Louisiana Longshot

Miss Fortune Mystery #1

by Jana Deleon

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.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Cozy, Romance, Audiobook

246 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2012

About the author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon was raised in southwest Louisiana among the bayous and gators. Her hometown is Carlyss, but you probably won't find it on a map. Her family owned a camp located on a bayou just off the Gulf of Mexico that you could only get there by boat. The most important feature was the rope hammock hanging in the shade on a huge deck that stretched out over the water where Jana spent many hours reading books.

Jana and her brother spent thousands of hours combing the bayous in a flat-bottom aluminum boat, studying the natural habitat of many birds, nutria and alligators. She would like you to know that no animals were injured during these "studies," but they kept makers of peroxide in business.

Jana has never stumbled across a mystery or a ghost like her heroines, but she's still hopeful.

She now resides in Dallas, Texas, with the most spoiled Sheltie in the world.

Reviews

[Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 Sterne
Ein herrlich schräger Krimi. Oder doch eher Komödie? Irgendwie ist es beides. Und es ist der erste Band einer Reihe, die ich auf jeden Fall weiterverfolgen möchte.
Das Setting Louisiana hat mir sehr gut gefallen, die schrägen Charaktere haben mir sehr gut gefallen, der Kriminalfall hat mir ebenfalls sehr gut gefallen. Also insgesamt für mich ein rundum gelungenes Buch!

[John Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in the mood for this novel after my previous read, which was quite thought-provoking.
I doubt I’ll give this novel many thoughts.
It was light and frothy, with a few laughs but not too many demands on my grey matter.

[Margitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am borrowing the GR book blurb here, since it says it the best:

"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."

REVIEW:I did not think I was going to enjoy this book when I opened it on my Kindle. I had it for so long now that I totally forgot about it. But since I am 1) trying to build up courage for the heavy-weights gracing the stacks next to my bed, 2) need to work down my TBR list, I took a shot at it.

Everything about this murder mystery is great. That is, if you enjoy this kind of light-read, feel-good stuff once in a while. For me it is not a once-in-a-while event. No, it started out so many years ago with "Murder She Wrote" - I watched the series diligently, and carried over into similar kind of thrills in book-form, which used the ordinary American life style as backdrop and kept me tied to any story remotely resembling a thrilling murder somewhere deep in the heart of America. The deeper the heart, the happier I am.

Fortune Redding, the protagonist, is G.I.Jane-gone-girlie. The idea scared me enough to have me postpone reading the book for a very long time. But since I bought it, I thought I should get it over with.

The murder is serious business, folks. But the three old ladies, The Geritol Mafia, buzzing around Sinful in their old Cadillac, with their dying eyes, with their hair curlers and slippers, racing their Baptist-legs against the Catholics for a Sunday table in Francines's restaurant, is not. Fortune will soon learn through trial and errors that they are not called The Geritol Mafia for nothing. Nosy old Womens Libbers they are called by the town's folks, since none of them ever got married. Fortune, herself, has a hard time looking like a librarian and convince the town of her innocent presence in her supposedly late aunt Marge's house. Another lesson to be learnt from this story is that high heels and knitting needles should be banned. It's dangerous weapons!

Then there is Francine's banana pudding, which have the last say on Sundays. The mayor was forced to announce a new rule of order in town. He was forced to - take note! No church is allowed to start earlier than 9.00 am and that's final. Besides, if the banana pudding was worth waging a war and giving someone a free pass on hell, it might be worth checking out for Fortune. It can raise the dead, as Ida Belle so quaintly explained: “All sorts of things rose out of the ground during Edgar. Why, my mother’s coffin popped straight up out of the grave and cruised down Main Street. I always said you couldn’t keep Mother down.”

“And your mother always did love Francine’s pudding.”

With that, she takes a swig of her home-brewed cough syrup. Nobody in their right mind will ever call it moonshine and live to tell the tale! Alcohol is banned in Sinful! If the old ladies says it is cough syrup, then it is cough syrup, you understand!? I will stick to cough syrup myself in this review, for just in case!

