Louisiana Longshot: A Miss Fortune Mystery (Miss Fortune Mysteries)

This is not the first time I've read this book - it's more like the 6th or 7th. I've read every book in this series - I love them so much I reread the whole series every couple of years. The characters, the mysteries and the Louisiana bayous. It's all fabulous. So much fun. Lots of laughter and thrilling moments too. Jana DeLeon is one of my all time favorite authors. These books helped me get through the healing of a broken back one summer. These are joyous books. I highly HIGHLY recommend!

I have read hundreds (possibly more than a thousand) cozy mysteries over the past 25+ years and this one right here has landed squarely at the top of my list of all-time favorites. It is as well written as any NYT bestseller novel with great characters, really intriguing plot, some humor, and unexpected twists. FIVE enthusiastic stars and I would give it bonus stars if that were possible.

Not to demean cozy mysteries because I love the genre, but they typically are written in a fairly simplistic way. By that, I mean the characters are often often silly and the situations in which they find themselves are somewhat bungling or slapstick. Rarely do I need to look up a word, frequently there are some typographical or grammatical errors, and any red herrings tend to be obvious. At the same time though, they are good, clean fun; no cringeworthy sexual situations, no foul language, and no graphic gore. So there is that.

Cozies generally feature a bored housewife, librarian, flower shop or bakery owner, etc. who inadvertantly becomes involved in crime solving (at least initially- then they suddenly become the only one in town who can solve murders). Ah... but in this series our protagonist is highly trained CIA assassin, Fortune Redding. Fortune is assisted in her sleuthing by none other than... well you are going to have to read the book to find out because I don't do spoilers!

First Sentence: I stepped off the Learjet at the private airfield just before dawn.

When CIA agent, Fortune Redding, assassinates the brother of a Middle Eastern arms distributor, ruining a perfectly good pair of Prada stiletto heels in the process, the result is a price on her head. To protect her, she is sent into hiding at the small-town-Louisiana home of her Director's niece, one Sandy Sue Morrow, a former beauty-pageant winner. What could go wrong when one is trying to fit in, solve a local murder, and stay undercover.

Now and then, one hits a reading slump and needs something light and fun to get moving again. This was it. It was a delightful surprise and a lesson that one is never too old to listen to one's mother when they recommend a book to read.

DeLeon has a voice full of sass and sarcasm—"I stared down Main Street and grimaced. It was a cross between a Thomas Kinkade painting and a horror movie."—and defines the protagonist. But beware, the neighbors, particularly Gertie and Ida Belle, who is president of the Sinful Ladies Society—"I looked outside and saw a crowd of gray-haired women bearing down on the restaurant. Sixteen of them, probably from the Jurassic period…"--aren't what one expects either, which is so refreshing. In fact, none of the characters are, including Bones, the very old hound who is true to his name and finds the human bone initiating the murder investigation.

The author captures a small town perfectly where everyone knows your business almost before you do. Her pragmatism about religion is delightful—"Religion was by and large constructed by men, and I had yet to find a man who was logical. Deconstructing religious rules would definitely be a journey into madness." But it is also the south where food plays an important part—"'Give me the Seven Deadly Sins."' Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, pan-fried potatoes, and pancakes. I could practically hear my arteries hardening."

There are wonderful, laugh-out-loud moments, which is such a treat, especially when the scene isn't silly, but clever and relatable. But there is also a wonderful moment of self-realization—"Good Lord. I was actually pretty. Like Mom."

It's not all light and fun, however. There is a murder to solve, and a handsome cop with questions to evade. There are good insightful observations and truisms—"Clearly, people were the biggest complication life threw at you."--well-done information on Fortune's past, and surprises and twists right through to the end.

"Louisiana Longshot" is a delightful book. DeLeon cleverly avoids a number of stereotypes. The characters are wonderful, the humor is perfect, not slapstick and the twists are plentiful and well-executed. It really is a well-done introduction to a series which should be fun to continue.

LOUISIANA LONGSHOT (LicInv-Fortune Redding-Louisiana-Contemp) - VG DeLeon, Jana – 1st in series CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform– Jun 2012

I love my book club, but they sure pick a lot of downer literature to discuss. To counter all that seriousness, I asked my friends to recommend a funny novel to read. I wish I recall who recommended Louisiana Longshot, because I owe that person chocolate.

In a way, Jana DeLeon's novel follows the standard "cozy mystery" formula: Our protagonist (usually a woman) finds herself in a new-to-her environment, rebooting her life, and encounters a dead body. For plausible reasons, this amateur finds herself needing to solve the mystery rather than leave it to law enforcement. A love interest doesn't hurt, either.

