Change of Fortune

This is a phenomenal series each adventure of Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle better than the last! Fortune is tired of hiding out from a vindictive arms dealer whose brother she killed and has made it his mission to kill her. She wants her life back so she doesn’t have to keep looking over her shoulder. While a CIA assassin, she had stored her empathy and feelings away so they wouldn’t get in the way of any of her missions. But now, living in Sinful, Louisiana and opening herself up to the friendship and caring of Gertie, Ida Belle, Ally and of course Carter who she has very strong feelings for and she doesn’t want to turn back! She wants to end her CIA career and remain in Sinful, but as long as Ahmed is after her, she can’t. So… she decides to become bait to flush him out with the help of her CIA handlers, Carter, her Mob friends, Big, Little and Manny and of course Gertie and Ida Belle. She knows it may mean her life, but she is tired of living the way she has been and wants to take her life back! Also we have two side themes running along with the main theme. Godzilla, the huge alligator that Gertie has been feeding is now terrorizing the town and must be caught and moved before Celia, the troublemaker, tries to kill him. Also, who has been stealing food from Francine’s cafe? A job for the Sinful ladies to solve since they want to maybe start a PI business if Fortune can and decides to stay in Sinful. With lots of laughs, especially at the expense of Celia the former mayor who hates the ladies and Fortune especially and always want them arrested and with Fortune’s so called “eccentric” code word for crazy next door neighbor you just have to laugh out loud. I found myself doing that a lot in this book as well as turning the pages and not putting the book down once I started it! I can’t wait to find out what is next for Fortune and company since no one else in the town really had any idea who she really was. What could possibly happen next? There was a hint that the ladies may go on a vacation…hmmmm and of course you have Celia who still wants to get Fortune out of town and the ladies arrested. So much more fun awaits and I can’t wait for the next book in this MUST read series.

In this 11th book about Fortune and her summer in Sinful, Louisiana, instead of enjoying the antics of the locals, Fortune has decided it is time to be out from under the threat of Ahmad. That is not to say she is too busy to try and catch Godzilla, or help Francine find out who is stealing food from the restaurant’s panty. It’s just that it is time to lure Ahmad to Fortune and end it once and for all. It will be her final mission, and the most important one of her life. When she enlists help from some dubious acquaintances, Fortune finds out she is respected in her career, and has more friends for life.

Gertie and Ida Belle are up to their usual standards of mischief and avoidance of Carter, who has become a little more understanding of the women and their antics. Or perhaps it is just his perpetual shock at having to deal with Cecelia.

There are plenty of surprises as well as some predictable moments. The author, however, has everything under control as the reader can’t help but rush to the end if the story. Best news of all was the announcement that the next Miss Fortune Mystery will be out later in 2018! As always the book was fun from beginning to end with circumstances that funny and filled with witty dialog. Don’t miss this book!

Miss Fortune and her friends in Sinful, Louisiana make me laugh. It is difficult to describe this series without making it sound overwhelmingly silly. Well, it is silly. But under the silliness is enough truth to ground it and to make it funnier. Fortune is a CIA operative who is hiding in plain sight in a small town not far from New Orleans. She is hiding from a slippery arms dealer who has vowed to kill her since she killed his pedophile brother who was about to sell a child into the sex trade. We began with the banana pudding wars in the first book and I laughed out loud. Then we were just being introduced to Fortune and her penchant for weapons. Gertie and Ida Belle are the leaders of the Sinful Ladies Society which is open only to women who have never married or have been widowed for at least 10 years. They are past middle age and secretly former spies from the Vietnam War in addition to bootleggers. Fortune, Gertie, and Ida Belle are true friends, kindred spirits and always solving mysteries or problems with mayhem and skill. This book brings back Godzilla, the gator that has gotten too used to humans thanks to someone feeding him and hiding him from poachers in an earlier book and more importantly, the arms dealer. There is plenty of action, some romance, silliness, and resolution in this volume. I am amazed that Jana Deleon has been able to keep this series entertaining, funny, and integrate tidbits of current issues and reality. As silly as it is, she has managed to create characters that you can care about and root for. (Although, Celia has gotten very close to a cartoon.) The pacing is fast, the dialogue is witty, and the endings are happy. It takes real talent to write excellent escapist fare.

CIA operative, Fortune Redding has been living surreptitiously in Sinful, Louisiana because there is a price on her head from a drug dealer/sex slaver named Ahmed. Shes hard boiled and paranoid until she meets Gertie and Ida Belle, who are ex Vietnam military. She has sort of remained under the radar except when she runs into a vindictive, nasty little woman called Celia Arceneaux. From there on in, her quiet, under the radar life is shot. And the three friends become Swamp Team 3!
In this installment, Fortunes life is complicated by an alligator named Godzilla, a next door neighbor who wears civil war uniforms and other outfits and has a ferret! And then there is a robbery of food at the local restaurant.
All in a days work for Swamp Team 3 plus Deputy Carter and this time the CIA helps Fortune along with local mobsters!
You have got to read this series! I long for Sinful in my dreams, and cant wait for the next book from Jana Deleon!

Dana Pratt

This is such a great series. You can always expect it to contain lots of mystery, mayhem and laugh out loud moments and this book doesn’t disappoint in anyway. I even caught Mr serious (aka my dad) laughing a few times in this book and with such a wonderful cast of characters, why not?
Fortune is fed up with hiding and with the summer all most over its time to take charge and take down Ahmad once and for all. It’s just a shame Sinful isn’t the quiet peaceful town everybody thinks it is, with an alligator roaming lose in the streets chasing people up lampposts and food being stolen from the local cafe, can Fortune spend enough time preparing for her toughest mission for the CIA or will Ahmad and his mole finally get the revenge he so desperately desires. One thing is for certain, where Fortune is you can find Ida Belle, Gertie and Carter.
Cassandra Campbell is the voice of Fortune and I can’t imagine anybody else could do a better job of bring the characters to life.

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