Fortune unwillingly teams up with these ladies to solve the murder, but she's unsure if these ladies are up to it. She cannot expose too much of her expertise to anyone in town as well. However, when Ida Belle shoots an alligator right-center between the eyes, and Gertie kicks a man in the face, Bruce Lee-style, Fortune realizes that shrewdness has somewhere, some long time ago, became an art form among these ladies. Ida Belle, the numero uno Mafia member, will tell you: " “I like shrewd. It takes smarts to be good at it.”

So, with a hop and a skip, a jiggle and a jive, the murder is solved, and I had a roaring time being one of them! Hilarious moments and serious business merged in this fast-moving, dramatic tale. And after closing the book, I sat smiling with surprise written all over my face. There is just so much more to this story than the eye could ever meet.

After saying goodbye to these ladies, which felt like losing my best friends, I bought the second book in this series immediately this morning.

[Katie Colson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this series was available on Libby. If so, I would continue. This is probably a series I would end up loving as it developed.

I enjoyed it but it read like something I would forget really quickly after finishing.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well crap. I forgot to review this and it has been weeks since I finished. This was a lot of fun, as long as you're up for a lighthearted story with elements of mystery and adventure with a side of murder set in small-town Louisiana. You kind of have to take Fortune's background as given, but that's not a burden. The tone shows up strongly right from the start, so that's a help. So if you like the beginning bits, I think chances are high that you'll find the whole thing engaging.

As for the story, I was totally along for the ride. I'm trying to think why it reminds me so strongly of a Stephanie Plum story. Fortune isn't at all like Stephanie (being basically competent for a start). Maybe because the geritol brigade helping her out felt a bit like Grandma Mazur? Nah, they were way cooler, too. Wait. That sounds like I don't like Stephanie Plum and I totally do. Did. Whatever.

Anyway, this was a great read, and wholly entertaining. Four stars because I can't quite take it seriously enough to give it five. I absolutely plan on picking up the next and diving right back in.

A note about Chaste: If there's romance, it's slower burn than a single week (which is the internal length of this book). So there's no shenanigans here and it's completely chaste. So far...

[Cynthia Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was just pure fun from the start. It's fast paced and full of crazy action. The ending provided a twist I sure didn't see coming, which made me like it that much more. The high jinx may not stand up to close scrutiny, but I took the story in the spirit in which it was created. The protagonist has a irreverent sense of humor and the author's sense of comic timing is perfect. I think a film version of this would be hilarious. It really is the kind of entertainment you don't want to end, but fortunately for me, there are nine books in the Miss Fortune series!

[Kathi Defranc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fun, Interesting Adventure With Some Southern Gals!

I picked up this book for a quick,easy read and found a fun adventure with a CIA agent in hiding and some very witty old ladies! All Southern towns are not slow and lazy, as Fortune finds out after a CIA leak gets a price put on her head by some dangerous arms dealers. She is sent to Sinful, Louisiana posing as a former beauty queen whose aunt has recently passed.
The crazy action starts immediately upon Fortune landing in the town. Treachery, lies and dead bodies provide plenty to think about, along with several old women who seem in charge. Fortune is roped into their actions and the fun begins, with unbelievable things happening all around town.
A great story to relax and enjoy, a mystery solved in amazing ways!

[Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Goodreads friend Monica gave this novel (the first book in the author's Miss Fortune Mysteries) five stars, which put it on my radar; and I'd downloaded the e-book edition some time ago when I discovered that it's offered for free, as a teaser for the series. While my rating isn't as high as hers (it would be three and 1/2 stars if Goodreads allowed that), and I didn't expect that it would be, I did turn out to like the book somewhat more than I expected to.

