Monday Book Review: Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon

About the Book:

It was a hell of a long shot....
 
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 placed 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 might blow her cover and get her killed. Armed with her considerable skills and a group of elderly ladies the locals dub The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late.

My TAKE:

I bought this book back in early 2015, but never read it and then forgot why I purchased it. Looking at the cover on my Kindle, I was not intrigued, or impressed. Despite actually having a cartoon cover for one of my books, I really don't like this style of cover. But then I reread my own book last week (looking for a good excerpt and got caught up) and when I saw this still on my Kindle I said "Why Not?" Yeah, I actually said it out loud. And clicked open.

So glad I did.

Louisiana Longshot is a totally fun, fast-paced romp through the small-town southern swampland outside New Orleans, and CIA assassin Fortune Redding is a hoot as the first person narrator on the journey. She's cynical, sarcastic, and overly confident in her ability to handle any situation - I mean, right off the bat she brags about having killed a dictator with only a Tic Tac and improvised a silencer out of a Q-tip. Obviously the McGuiver of CIA assassins.

Going off the grid and laying low in the bayou should be no problem. Except...

I won't spoil the fun, because if you're into strong, sassy heroines you should at least grab the first volume of this series and check out Fortune Redding. There's even an ex-Marine as the small town deputy sheriff that Fortune tangles with, and despite any sparks that might fly there is no hint of sexual tension or encounters in this first book... but there's always the next one. So, not a romance but definitely women-centric action, adventure and the promise of future romantic possibilities.

This book is the start of a series, and the ebook is currently available for free on Amazon. (Ignore the cover art and) Grab a copy and give Longshot a shot. It'll definitely leave you smiling.