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Jana DeLeon

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Swamp Spook (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 13) Kindle Edition

by Jana DeLeon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 10,501 ratings

Book 13 of 26: Miss Fortune Mysteries

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When black cats roam, and spooks are seen,
Come celebrate, it’s Halloween.

Sinful, Louisiana, really knows how to throw a party, and it goes all out for Halloween. The weeklong celebration kicks off with a maze of horror in the park built of hay bales. And Fortune has the perfect assignment—the executioner. Her scene comes complete with a head block, a hatchet, and a fake body with removable head. It’s the perfect setup…for a crime.

When Fortune returns from break and realizes the body in her scene is a real one and not the prop, she knows trouble is coming. Before she can shake a broomstick, Celia Arceneaux has raised the alarm and the state police show up to take over the investigation. With Carter on the sidelines and Fortune the prime suspect, Swamp Team 3 sets out to catch a real monster.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon was raised in southwest Louisiana among the bayous and gators. Her hometown is Carlyss, but you probably won't find it on a map. Her family owned a camp located on a bayou just off the Gulf of Mexico that you could only get there by boat. The most important feature was the rope hammock hanging in the shade on a huge deck that stretched out over the water where Jana spent many hours reading books.

Jana and her brother spent thousands of hours combing the bayous in a flat-bottom aluminum boat, studying the natural habitat of many birds, nutria and alligators. She would like you to know that no animals were injured during these "studies," but they kept makers of peroxide in business.

Jana has never stumbled across a mystery or a ghost like her heroines, but she's still hopeful.

She now resides in Dallas, Texas, with the most spoiled Sheltie in the world.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07J5DBT4T
Publisher ‏ : ‎ J&R Publishing LLC (October 7, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 7, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3560 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #60,664 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #571 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #2,216 in Women Sleuths (Kindle Store)
- #2,225 in Women Sleuths (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 10,501 ratings

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New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon was raised in southwest Louisiana among the bayous and gators. Her hometown is Carlyss, but you probably won't find it on a map. Her family owned a camp located on a bayou just off the Gulf of Mexico that you could only get there by boat. The most important feature was the rope hammock hanging in the shade on a huge deck that stretched out over the water where Jana spent many hours reading books.

Jana and her brother spent thousands of hours combing the bayous in a flat-bottom aluminum boat, studying the natural habitat of many birds, nutria and alligators. She would like you to know that no animals were injured during these "studies," but they kept makers of peroxide in business.

Jana has never stumbled across a mystery or a ghost like her heroines, but she's still hopeful.

She now resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband and the most spoiled Sheltie in the world.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

10,501 global ratings

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R. E. Warfel

Swamp spook

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2023

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I love the Miss Fortune books. I have never laughed so much reading a book as I have with these. It is not all laughter, though, because there is a serious side to this. The intertwining of personalities and clues is fascinating. There hasn’t been a book in the series that I wouldn’t give a five star rating to. Jana does an excellent job with the personalities. In each book you want to see some of the returning personalities. We know the Swamp Team Three and Carter will be in each book. We also look forward to seeing Walter and Celia. I am waiting for the day when Celia gets her up coming. After I began reading this series, I thought I would get bored with it. That has not happened so far and I just finished book 13. It is a good thing that I read these books at home and not out in public because I would be arrested for disturbing the peace when my laughter just boils up. Thank you, Jana, for giving us such good literature with the nature of laughter and crying and seriousness and everything you put in these books.

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2023

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These books make me laugh right out loud! I enjoy a good mystery book and these sure fit the bill. I enjoy the twists and turns and I feel like I’m right at home with the characters. I can’t wait to finish one book and move on to the next one. Highly recommend…

Helpful

C Wm (Andy) Anderson

Hallmark Channel - "Miss Fortune" Alongside Aurora Teagarden & Garage Sale Mysteries?

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2018

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I can see there already have been a number of positive reviews for "Swamp Spook." I trust my review, from a male perspective, might be helpful in the discussion.