Our protagonist and first-person narrator here is "Fortune" Redding. We're not told her real first name ("Fortune" is the handle she's used to answering to, but it's indicated, well into the book, that it's a nickname, short for "soldier of fortune") or her exact age; but she's worked for the CIA for eight or five years, depending on which figure we go with, since we're given both in different places. (I took the first one to start with, so picture her as about 30, joining the Company just after college.) The affiliation was a natural one for her; her father, with whom she had a prickly relationship, was a top CIA agent, and after his death when she was 15, her remaining teen years were overseen by a couple of CIA officials, one of whom is now her boss. (Her mother had died years earlier.) She's a seasoned assassin (of verified baddies), with a VERY long list of kills to her credit, and zero compunctions about her line of work. But she's neither a psychopath nor a moral nihilist; on the contrary, she's basically a kind-hearted person (albeit an emotionally-constipated loner with no confidential friends), who sympathizes readily with those in danger and distress.

That trait got her in trouble on her latest mission. It wasn't supposed to be a hit; she was simply posing as the glamorous mistress of a drug dealer, delivering money for him to a Middle Eastern crime boss. But (as we learn along with her, at the debriefing in the first chapter) her meeting was compromised by an unknown leak in the CIA, who'd tipped the bad guys off as to who she was. They'd decided to test the tip by setting up a situation where she'd have to act to try to rescue a 12-year-old sex trafficking victim, figuring that she could then easily be dealt with, since she'd come unarmed. Unhappily for them, Fortune's quite adept at improvising a weapon when she has to; though she doesn't care much for high heels, she dispatched the head honcho with a stiletto heel on the shoes she was wearing, and got away clean, presumably with the 12-year-old. (We learn about this only in a terse second-hand report; I'd have loved to read it in real time!) Now, the deceased's brother Ahmad, also a big-time crime lord, has put her picture all over the Dark Web, with a million-dollar price on her head (ten million, if she can be delivered to him alive to be tortured).

If Ahmad can be taken out, the contract on her will be moot, but in the meantime, she needs to be stashed in a safe place --and one that can't be compromised by the unidentified leaker. Luckily, her boss' niece, librarian and former beauty queen Sandy-Sue Morrow, just inherited a house in Sinful (population 253) in the bayou country of southern Louisiana from a newly-dead aunt on her mother's side. The two weren't close; Sandy-Sue has never been to Sinful, and she has no social media presence due to a stalking incident years ago. With summer just starting, she's scheduled to go down there to inventory the house's contents and prepare it for sale. Before the very unwilling Fortune can say "culture shock," her boss has packed the real Sandy-Sue off for a summer in Europe, and our heroine is in route to Louisiana to hide under this new identity. It's only supposed to be through the summer months; and in a small, quiet southern community, nothing's apt to go wrong, right? But the flooding caused by a recent hurricane unearthed and moved a lot of debris in the backwoods, and on Fortune's first evening in town, the late aunt's dog fishes a human bone out of the bayou behind the house. It proves to have belonged to a very wealthy, and universally hated, town resident who disappeared some five years ago....

As mysteries go, this one is not deep or in some respects very plausible, but it is entertaining. Despite the author's use of a humorous tone in most of it --though it has its serious moments, some of them deadly so (literally!)-- it's not really an example of the "cozy" subgenre, nor even of the broader stream of more "genteel" who-dunnits in general. That tradition features more actual detection in terms of sifting physical clues and witness statements, and eschews directly-described physical violence. There's little of the former here, and definitely some of the latter in the denouement. (Action-heroine fans may be pleasantly surprised to find that Fortune's combat skills won't necessarily have to go to waste in this new environment!) But the mystery of who killed Harvey Chicoran doesn't necessarily have an immediately obvious solution (many characters, and no doubt readers, may assume that the widow did it --but did she?). There will be twists and turns in solving it, and Fortune's involvement in that effort will provide her --and readers-- with challenges, adventures, excitement and danger.

