I start by saying that I really enjoyed the earlier books in the series, this one definitely has the strongest mystery. Upon meeting the rest of Xana's family, I was quite surprised how at how sane and healthy they all were (especially considering their mother and their late, drunk father). This however brings up a question... Is their father really dead? That's the question when a dead body is dicovered in Xana's garden, and it seems to be her father. The author is excellent at character creation and gifting the reader with comments on society. I really enjoyed reading this book - it is a good, fun mystery!

Thanks to #netgalley for the chance to read and review this book. I just love this series! Xana is the best kind of person, and her intuition and reading of Tarot give the stories a unique flavor. In this book, Xana is asked by a woman who has adopted 13 children to help her find out who want to kill her! Xana's sister comes to the rescue when there's no one to watch the children. I really enjoyed this story!

While I certainly enjoyed the earlier books in the series, this one has the strongest mystery. Meeting the rest of Xana's family, I was really amazed how at how same and healthy they all were considering their mother and their late drunk father. But was their father really dead? That's the question when the dead body found in Xana's garden seems to be her father. Atkinson is excellent at character delimitation and trenchant comments on society. Good, fun mystery! Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this book, we finally meet to meet the Bards. There's Collin, Brett, Lulu and Nora - Xana's siblings; Mater; and Josh Bard, Xana's father. Wait, what? Xana's father died nine years ago in a car crash, right? Wrong! He was found murdered, in Xana's backyard!
The mystery behind her father's murder takes Xana to the state of Nevada. Gold fever and WW2 has Xana don a role of Lara Croft, well... not really! DeLeon Davies and Thorne Ardall join Xana in unearthing some dirty secrets about the treasure and her father's role in stealing the gold...
Overall, this was a fun read. A little less on the mystery side but still oozes of charm and everything nice.

The fourth book starts off innocuously enough with a shopping trip. Xana then stumbles onto a dead body in her backyard. She does the most intelligent thing and contacts the police, but for more reasons than one, she is a person of interest. Thorne has to lie low and evade the police because of his 'invisible' status. We finally meet all the siblings that Xana has been dropping one-liners about since the first book. They also have multiple sit-downs with their mother at the same table, which was entertaining to imagine.

They were all very different, and each had their own particular conversation style that helped make this reading fun. The plot itself unwound itself slowly, and revelations happened in a very matter of fact tone. I am still at odds with the ending, a little at least. This did not dampen my enthusiasm for the next book.


Each book has enough iterations of the main framework of the narrative to be read as a stand-alone, but reading them in order will ensure appropriate emotions will make their presence felt faster.

I received the ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my reading experience of the entire series.

Alexandra “Xana” Bard lives a relatively quiet life in San Francisco. She reads tarot cards, hangs out with her friends, and solves the odd murder. Her most recent case strikes especially close to home: the body she finds in her own garden is that of her father, a man she had assumed dead for the last nine years. Those responsible for her father’s murder will stop at nothing to claim what they believe to be rightfully theirs. Will her trusted tarot cards lead Xana to the truth, or will they get her killed, too?
I love paranormal mysteries, so I was excited when I came across several volumes of A Tarot Mystery on netgalley. A picked a couple that sounded particularly interesting and downloaded them. Unfortunately, I read them out of order. The books themselves are not numbered, and the book list at the beginning of The Emperor Card is (apparently) in reverse chronological order.
That being said, I had no problem following along and figuring out the relationships of the characters. Atkinson does an admirable job of catching up new readers, and she does so without annoying info dumping; she introduces necessary details in a organic way. For example, I wondered how Xana could afford a nice little house on the coast of San Francisco when she doesn’t seem to have a job (aside from reading tarot cards). As the reader discovers while she is being interrogated by the police, Xana won a hefty sum in a wrongful termination lawsuit; carefully investing that money allows her to live a modest but comfortable life on her own terms.
Xana is a highly appealing character: she is curious, open-minded, determined, and honest. She is also very good at figuring people out; if someone is being dishonest, they can’t hide that from her for long.
Her ability to read people ties in nicely with her ability to read tarot. The cards speak to her, sometimes as a clear voice in her head, sometimes as subtle nudges and hints. They never lead her astray. In the case of her father’s murder, the spread she lays out includes a reversed Emperor card surrounded by multiple sword and wand cards: chaos, accusations, quarreling, ego over heart.
The mystery at the heart of The Emperor Card is engaging, entertaining, and even educational. I think I learn more about oddball occupations, hobbies, and historical events from reading mystery novels than I ever learned in school; in the case of The Emperor Card, gold mining and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during the Second World War.
I have only a few minor complaints. First is the formatting. There are a number of places in the book where a dashed word appears in the middle of a sentence (e.g., “excit-ed”), as if the word was supposed to wrap between lines, but the formatting changed and the dash was never erased.
The second concerns the character of DeLeon Davies. A middle-aged African-American from Oklahoma, DeLeon is a professional chauffeur; but that’s just a fun job; thanks to conversations with his many clients, he maintains a healthy stock portfolio, which netted him a very nice house in Piedmont and a Stanford education for his son. Around his clients, he talks like a Yale graduate. Around Xana, he reverts to his native Oklahoman accent. It makes for some strange conversations: Xana in near-perfect west coast American, speaking in full sentences and with very few contractions; and DeLeon, whose speech is peppered with contractions and incomplete words, and who addresses Xana as “Miz” through the entire novel. Though their mutual respect for one another is clear, their interactions still created a weird dissonance; I kept hearing “Driving Miss Daisy” jokes in my head.
Despite those two problems, The Emperor Card is a fun mystery. I enjoyed following along as Xana tried to get justice for her father, and so many others who had been wronged. I look forward to reading more of her adventures.
Recommended to fans of Juliet Blackwell, Diane Kelly, Amanda Flowers, Lyn Hamilton, and Elizabeth Peters.

