You Can't Bluff the Sharp Eyed Sister vol 1 story by Yo Asami, Natsu Hyuuga and designs by Chiho Shinishi

 

Chloe is a novice cleric of the Albian Church, absolutely no one special at all (well except for being a bona fide card shark) which is why she is more than a little surprised when the son of the Birz family arrives at her church and offers her a job. A very lucrative job, there is a catch, of course though. Erlad explains that he has picked her specifically because of her skills as a card shark, which seem to mimic the Charisms, special innate abilities some women have, for her to infiltrate the Church as a candidate for the selection of Vestal Maiden Examination. All she has to do is use her skills to track down a killer. No big deal right?

This was way cuter than I expected especially since it revolves around a murder! Chloe is super funny and a straightforward person, while Erlad is much less straightforward. This makes for a great dynamic between the two of them. The way she explains her abilities to read people definitely sounds just a tad bit magical which is interesting to me as well. Especially once we discover that the Charisms could indeed simply be someone who has honed a specific skill to a fine point. I kinda liked that because while I love magic I love the idea of having characters that are just exceptionally good at what they do. 

We barely dive into the backstory on the murder in this volume which is fine, however, what we do learn makes everything about it seem not just odd but almost impossible to have been committed in the manner it was. Which means there's just no way the Church can't be involved. Or at least it seems that way right now. 

The art is truly beautiful! This would have been a fun read regardless but I feel like the art really put it over the top!

I will definitely be continuing this series. I didn't even realize I was looking for a manga murder mystery until I started reading this, but, yup it's been way too long since I came across a good one so I can't wait for vol 2!

As always thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the eArc!!