A weakness of the book is that a lot of the humor exaggerates the quirkiness and peculiarities of the Louisiana bayou country's rural inhabitants to the point of caricature. It plays to stereotypes that too many urbanites have about the South, and rural people in general, which reflects culpable ignorance of cultures outside their own. Fortune herself is a prime example; she seriously wonders, for instance, if the community she's going to has electricity. (Rolls eyes profusely.) She also has a tendency to reduce women with Sandy-Sue's background to despised, stereotyped "Others." Some characters, like the members of the Sinful Ladies Society (membership is only open to "old maids" or widows of 10 years standing, to avoid contamination by "silly man thinking"), are steeped in misandry, and Deleon views that as funny. This is mitigated to a degree by the fact that she's native to the region (which I've visited) herself, does reveal some basic affection for it, and depicts it with some realistic local color; and by the fact that she does portray a couple of male characters positively. There are also a few inconsistencies that should have been caught and edited out.

On the positive side, this is a tautly paced book that keeps you turning pages, or in my case clicking frames (I read the first two-thirds of it in one sitting, and could and would have read it all if time had allowed!), with a tightly-compressed plot that unfolds in less than a week. Even if you disagree with some of Fortune's attitudes, she is honestly likable, with a wryly humorous narrative voice that's appealing (at least to this reader). She exhibits a willingness to look at herself and grow through exposure to new experience, which I like; and I appreciated the strong depiction of female friendship and loyalty. There's a certain amount of bad language here, mostly of the h and d-word sort or vulgarisms, but not much profanity and no obscenity; and there's no sexual content nor any romance at all (though I understand that a romance develops in subsequent books in the series). While Fortune describes herself, though not out loud, as a "heathen" (when she's informed that everybody in Sinful who's not one of the latter attends one of its two churches), and there's some humor based on the foibles of the church-goers, there's no actual pushing of an anti-Christian agenda.

I only read this book as a diversion, because it was free; I don't plan to follow the series. But I don't regret making Fortune's acquaintance, nor visiting her in her new-found community. :-)

[Linda Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book as a freebee on my Kindle and I am so glad I did!! What a fun series this is going to be!! Reminds me a lot of the Stephanie Plum series of Janet Evanovich. Lots of laughs and wonderful characters. Anxious to read the next!!

[Jody McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fortune is a CIA agent who has been told to "take a break." With a recent mission gone wrong and a price on her head, Fortune's boss sends her to Sinful, Louisiana to impersonate his niece. While dreading the quiet southern life, Fortune soon learns that Sinful is not part of the cliched South. With a 5 year old murder to solve, 2 geriatric sidekicks, and a hot deputy looking to bust her, Fortune "break" is turning out to be quite sinful!

This book was awesome. I loved Fortune, Gertie, and Ida Mae. They were fantastic characters. I would have read it all in one sitting if life didn't interfere. This book is also really funny and a good mystery. I highly recommend this book!

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new genre for me (more about that below). First, we have a CIA “woman in the field,” ‘Fortune’ Redding. From what we are told, she must be around thirty and is considered a “loose cannon” by her superiors. Why? It just seems that her assignments end up with non-authorized kills. Her most recent necessitates more than a reprimand.

The best of the choices she is given, is to go “underground” until things cool down. She needs to hide from an angry Middle Eastern crime boss who has put a large price on her head (higher if she is taken alive). The “Company” decides that it can hide her (posing as a distant heir of a recently deceased aunt) in the deep bayou country of Louisiana. Fortune becomes Sandy-Sue. And the little town that she is going to hide in (for a short while) is called Sinful. We go from -
Spy thriller to
Humorous village full of eccentrics to
A discovered body part to
A missing rich man to
More antics and thrills as Fortune gets to know the peculiarities of the town and the locals.
Everything from religion to “moonshine” is thrown into the mix with a nod and a wink. Somehow it works and the plot moves along at a decent pace. Cozy spy-mystery-thriller? I’m still not sure, but it is a nice break from more serious reading.

One GR reviewer said that she felt a Stephanie Plum “vibe.” Plum and Redding have different personalities and levels of competence but I think that Deleon’s treatment of Sinful and its inhabitants does have some similarities to how Evanovitch characterizes Trenton, New Jersey.

