Tuesday 25 April 2017

Book ~ "Louisiana Longshot" (2012) Jana Deleon

From Goodreads ~ It was a hell of a longshot ...

CIA Assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever - in Sinful, Louisiana.

With a leak at the CIA and a price on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off grid but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play.

Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly-inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly-sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation may blow her cover and get her killed.

Armed with her considerable skills and a group of old ladies referred to by locals as The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late. 

Fortune is a CIA assassin.  In her last mission, she narrowly escaped alive and there is now a price on her head.  Plus there is a leak within the CIA.  To keep her safe, her boss has Fortune pose as his niece, Sandy-Sue, a former beauty queen and now a librarian.  Sandy-Sue had recently inherited a house from her great-aunt in Sinful, LA.  Fortune is going to spend the summer laying low pretending to be Sandy-Sue and pack up the house.

When Bones, Sandy-Sue's newly-inherited dog, digs up a bone, it's discovered that it belongs to Harvey, a man everyone in town hated and who disappeared five years ago.  Fortune reluctantly teams up with Gertie and Ida Belle, two elderly ladies who run the town, to find out who killed Harvey and look for Marie, Harvey's wife, who has suddenly disappeared.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I liked the writing style ... it was amusing and moved at a good pace.  It is written in first person perspective in Fortune's voice.  I liked the main characters.  Fortune was out of her element in this crazy small town and it was fun to watch her react to their ways.  Gertie and Ida Belle were a hoot!

It's the first in the Miss Fortune Mystery series (there are currently nine) ... I look forward to reading the rest.

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