EN: Reader Lara was so taken with the cozy mystery, Trouble in Mudbug, that she wanted to share the joy with all of you! Right now, the book is currently free at most online vendors, with the exception of Barnes & Noble and All Romance.
The first book in Jana DeLeon’s Ghost-in-Law series, Trouble in Mudbug is currently free! FREE! As I am both partial to a cosy mystery/romance led by a woman sleuth and perpetually broke, this book and I made a very happy pair.
The heroine is Maryse Robicheaux, a botanist living in Mudbug, Louisiana. She is a single woman with an estranged husband, a cat and a house in (on?) the bayou. The book tells the story of her Very Very Bad Week: her awful (yet endearing) mother-in-law comes back as a ghost, someone is trying to kill her for unknown reasons, and the DEA has sent A Very Attractive “Scientist” to work in her office for a few weeks. She sees this alleged scientist primarily as a space-invader and irritation. He is there to investigate Maryse’s status as a ‘whistleblower’, but she is not the person he’s looking for… OR IS SHE?! Maryse is, of course, innocent of any wrongdoing, and completely oblivious to his purpose in Mudbug. It doesn’t take long for their mutual attraction and verbal banter to overshadow their initial suspicions and irritations.
The hero is a rather pleasing mashup of ‘noble knight’ and ‘emotionally intelligent man aware of fundamental feminist ideals’. He wants to support Maryse, but never crosses that line into thinking that she needs to be protected from herself or any of that trite nonsense. Maryse is someone that I would happily befriend. She is smart and capable, but never perfect. She feels fear and love and faces the clusterfuck that is her life with bravery and honesty. She can be abrupt with people and gets irritated easily, but she has a loyal and loving heart. I really would like to be her friend.
As a mystery, it has a nicely balanced plot. I wasn’t able to guess the baddie’s identify, and when the baddie was revealed, I realised I’d missed a few subtle clues to his identity. His reveal wasn’t completely fabricated-unlikely-impossible nor was it clunky-Duh!-obvious. Despite the mystery elements, at no point did I burn my way through the contents of my adrenal gland. It did have enough suspense to distract me from the day’s petty troubles, though, which is exactly what I needed.
This book is a glorious bit of candy floss – sweet and exciting, but not necessarily healthful or something that you’ll wish to reread or treasure forever. It is a book that gives you a hug. Perfect for those recovering from breakups, illness or terrible days at work, when you need to forget the world for a bit, and live in a different, more comforting world but one that is exciting and engaging enough to distract you from your present day troubles.
I give this book a solid B. While I enjoyed the characters, the book didn’t give me any butterflies, bursts of joy or have me smiling with bounding joy and enthusiasm. It’s a book that gives you a hug, and not the kind of hug Ryan Gosling would give me (in my dreams) or the fierce embrace of a best friend. It is a comforting hug for a sad day. I’m considering reading the rest of the series, but probably only on sick days or when my boss has decided that it is “Be A Jerk” Day.
Have you read Trouble in Mudbug or later books in the series? Should I cough up the cash for book two?
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I’ve been eyeing this series because I read De Leon’s Harlequin Intrigue series recently and enjoyed it. I think I’ll check the Mudbug one out too, thanks for the review!
I’ve been curious about Cozies but wasn’t sure where to start. Off to give this one a shot. Thanks for the review.
I think this is a book I will enjoy. I will have to add it to my TBR list.
A very nice review for a very nice series. I found the subsequent titles in the series just as good and well worth purchasing. In addition to the characters described by the reviewer, I got an excellent sense of place from the setting descriptions. The series may fit into a mystery classification of “cozy” but they do not fall into “cutesie”.
Thank you, who couldn’t do witha hug on a dreary, grey October day?
I’ve read the entire series, plus the Miss Fortune series, so I’m a biased Jana fan!
ps. she also writes some darker suspense–try Malevolent.
I like the Mudbug series, but I love her Miss Fortune series. CIA assassin is hiding out from arms dealers in Sinful La.,posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian. Louisiana Longshot, the first in the series is free on kindle as well.
I haven’t read this although when I went to amazon to get the free copy, discovered that I had already purchased it in 2012.
May I suggest that before you think about buying volume two, you see if your local library has it? This series was suggested by several when I asked for recommendations for my mother and several volumes in the series are in our library.
@LML: That’s a great distinction to make – thank you for that! There’s a big difference between “cozy” and “cutsey” and I definitely prefer the former. Thank you!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE cozy mysteries, but this one did not do it for me. It was well written but for whatever reason I could not get into it. I had to force myself to finish it. Trying to remember more specifically why I was annoyed- I seem to recall liking the plot and the MIL character but not the heroine. @Cat G: Jenn McKinlay’s library series is fantastic and would be a good starting point for cozies. Her hat shop series is also good but wasn’t crazy about the cupcake one I tried to read.
Thanks for your review, Lara! I’ll definitely give this book a read!
The other books in this series keep some of the same characters, but focus on different main characters. The MIL is in all. So Ellie, you might like one of the others.