3.5 +0.5 for the excellent reading by Cassandra Campbell

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is set in the bayous of Southern Louisiana. I guess its genre classification is a cozy mystery. The story is a lighthearted, funny story featuring some female senior citizens known as the “Geritol Mafia”. The protagonist is a young female CIA assassin who needs to hide out for a while.

The plot twists and turns. DeLeon is great with the character development and vivid descriptions of the bayou country. The author also had yummy descriptions of food and desserts. I found myself laughing out loud at times. The book makes a great get-away-from-it-all book.

I read this as an e-book downloaded from Amazon. I read it on my Kindle app for my iPad. The book is 232 pages.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Tammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

I was looking for something lighthearted to read when I decided on Louisiana Longshot and it was indeed lighthearted. Though not as funny as I had hoped, it did have its laugh out loud moments.

CIA agent Fortune Redding's cover has been blown and a price has been put on her head so she is sent off the grid to the tiny town of Sinful Louisiana to lie low for a while. Fortune feels completely out of her element posing as an ex beauty queen who works as a librarian and is in town to take care of her "aunt's" estate. However, not long after she arrives the dog digs up a human bone. Mishap after mishap occurs when she agrees to help a couple of seemingly innocent little old ladies, who the locals refer to as the Geritol Mafia, uncover who murdered the man. Fortune isn't just completely out of her element pretending to be an ex beauty queen, she is also completely out of her element in the Louisiana swamp country.

"As soon as I finished that shower, it was time to break out my laptop and do some reading on Louisiana. It was stranger than any foreign country I’d ever been in."

Being from there I can attest to that!

While this was a fun diversion I wouldn't go into this one with real high expectations as there isn't too much thinking involved. My biggest complaint was that most of the time Fortune didn't seem like much of an assassin to me. There were moments where her skills as an assassin did shine, if briefly, only to be dumbed down for the sake of a few laughs as she makes one unwise decision after another. I also found it hard to believe that a CIA spy would really feel that out of her element anywhere. Aren't they trained to play just about any role and to fit in just about anywhere? That's what I would have thought anyway. It ended up coming off as unbelievable. I think the story would have been much better had she just really been the person she was pretending to be instead of an assassin in hiding.

On the other hand, the little old ladies were a hoot and I loved their backstory and the town of Sinful where little old ladies make moonshine and the Baptists and the Catholics have a war going on over banana pudding. I got a good chuckle out of the names of the churches, Sinful Baptist and Sinful Catholic. I looked up Sinful Louisiana to see if there really is such a town, but there is not.

This is the first book in a series and I may read more when I'm in the mood for something silly.

Review also posted at Writings of a Reader

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some books where you know, from the first page, that you are gonna love them. This is one of those for me. I read and loved the Mudbug Ghost-in-Law series and this one is just as good. There are 8 books in the Miss Fortune Mystery series and I am sure I'm going to read them all.

Fortune Redding made a big mistake on her last mission as a CIA assassin and her target put a big price on her head. Her boss, Director Morrow, thinks that this may be due to a leak in the agency. He is sending Fortune to Sinful, Louisiana to take the place of his niece, Sandy-Sue who needs to settle her Aunt Marge's estate. From the second Fortune lands in Sinful it is apparent that laying low is not going to be an option. That first day Bones, a geriatric hound dog, unearths a human bone on the property. It looks like the murder of a man that disappeared five years ago, the likely suspect is Marie, the dead guys abused wife. Marie is good friends with Ida Belle, Gertie and the deceased Marge. Fortune keeps running up against the local law, Deputy Carter LeBlanc, aka Deputy Charming. But the ladies are determined to save Marie and will do a lot to accomplish that. (less)

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fortune Reading, a CIA assassin, is hiding out in Sinful, Louisiana when she discovers a human bone in her backyard. She teams up with a couple of eccentric elderly ladies to investigate.

Deleon gives us a delightfully humorous mystery with an engaging protagonist and intriguing secondary characters. Her world building is outstanding. This is a fully fleshed-out small town you're going to love.