But DeLeon adds a delicious twist to the plot of Louisiana Longshot. Instead of the heroine being a librarian or knitting-shop owner or what-have-you, Fortune Redding is a CIA Agent who has a higher-than-average propensity for shooting. The result of one such mishap is that she has to hide out from someone who put a price on her head. The destination? The tiny town of Sinful, Louisiana, where she has to pretend to be a librarian (and former beauty queen). And, when she finds the remains of a the late-unlamented Harvey, instead of her sidekicks being a few women her own age, she's joined by a few old women who run the town (dubbed the Geritol Mafia). Then Things Happen.

As I was promised, the book is very funny. The characters are zany in a nice way, which means they manage to come across as real people, not stick figures with amusing things to say.

The plot holds together, too. But even if it had not, my chuckles would have caused me to forgive it. For example: "'I had a bit of a fender bender,' Gertie said. 'Wasn't my fault, of course. It was a really stupid place to put a stop sign.'" ...and Fortune approaching a dive bar, thinking, "I completely understood Francine's sentiment about decent women not coming out here for a drink. I wouldn't walk in the place unless I had two guns pulled and an up-to-date tetanus shot."

The result is a very lighthearted novel that's an extremely quick read. It cheered me up in no time. This is beach reading at its finest.

3.5☆As a Southerner, I was a bit offended by her portrayal of us as it seemed more like a Yankee's idea of what small southern towns are like. Using terms like "Mayberry" slanted a little snide and is set in Georgia. Outside of a few glaring plot-holes that threw me out of this fictional pice, it was fairley entertaining. It reminded me of a sort of sequel to the story of "Fried Green Tomatoes", another much earlier story of vaguely southern women banding together to help each other could have happened anywhere during the time it was set.  Louisiana Longshot could have worked well set most any southern location if one does not take into account the location itself is also a sort of a character and poses it's own problems that seemed a little hit and miss with this reader's suspension of disbelef, which would through me out of reading flow.  I may be interested in reading more from this series, but would be more drawn to this author's paranormal works in which suspension of reality becomes part and parcel as a matter of course.

[Stop here. Possible spoilers ahead.]

Points about suspending reality or continuity of thinking: If other characters thought she was clueless enough to warn her not to leave clothes in the dryer to prevent mouldy must and give her the name and number of the local roofer along with a sobriety warning, then WHY didn't someone warn this out of towner that gator bellows sound like giant, loud bullfrogs and school her about their habits (and the other local wildlife) when she complained about them and later rescued from one by Officer Charming? Having swarms of mosquitos if one lives anywhere close to water is true for most warm places in the world. The humidity here almost seems an agressive thing for most of the year to those who did not grow up here and even some who have. Why she got those correct but didn't include the neighborly practice or at the very least, part of the protect and serve duty of southern police to educate newcommers about possible deadly wildlife in their own back yard, I found hard to believe. The officer did not advise the former beauty queen from somewhere else to be careful around water at night, something we are taught as children, or give her the number of a trapper as he did with her repair need or even offer to help her set up a gator trap if she didn't want them hanging around in her back yard when he was there. It's not illegal to shoot gators and racoons or trap them, especially if one is worried about their ancient pet being harmed by one or their own safety against them. The religious tension  between the Babtists and Catholics seems a little silly and overdone. It may have been true sixty years ago,  but not now. The no pants taboo for women and arms covered is a modesty practice of the Holiness Movement, not a Baptist or Catholic issue.  What IS considered slutty for church wear is if underware is visable above todler age.

A plothole action that could have offered the desired reasonable doubt for the list of suspects would have been a drug test for all top suspects who could have gained from the victom's death. The wife was out cold during the time of the crime and the drug that caused her to be incapasitated would have been hard to miss.  Screening tests were available long before"five years ago" as part of crime investigations. Heck, you can buy them at Walmart. How the husband was murdered was also vague. Shots fired would have been reported by neighbors and respondants would have found Marie asleep as her possible aliby. Those are my plothole catches for this story. Marge may have also seen Marie as sort of a daughter figure as it is implied there is some vague amount of age difference between the two characters. I don't appreciate that media is so scared to offend, that there must be  character types shoehorned unnecessarily into stories of female strength. That Marge, retired from military service, cared for Marie, who was in an impossible situation and wanted to help her should have been enough motive to give aide, period. This was the same reason behind the other (also former military) Society Ladies' actions. They all knew Marie was trapped in a dangerous home situation by family and legal obligations. Womanly solidarity and fear for another person's safety in her abusive home is worthy motivation to render aide in their various ways. Charging him with abuse, sent to prison and die as a result would have also worked to solve Marie's problem. In southern prisons and maybe in northern prisons too, those who harm women and children tend to not last long enough to go before parole boards. It would have also brought the real killers and victom possibly closer in location. They could have still tried to frame the wife by using another type of weapon such as poison in swapped baked goods brought during a visit, could have been more easily done, and harder to prove against. I watch crime shows too.

*This has been my honest feedback.