An good read with a well formed plot, but not as much about tarot as some of the other books this author has written.

I was looking forward to reading this book and I wasn't disappointed. Xana - along with her mother and siblings - had cremated her father some years previously, so when he turns up with a knife in his back in Xana's garden it's a bit of a shock. To say the least. A book that has sadness and laughter throughout.

Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Having read through the first 6 books in this series, I can say that they're all well-suited to fans of cozy mysteries. The Emperor Card was one of the strongest entries, although they all earned a solid 4 stars from me. There's nothing in these books that anyone is likely to find objectionable (unless the subject of tarot cards is an issue for the reader). Aside from that, these offer interesting murder mysteries without any gore, foul language, or sex.

Things continue to take fascinating turns in Atkinson's delightful tarot series... This time we get a behind-the-scenes look at another member of Xana's family - and you won't believe the secrets underpinning his life/death! The mysterious circumstances surrounding a dead man who appears out of nowhere in our fearless heroine's backyard are engaging, entertaining, and wild - much like the life of said fearless heroine. The series continues to hold my interest and leave me eagerly awaiting the next installment... It's been a marvelous find!

The series is very good. This review is for the series and I'll be posting the same review for each individual book -- each one is quite good. The main character Xana is pretty entertaining, and she and the other characters are appropriately quirky. Sometimes the plots are a bit predictable, and a bit unrealistic, and I'm not into Tarot Cards, but still enjoyed these. The author does a good job bringing the characters to life and obviously has talent. She knows how to build tension and characters, and writes pretty good dialog and humor.

The first book is good and the series gets better as the series progresses. These are not "literature" but they're good cozies if that is what you're seeking.

I really appreciate the review copies from NetGalley!!

The Emperor Card is the 5th book in the Tarot Mysteries by Bevan Atkinson. Originally released in 2017, this reformat is 183 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

The plot gallops along, it's a short and satisfying read, and the technical aspects of the writing are seamless and enjoyable. This is an author who can really write. The secondary characters are well and sensitively drawn. The language is G-rated, there's no on page sexual content, and it's an enjoyable and humorous ride from start to finish.

The sense of place is palpable and the author has a gift for descriptive prose. I love the white hats in the story. The decency and honesty of Thorne, Xana, and DeLeon are so appealing and they're such great characters and so easy to like. The stories are wonderfully entertaining that I'm perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the ride. I also love it that Xana is preternaturally perceptive and intuitive . I find her a thoroughly appealing character.

The plot here is relatively straightforward and linear. I found it well written, quite probably my favorite in the series thus far. Even Xana's mother's friends are starting to grow on me. The denouement in this installment was so satisfying, and I adored the epilogue.

Possibly worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, the first book in this highly entertaining series (The Fool Card) is included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. It's always fun to find a new to me author and series to read. I would definitely recommend this one to fans of modern American mysteries. I'm looking forward to binge reading the rest of the series.

Four stars.

I'm more than happy I requested this ARC because this is an excellent series, gripping and entertaining.
I liked the well written cast of characters, the well crafted plot and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.