After reading a series of violent thrillers and intricate mysteries, I was ready to read a lighthearted mystery that didn’t require me to think too much, blush too much at the sex scenes, and laugh out loud. Louisiana Longshot, by Jana Deleon, proved to be just what I was looking for.

Fortune Redding is a CIA agent who risks her life without giving it a second thought. This time, she risked her life enough that she will soon have a price on her head. Her boss doesn’t want to risk his operative’s life, but he knows he has to place her somewhere where no one will expect her to be.

This is how Fortune ends up in Sinful, Louisiana, where she poses as a former southern beauty queen turned librarian who has inherited her recently-deceased aunt’s house. The rightful heir has agreed to let Fortune play the part as she is sent on a worldwide tour until things settle down. Totally out of her element, Fortune reluctantly prepares to play her role as a demure southern belle.

Unfortunately, within hours, the dog which she has also inherited digs up human bones and drops them at Fortune’s feet. Before she can say cajun country, Fortune is thrust in the middle of a murder mystery. Her co-conspirators are two elderly women (friends of her supposed deceased aunt) who not only immediately know whose body is being dug up, but suspect the killer is one of their friends who happens to be the wife of the man they suspect as being murdered.

These two women, seemingly harmless, are part of a senior women’s group that practically runs the town. They are the Golden Girls with the minds of Miss Marple. They, together with their new friend Fortune, tackle the mystery with guns a’blazin. Literally.

Throw in the beginnings of a blooming romance between Fortune and the sheriff, and you have a very funny and quirky mystery served southern style. Bring on the red beans and rice.

Louisiana Longshot is book one of a series.

Here is a link to the book.