Later Gator

If this had been the first of DeLeon’s books I’d read, I wouldn’t have continued. It’s disappointing to see Gertie reduced to a bumbling comedic relief gag. It is disrespectful to her backstory, it makes her not a credible character. It’s lazy writing. Really, she has a full Honey-baked ham in her purse? Come on. Neither Fortune nor Ida even treat her as though she brings any value to their investigative team. Why do that to a main character?

In the first books, the antics with Gertie and Ida Bell were laugh out loud hilarious and they fit with the plot. The last couple of books, they have just been more of the same, and not for any reason that advances the plot.

There is zero reason to have inserted the nonsense with Godzilla. It is not believable, it makes Gertie more ridiculous, and it diminishes the credibility of Fortune as an agent. It doesn’t move the story forward.

The gaslighting of Carter is tiresome and unfair. Stop lying to him when he comes to see if the usual suspects were involved. Find another way to get that humor and tension. And if Fortune is bouncing around some career ideas with Gertie and Ida Bell, it doesn’t make sense that she wouldn’t also talk about that with Carter. It doesn’t fit in with the logical progression of her thought process, all of which she’s shared with him. These are the strongest parts of the book, when she shares how she’s been changed by her time in Sinful and that she can’t just go back to what she was. It makes more sense to stick with that flow and include the things she’s pondering doing.

And, it’s predictable and boring that Carter always says “now you ladies stay out of my investigation” and they ignore him and charge right in. It’s not something that a real couple would survive, that kind of disregard and deception.

Do we have to have a Swamp Bar catastrophe in every book? None of these encounters have been funny and all have, again, made Fortune’s acumen as an undercover agent seem questionable.

Generally, it seems like the author has an inventory of hijinks that always happen and dusts them off for every book, rather than building character depth and generating some new material.

It’s a shame, because there are real gems in these books… usually there are laugh out loud moments, but also usually there are very insightful lessons for us as Fortune unpeels the layers of the victim/villain. She has often reflected on these and though of how they apply to her own psychology.

These and the discussions Fortune has with Walter, Carter, and even Ida Bell and Gertie – the self-reflection – these are where DeLeon is strongest. Unfortunately she is not building a believable small town crowd around these good elements. I’ve been spoiled by Lucy Score and the amazing ability she has to do character development in all of the supporting characters. These feel two-dimensional in contrast. I hope as DeLeon continues this series she works on that.

I really enjoy this series as a whole, and this book was no exception.

I definitely wouldn’t read this installment without reading the previous ones, because Fortune’s going through a lot of life-changes right now. Last book she and Carter got back together right at the very end, but without really defining what that was going to be like. Now she’s still trying to decide what she’s going to to do with the rest of her life, having come to the conclusion that the CIA is no longer what she wants to do, but she’s got the added hang up of not wanting to step on Carter’s toes if she becomes a private detective, as well as worrying about staying in Sinful if she and Carter don’t ultimately work out.

All these deeper concerns are underneath the much more fun and much more hilarious joyride of being in Sinful, with its whacky laws and whackier citizens. Celia is being worse than usual (Please, oh please let her get some kind of amazing comeuppance eventually… I don’t think I’ve disliked a fictional character so much since Umbridge), there’s a young man to save, a gater that is starting to think it’s a dog, Ida’s amazing menagerie of lies, and the usual mishaps the Swamp Team gang gets into whenever they’re trying to solve a mystery. I love spending time in Sinful anyway, but with the deeper undercurrents to Fortune’s life as well as the fate of the town (Celia as mayor?! *horrified gasp* get that audit done!), the books are incredibly satisfying on multiple levels. It’s a light-hearted romp, but with some real meat to sink your teeth into as well.

You can be guaranteed a fun read whenever you pick up one of the Miss Fortune mysteries. This 9th book in the series is no exception. Fortune has decided that once this gig is up, she is not going back to the CIA. But what to do? She meets with Ida Belle and Gertie for career consultation, and the most promising career they can think of is a Private Investigator. As she considers this possibility, a discovery of Alligator poaching in Sinful prompts her to try her hand in solving the case like a PI would. Of course nothing is quite that simple with Gertie and Ida Belle around! Between Ida Belle’s new car, Gertie’s new pet, and Fortune’s renewed relationship with Carter, nothing is simple, but it sure is a lot of fun!

Don’t miss this book-or the series if you haven’t tried it yet! Such fun! 🙂

It’s always fun to catch up with Fortune and the gang in Sinful and this installment of the series delivered the usual blend of outlandish capers. It lost stars because the author seemed to merely be going through the motions, with this book being a place holder until some real progress happens in the various ongoing plots. We still don’t know who will ultimately win the office of mayor. Fortune and Carter are still sniffing around one another but their relationship hasn’t developed and further. Fortune is still in hiding from a terrorist. Enough already! I hope the next installment will see progress on two or more of those plots. It’s hard to justify paying full paperback price for an ebook that’s drawing out previously built suspense instead of moving forward.

Fortune is still hiding out in Sinful, after the life changing decision at the end of the last book she feels a bit scared of where her future may be headed and her place in it. But this is Sinful and she doesn’t get long to brood, Celia is still mayor and making Carter’s life miserable trying to force him to resign. Added to which somebody is poaching alligators, the culprit seems to be a relative of Gertie’s but there’s no way it can be true. Celia though sees her chance to make trouble and forces Carter to arrest him and keep him locked up in jail if Carter bails him out he risks looking his job but this leaves the police force stuck in the station guarding the prisoner and no one available to look for the real culprit. Enter Ida Belle, Gertie and Fortune if Carter can’t fix this they will have to take matters into their own hands and investigate themselves. Roll on another adventure with the Sinful Ladies doing what they do best cause mayhem.

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