Hey everyone! Danika Dizon here, just your average tarot reading private detective. Or I guess, private detective in-training since I’m only seventeen and my mom does NOT want me following in her footsteps. She’s perfectly fine having me work the front desk at Dizon Detective Agency for zero dollars, but heaven forbid I mention officially joining the agency after I graduate.

But I digress. You want to know about an average day in my life? Well, since I’m a junior in high school, my day starts with me going to my classes. Nothing too exciting there, though I do have a tarot reading side hustle going on. The people at my school know I’m the person to go to for advice and are happy to pay for it. A nice way to hone both my tarot reading and detective skills while making some money on the side.

If it’s a Tuesday, Thursday, or the weekend, I head to my mom’s detective agency after school to take over desk duties from my dad (who’s usually more focused on writing his next mystery novel than actually answering the phones and emails like he’s supposed to) or babysit my younger brother. He’s almost ten years younger than me and has a bunch of health problems, so I usually watch over him since my parents have to work ridiculous hours to pay the bills.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you’ll catch me at my aunt’s Kali class. I’ve been studying the Filipino martial art since I was four years old so I’m mostly there to assist with the class along with my older twin cousins. Even though my mom refuses to officially hire me at the agency, she knows how important it is for me to be able to defend myself. I look at these classes as training for when I’m finally in the field.

The day that changed my life started like any other. I went through the motions, pretending I actually cared about my classes and killed time after school doing tarot readings for my usual clients. It was the same boring mess as always: cheating boyfriends, exam freakouts, friendship drama.

Until that girl interrupted one of my sessions. Until that girl told me that her sister was missing. Until that girl told me it was my fault her sister ran away.

Now I’ve got a missing girl case on my hands. This is my chance to finally prove to my mom that I’ve got what it takes to be a PI.

I don’t plan on letting it slip away.

Death in the Cards
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Release: May 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

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.

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…

About the author
Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer  from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She is the author of the multi-award-winning Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series and the forthcoming YA novel DEATH IN THE CARDS (May 13, 2025). She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture.

Find her on Facebook and Instagram: @MPMtheWriter and check out her website at miapmanansala.com.