If you’re looking for a character-driven story that’ll keep you reading late into the evening, with the drapes pulled and your guard dog close by ‘just in case,’ especially a book in which villains and their pursuers speak using the street language you would expect, well, “Swamp Spook” is probably going to disappoint. This latest tale by Jana Deleon is the first in the series that I have read.

Fortunately, the author made allowances for newcomers to her style of fiction, by telling us what we need to know to enjoy this as a stand-alone. I praise her for doing so.

If you’re still here, welcome to my reading room…

POV: First person. A friendly, nice, chatty CIA agent tells us about her experiences, hopes and dreams while solving a complicated murder case. It’s more of Aurora Teagarden Mysteries than Jessica Fletcher’s Murder She Wrote. As such, it is simplistic crime fiction. Not a complaint, just the way I see it.

BLUSH FACTOR: No worries with this. Read aloud to anyone you know and have no fear of blushing.

ADVENTURE: Yes, you’ll find fictional Sinful to be a town just right for you. You can find a web site for the town, initiated by the author. I do wish the town were real and was as portrayed in “Swamp Spook.” If you’re interested in the site, just type in sinful, Louisiana Jana Deleon.

THE WRITING: This story almost feels like a Hallmark Mysteries movie. Aurora Teagarden came to mind as I was reading this. In fact, a cozy series set in the bayou area could be a huge hit, so why doesn’t Hallmark give this writer a contract?

I think where this writer shines is in imparting information to us by drawing a picture or through the use of smooth dialogue. Certainly, few cozy authors do so as smoothly as Ms DeLeon.

GRAMMAR, EDITING & SUCH: Although probably not flawless, it certainly is well-edited.

CHARACTER: This is more a plot-driven story. Although our heroine does grow, don’t expect too much. After all, this IS intended as a quick read.

Excerpt

‘…Gertie and Ida Belle stared at the body, then at me.

“What are you doing?” Gertie asked.

“Calling Carter,” I said as I dialed. “That person—man, I’m guessing, based on body structure—is dead. Don’t touch anything.”

Carter didn’t answer his phone, so I left a message for him to come to my location in the maze as quickly as possible and told him it was a huge emergency. Then I sent a text saying the same. Ida Belle called the person working the front of the maze and told him there was a problem inside and to keep people out until further notice. Gertie, apparently not wanting to be left out of all the phoning, pulled out her cell as well. Then she started taking pictures.

“What the heck are you doing?” Ida Belle asked.

“Documenting the scene,” Gertie said. “We’ll need this for our investigation and you know Carter won’t share.”

“What investigation?” Ida Belle asked. “That man is dead, probably murdered, unless someone thinks it’s funny to go around leaving corpses in random places. We’re not law enforcement officers. We don’t investigate murders.”

“We investigate them when one of our friends is involved,” Gertie said as she zoomed in for a close-up of the hatchet.

“None of our friends would be involved in something like this,” Ida Belle said, looking and sounding exasperated.

“Not voluntarily,” Gertie said. “But this is Fortune’s scene and she’s been swinging that hatchet around all night. That might be congealed blood on the blade.”

I leaned over and took a closer look. Sure enough, the bottom of the hatchet was damp with dark red goo that could be blood. It definitely wasn’t the gel I’d used earlier, because it was dried by the time I went on break. “Crap,” I said. “I think she’s right.” Ida Belle blew out a breath. “This could be a problem.” I held in a string of curse words. Of course, I hadn’t hauled…’

DeLeon, Jana. Swamp Spook (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 13) (Kindle Locations 365-381). J&R Publishing LLC. Kindle Edition.

BOTTOM LINE

Among the Cozy Mystery genre, “Swamp Spook” by Jana DeLeon is among the best in its class. If I were rating it as such, I’d rate it five stars. It is SUPERB among Cozies. However, I am rating it among all classes of fiction. So, I have to be frank here…

Four stars out of five. Still, four stars is certainly a strong recommendation to read.

