.

To Dolly's consternation, her daughter Pippa gets emotionally entangled with the womanising Geordie, who is merely trying to improve the odds of them staying rather than actually interested in Pippa. Pippa becomes vociferous in her support of the squatters as she gets closer to Geordie. Dolly finds herself constantly referring to the tarot cards to understand people, situations and the future, intuiting answers that prove to be uncannily accurate. Her reading of the tarot cards for Geordie prove to be as similarly troubling as Marina's when it comes to his disturbing future, and leaves him feeling highly uneasy. Maurice Bousquet who died in the first book, has turned out to be considerably wealthier than anybody suspected, leaving everything including several homes to the Brazilian Isabelle Ferrier, aka stripper Crystal. Events take a dark and disturbing turn when a dead body turns up in a bath that looks like suicide, but is it? Isabelle's actions upsets everyone on the lane, as Dolly, aided by her neighbours tries to get to the bottom of the disappearance of the squatters, and searches for the truth behind a murder.

EV Harte weaves a compelling tale of murder in a small close knit community, with the endearing central character of Dolly, a gifted tarot reader. There are a number of eccentric and quirky supporting people from Professor Filthy to Rosie Buck. There is ongoing character development as with Pippa finally securing a job that allows her to live independently of her mother, yet remain close by and the growing intimacy between Rosie and the Professor. This is a charming and entertaining read, that I hesitate to refer to as cozy as it covers such dark and disturbing material. A wonderful read that I recommend to those looking for an offbeat crime series. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.