Hiding in a Small Town

I don't know why, but I like books that take place in small towns.  Maybe it's because I grew up in a small town.  Regardless, I found a new series that I enjoy that just happens to take place in a small town!  I've only read the first book so far, but the Miss Fortune Mystery books are making me laugh like crazy already.  They take place in Sinful, Louisiana and come complete with hilarious old ladies and a main character who couldn't help but make anyone smile.

The first book in this TEN book series is Louisiana Longshot.  CIA operative Fortune Redding was made because there's a leak in her office.  Now one of the biggest arms dealers in the world has a bulls eye out on Fortune.  However, her boss has a niece who just inherited a house in Sinful.  Morrow, Fortune's boss, sends her undercover as his niece Sandy-Sue Morrow, former beauty queen and current knitting librarian.  It is SOOOO not Fortune's gig.  She tries to fit in, but from the very beginning she's on the deputy sheriff's radar.  And that's before the hold hound dog she's inherited digs up a human bone.

Of course, Fortune's new friends Ida Belle and Gertie are right next to her trying to figure out what happened.  See, everyone knows who the bone belongs to: Harvey Chicorn.  Harvey was a mean man who disappeared about five years ago that nobody seems to miss, including his wife Marie.  Marie couldn't be happier the old brute disappeared and then turned up dead, except for the fact that she's the main suspect.  So she disappears.  Ida Belle and Gertie recruit Fortune to help them find Marie and to find who killed Harvey.

Also trying to solve Harvey's death is Deputy Carter LeBlanc, who reads like a hottie!  He's a little straitlaced, sure, but he was a Marine!  It's to be expected.  He also has a rather large rottweiler with... Territory issues.  Carter's world is made more difficult by Fortune and her friends' search into Marie's disappearance and Harvey's death.  He's rather frustrated.  It's cute.

I'm really enjoying this series.  (I'll be honest, I'm on book three now.)  Fortune is chucked into a world that she knows nothing about, but finally makes some friends and is learning to adjust.  Maybe they aren't the best friends when you're laying low, but Gertie and Ida Belle are hillarious with some secrets of their own.  There's also Ally, who is about Fortune's age, and sounds like an amazing baker!  I also like that the romance isn't on your face.  There's something between Carter and Fortune, but it's not something that's resolved in one book.  Or even two.  Maybe three, I'm not done yet, but I doubt it.  This is a funny series that keeps on giving, and manages to make the Who Done It someone you wouldn't suspect.

Go off and read, my friends!