A wild romp that's sure to please.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. Humorous but not so out there as to be ludicrous. Sign me up for the next one.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon

Synopsis /

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.


My Thoughts /

If you've never thought of compiling yourself an annual reading challenge, I would encourage you to have a crack one time. This year I have six on the go, and while it might seem like a daunting exercise, somehow having a pre-prepared list of titles to read makes things easy. One of my annual challenges for 2025 is to read an A-Z of "real" places and Louisiana Longshot ticks off 'L'.

This is the first book in the Miss Fortune Mystery series written by author, Jana Deleon; and both book and author are new to this reader.

Fortune Redding lost her father when she was just fifteen years old. It was a hazard of the job. Dwight Redding was a name revered within the CIA. Considered to be a super agent, Dwight Redding never made a mistake, had never blown his cover, and NEVER killed someone who wasn't on his hit list. Now a CIA Agent herself, Fortune Redding could still see him frowning at her, shaking his head. By taking the decision to follow in his footsteps - he was the golden boy she had to live up to.

Arriving back in Washington D.C. and heading straight into a meeting with her boss, CIA Director Morrow, Fortune was well aware her last assignment had gone horribly wrong.

"Your personnel file," Morrow said, "is full of those 'no choice' situations. Your hit count makes Attila the Hun look like a pacifist."

That 'no choice' situation was killing the brother of an arms dealer in a drugs bust gone wrong. Now the Organisation has put a price on her head - $1 million dead or $10 million if delivered to them alive. The CIA is now initiating damage control - Fortune has to go into hiding.

Fake hair? Fake nails? Someone touching my feet? Oh, God, they were going to paint my toenails pink, weren’t they? I groaned and placed my head on the table, covering it with my arms. This was going to be even harder than the time I killed that drug lord with a Tic Tac. And not nearly as satisfying.

That's how Fortune ended up in Sinful, Louisiana – with instructions to lay low and stay out of sight until the Agency could deal with the price on her head. Unfortunately for her, that's easier said than done.

I hadn’t even been in town one day, and I’d already ruined my shoes, committed two misdemeanour crimes, flashed the deputy, and stumbled upon a potential murder scene.

This character driven novel is like a cross between Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and Osman's Thursday Murder Club, with a little dash of the We Solve Murders crowd thrown in for good measure. Lots of laugh out loud moments and huge personalities.

With lines like:

There had to be more to this town than God, banana pudding, and dead things.

and

I smelled Number Two before I saw it. [PS: It's not what you think!!!!]

It was light and funny and kept me thoroughly entertained throughout. I've been looking for something to replace Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series when I get to the end, and I think I've just found it.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louisiana Longshot is not a book that would usually be on my radar. But when your mother and grandmother insist on you reading something, you don’t say no. I’m very glad I acquiesced, because this first entry into the Miss Fortune Mystery series was absolutely hilarious. It’s been a while since I laughed this much over a book.

“Forrest Gump had gotten it all wrong. Life wasn’t a box of chocolates. It was a box of ex-lax, and I felt like I’d consumed the entire thing.”

Fortune is a CIA operative who has been burned. Until things cool off, and she no longer has a massive bounty on her head, her boss is sending her to a little backwater town called Sinful in Louisiana. She’ll be posing as the estranged grand niece of a recently deceased citizen of the town. Her new identity is Sandy-Sue, a librarian and former beauty queen. Fortune is understandably appalled by the plan, seeing as she has zero experience with small towns or beauty pageants, but she doesn’t really have a choice in the matter. Soon after she arrives in town she finds herself in cahoots with the Sinful Ladies Society, a group of spinsters and widows who run the town and are nicknamed the Geritol Mafia. Fortune’s new friendship with these ladies lands her in the middle of a murder investigation. Hijinks ensue.

“With friends like that, you could conquer small countries.”

This book is both a caricature of and an homage to the state I love so much. The setting is just as much a character in Louisiana Longshot as Fortune and Gertie and Ida Bell. And all three of those ladies have huge personalities. There’s something about any book set in Louisiana that makes me happy, but I especially love books that actually show you that you’re in Louisiana instead of just telling you that you are. I could hear and smell and see every scene in Deleon’s book. And that made me very happy.

