cover image The Star: A Tarot Card Mystery

The Star: A Tarot Card Mystery

David Skibbins, . . St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (232pp) ISBN 978-0-312-36193-8

Warren Ritter, ex-'60s radical and sidewalk tarot-card reader in Berkeley, Calif., works to clear his daughter's name in Skibbins's inconsistent if entertaining third mystery (after 2006's High Priestess ). Believed killed in an explosion in 1970, Ritter has only recently resurfaced from a life on the run and learned of the existence of his daughter, Fran Wilkins. Now, Fran turns to her long-lost dad for help when her abusive husband, Orrin, a Santa Cruz policeman, declares her unfit because she suffers from bipolar disorder, and moves out with their five-month-old son. Fran steals her baby back from her husband's strict fundamentalist parents, but then lands in the hospital under police guard—rescued from attempted suicide and suspected of murdering her husband. In a dramatic conclusion, Ritter orchestrates a violent confrontation that reveals the true killer, but some details strain credulity and readers hoping for more tarot tips might be disappointed. (Feb.)