I am striving to produce reviews that help you find books that you want, or avoid books that you wish to avoid. With your help, my improvement will help you and me improve book reviews on Amazon. Together, you and I can build a great customer review process that helps everybody. Will you join me? It is people such as you who have helped me improve over the years. I'm still learning, and I have a great deal yet to learn. With your help, I'll improve every day.

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Thank you so much for indicating if this review helped you, or for your comment.

80 people found this helpful

Helpful

Carol DeShane

Another great mystery

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2024

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Leave it to Fortune, Ida Bell and Gertie to figure out what happened, and dear ole Celia for still trying to run Fortune out of town. It all makes for a great read, enjoy!

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2023

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Spooks, thrills, danger at every turn, many interesting characters, it all adds up to a surprise ending that ties up all the loose ends.

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Constant Reader

Consistently funny series, still going strong

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2018

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It is incredible that this series with its far-fetched premise of an ex-CIA operative living in small town Louisiana, partnered with colorful much older women who were spies in the Vietnam war can remain so much fun after the twelve books that came before. Talent. Writing talent that can still make me laugh and keep turning the pages. Fortune is “out” now as ex-CIA who had been hiding under a fake identity as a librarian from a foreign arms dealer. She and her partners in mayhem are running a private investigation business. Her first real client is surprising when her deputy sheriff boyfriend quietly hires her to solve the appearance of a decapitated corpse in the town’s Halloween spook maze. The twist is that the man had died several days before apparently from natural causes, and his body was stolen from the morgue. Was it murder too? After this many Miss Fortune books, you know that the action will be non-stop, the laughs will be frequent, there will be slapstick, casseroles and baked goods, and everything will come together in the end. These are not books that will change your life or the world. But sometimes they are just what you need and always they are diverting. Writing humor is very difficult, but Jana Deleon makes it look easy in this series. You might not need to read the entire series in order, but should read Lousiana Longshot first so that you understand the characters and the town. Besides, it is one of the funniest books that I have ever read. Even laughing silently, I woke my husband. Now he reads the series too.

11 people found this helpful

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red hatter

Swamp Spook

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2024

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Really good story. I enjoyed all the convoluted stories that add up to the murders etc. I did guess someone was giving Garrett placebos but not who.

Helpful

Jean Underfer-Babalis

Funny and Quirky

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2023

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This is a fun series. This particular book was enjoyable, filled with laughter, and surprising pot. I enjoy the characters in the series, and even the characters that are presented injustice Book.

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Top reviews from other countries

Bruce

More adventures

Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2022

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Surprised at the end. Antics of Fortune, Bertie and Ida Belle are always totally amusing. Lighthearted adventure at its best 5 stars

Amazon Customer

Superb.

Reviewed in India on October 19, 2018

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I came across Jana's books in my eternal search for amazon freebies and I'm happy to say she got me so hooked, I buy every new one within hours of it's release. And finish them a few hours later too :) an absolutely fantastic read and definitely worth checking out her other series too.

Mary Heron

I love, love, love these books

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2018

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Ms DeLeon cannot write fast enough for me to get my fix it Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle. Together, these two pensioners and an ex CIA Agent make up Swamp Team Three a name they have themselves as investigators looking into the illicit goings on in Sinful, Louisiana. Aided at time by Sinfuls deputy Carter Breaux the ladies can't resist getting to the bottom of any criminal activity which may affect their friends and which usually ends up involving murder. The secret to the success of this series is the relationship between the three ladies, when Fortune comes to town she immediately calls in love with Ida Belle and Gertie finding them kindred spirits and their relationship is amazing. It's also hilarious you have Gerties crazy eccentricities and Ida Belles resigned acceptance they are perfect foils for each other. The humour runs throughout the story making it a joy to read. Roll on number 14

Jeng

Love this series

Reviewed in Australia on February 25, 2019

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I think these books are amazing, they are well written, the 3 main characters are exactly that “characters” excellent story plots that you can never quite guess, each book is better than the last & some bits are laugh out loud. I hope this series continues with a lot more stories.

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Swamp Spook (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 13) Kindle Edition

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