“I think sometimes it takes a life-changing event to make us really see the way we’re living based on the choices we’ve made.”

I’m not a big fan of comedic fiction, but reading it every once in a while is a breath of fresh air. That’s what this book was. Refreshingly funny. I’m not going to binge all 16 books in the series like my Memaw is currently doing, but I can see myself revisiting Fortune and Sinful and the Geritol Mafia on occasions when my life could use a bit of levity. Louisiana Longshot is a fun, light, breezy ode to the home I love, and I’m glad I listened to the urgings of my elders and gave it a read.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

rereading one of the funniest book/series I have ever read. Do your self a favor and read it. If you stop at the first book I will be very surprised.

[Olga Godim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice and funny cozy mystery, this short novel was a pleasant diversion. Nothing fancy, just constant chuckles and an onslaught of totally absurd situations piling up in Sinful, Louisiana, population just over 200.
When a CIA assassin Fortune blows her cover in the Middle East, she has to hide (aka live undercover as a librarian and former beauty queen) in a quiet little town on the edge of the swamps, while her boss deals with the situation at the Agency. But the somnolent atmosphere of Sinful is deceiving. All sorts of comedies and tragedies, murder and mayhem lurk just below the surface.
As soon as Fortune arrives in town, the action starts rolling, throwing the undercover librarian into all sorts of imbroglios. And without her arsenal, she is totally clueless. How would a former beauty queen behave in her place? Would she paint her nails pink? Would she shoot an alligator?
The main instigators of Fortune’s troubles are two senior ladies Gertie and Ida Belle, two sweet (sweet?!) gray haired Southern ladies who practically run Sinful. As Fortune copes with her new geriatric friends, she learns that not all her arms training prepared her for the small town life, and that blending in with her new neighbors requires some serious readjustments of priorities.
The characters are colorful, the pacing breathtaking, and the atmosphere of the tiny town, with all its inherent dramas and rivalries, rings true for the grateful reader, who can’t stop smiling.
A trifling little novel, delightful and addictive. I’m thinking of downloading the next installment.

[Olivia Solomon · Rating 1 out of 5]

No spoilers here because I couldn't make it past chapter 4. The plot of the book sounds like it would be really great, if only the author could write it well. The first person view point is tedious at times, but overall I absolutely hated the main character. I couldn't get into the book because all I could think about is how annoying, arrogant, and frustrating she is. She has no depth, is completely one-sided, her lack of emotions, and constant thoughts on how to murder every person she meets makes her read more like a sociopath. I normally don't stop reading a book, but I will make an exception with this one.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

After an assignment goes south, CIA Agent Fortune Redding is sent to Sinful, Louisiana to hide-out. But when a human bone shows up in her yard laying low quickly becomes a challenge.

Louisiana Longshot is great fun and a completely off the wall cozy mystery about a group of geriatric assassins who ride rough shod over authority and manage to shanghai Fortune into their nefarious schemes.

It's kind of cheesy, completely unbelievable but still a hoot from beginning to end.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like The Thursday Murder Club series, you’ll love this as well. A CIA agent needs to relocate until a hit out on her is remedied, so she is sent to the tiny town of Sinful, Louisiana. Posing as the ex-beauty queen, librarian niece of a deceased townsfolk, she assumes that life will temporarily be the complete opposite of what she’s used to. That changes the very day she gets there. Two senior ladies quickly embroil her in their escapades as they work to solve a 5-year-old murder while clearing the name of another of their group members. A little more madcap, tho fully competent, the trio go beyond the law to attain their goals.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2019 Review
Not going to lie, this re-read threw me for a loop. I would give it 3 stars this time round. It kind of shocked me to discover how mediocre I found the mystery.
But I think I originally loved it so much because I read the rest of the series immediately following it. And the series gets way better. Is it great literature? Nope. It is mindless, easily forgettable, and highly improbable. Yet fun. I find this series incredibly endearing even though I know Gertie will make another lewd joke and Ida Belle will once again insult her with reference to her age. I know the climax will lack tension despite trying overly hard to create atmosphere. I know the body count in this series should send the FBI hustling because seriously, murders take place like every other day.
But I also know I will enjoy myself immensely anyway, no matter how nonsensical. So if I did recommend this series to you and gushed about Louisiana Longshot, here is my disclaimer: I don't actually love the book in this series. I do love the series though. And it 100% helps that I usually read it while desperately in need of sleep. Lack of sleep makes everything better. (This time around I went almost 24 hours without sleep while re-reading this book and the remainder of the series)

