stargazed
I'm always so disappointed in cartomancy books :-(
I've never seen a resource I really liked for it, either. I think part of the problem is that it's SO up for interpretation and playing cards are common in so many cultures. I haven't found much agreement in how best to do it or solid meanings. There's some general agreements (similar to tarot- each suit is associated with an element, each number has an association), but that's it.
Most people can look at the 10 of Swords and get a good idea of its meaning. Or it could have symbolism that's personal to you. But that's not true for playing cards at all.
I think playing cards really demand the time to get to know them. I have a deck that I designed myself, unfortunately I made it incredibly complex to read, and occasionally I've tried to do a reading. I can tell it's trying to say something, I'll get similar suits/etc as in my tarot spreads for the same questions, but it's murky at best.