A CIA agent called Redding steps off a Learjet ready to
explain to her boss how she keeps wrecking expensive shoes
by killing arms dealing sheiks with the heels. The action
then moves to Louisiana and we settle in for a feast in
LOUISIANA LONGSHOT.
Fortune Redding now has a price on her head and is in
hiding in the small town called Sinful whose main feature
is a muddy bayou. She has to pretend to be a librarian and
former beauty queen who has inherited a house. The creaking
wooden building meets her approval and comes with an
elderly hound and attic trespassers which turn out to be
raccoons. From the moment of her arrival the local
residents baffle her. Especially the older ladies of the
town, who appear to run everything and who rival each other
to acquire Sunday's batch of pies at the cafe. Churchgoing
is a requirement but the Baptists race the Catholics to the
café afterwards.
The deputy sheriff, Deputy LeBlanc, is called when the old
hound digs up a human bone. The find triggers a sequence of
events which lead to Fortune getting wet, muddy, nearly
naked and shot at more than once, not to mention nearly
eaten by an alligator. Her leaders, rather than partners, in
crime are two of the old ladies who want to protect a
friend from accusations of having killed her abusive
husband. This friend, Marie, promptly goes missing and
Fortune searches for Marie on swampy islands and in a seedy
bar. LeBlanc has to wonder what a former beauty queen is
doing getting into such trouble.
Jana DeLeon has given us a likeable cast, though Fortune
really is not trying very hard to stay under cover or even
close to it. The oozing, foetid swamp which permeates
the tale is a character in and of itself, well enough
written to stay with the reader when the book has been
closed. Unfortunately, the hinted-at romantic potential
never developed.
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.
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