2018 Review
I've been stuck in various airports over the last 48 hours trying to make it back home so I used the time to read a good chunk of this series (about to start the 9th book, in fact.) Absolutely charming and funny. I love Ida Belle and Gertie. They are #goals.
Fortune is a tad unbelievable for a trained assassin and a little predictable, but the Louisiana setting makes up for it.
Also, love the chemistry between her and the Deputy. Basically, I'm currently obsessively addicted to this series and I can't believe I did not discover it earlier. Thank you to Mattea for recommending it; I am sorry it took me 5 years to follow up on your recommendation.
I could keep raving, but I would rather be reading.

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in the Miss Fortune Mystery series by Jana Deleon. Fortune Redding is a CIA assassin and due to a price on her head and a leak in the agency she is forced to lay low in Sinful, Louisiana. Posing as her boss' niece, Sandy-Sue, Fortune goes to Louisiana to pack up her deceased aunt's home while the real Sandy-Sue is touring Europe. Surely, Fortune can stay out of trouble in the swamp. But the first day there a human bone is found on the property and she teams up with Gertie and Ida Belle of the Sinful Ladies' Society and investigates the murder of a man that disappeared five years ago. Attempting to halt her plans is the local law, Deputy LeBlanc.

This is not a romance but it is a fun entertaining read. It is mostly the misadventures of Fortune and The Geritol Mafia. A bunch of colorful and interesting folks are introduced and I look forward to reading more. This is not really a cliffhanger as the mystery is solved but Fortune is still stuck in Sinful, Louisiana awaiting the all clear from her boss before she can leave. So obviously we are in for some more fun misadventures in the coming books.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! Right from the first few sentences, you realize you’re not dealing with your average cozy! Fortune Redding, expensively dressed, disembarks from a plane near Washington, D.C., having freshly killed someone. You soon realize she’s a CIA assassin. Yikes! She ends up hiding out in Sinful, Louisiana, an appropriately named bayou backwater, posing as a demure, pretty librarian.

Or at least I thought. I thought author Jana Deleon has penned a fun, twisty mystery with Miss Fortune as a fish-out-of-water in a narrow-minded town in South Louisiana, population: 253. Instead, the novel falls into too-twee territory by Chapter 4. Every Southern stereotype pops up in the book’s cardboard characters; in fact, Fortune Redding is the only semi-realistic character in the entire book. Yet, the plot’s not bad, and the ending was first-rate. Will I be back for more adventures in Sinful, La.? Only God knows because I sure don’t.

[Becky Peterson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is just silly. It is similar to a Janet Evonavich book. The characters are unbelievable. The female protagonist has to look foolish to the obvious love interest. He, of course, is amused with a slight interest. Someday soon they will hook up and, blah, blah, blah. With much difficultly I did finish it. I am surprised by how many gave the book 4-5 stars. I would think everyone is sick of the same old story line.

[Brittain *Needs a Nap and a Drink* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so this one was pretty fun. It was a quick read with a kick ass heroine, fun plot line, and a healthy scoop of danger. It's a cute beginning to a little cozy mystery series.

[Laura (Kyahgirl) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this irreverent and funny ‘mystery’ set in the bayou town of Sinful Louisiana. Some of the action was a bit over the top but I liked the characters and the story so will definitely read more in the series.