Trouble in Mudbug

By: Jana DeLeon

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Scientist Maryse Robicheaux thought that a lot of her problems had gone away with her mother-in-law's death. The woman was rude, pushy, manipulative and used her considerable wealth to run herd over the entire town of Mudbug, Louisiana.

Unfortunately, death doesn't slow down Helena one bit.

DEA Agent Luc LeJeune is wondering what his undercover assignment investigating the sexy scientist has gotten him into - especially as it seems someone wants her dead. Keeping his secrets while protecting Maryse proves to be easier than fighting his attraction for the brainy beauty.

©2010 Jana DeLeon (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Okay little story

Was looking forward to a Rita Mae Brown type book. Not even close. Narrator is LOUSY at doing male voices.

Jana Rules

The first time I started this series, i was not impressed but then I tried again after enjoying the Fortune series. Mudbug did not have as many quirky supporting characters as Sinful, but Helena (the mother-in-law from hell) is laugh out loud funny.

Huh?

I love the Miss Fortune series, so was excited to start this one.
After a short time, I had to double check to see if I was listening to an abridged version of the book, which would have made sense. One chapter ended with the main characters barely having met. It was as if an entire chapter was missing because in the next, they obviously knew each other well.
The whole thing was hard to get over, and although a semi interesting plotline, not enough for me to continue the series. Bummer

I see dead people

What a delightful little mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book of the series. The characters were interesting and entertaining especially mother-in-law Helen. It was well written and held my attention. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Great book

I love this beginning to the series. The funny characters, great storyline, unexpected twists. Having a ghost mother in law following you around (forever?) is motivation enough to whatever it takes to have her "move on". I loved the part where she stood dress in the street,thinking, if i died, i could be trapped in limbo with her...forever.
Very clever. Perfect narrator, she does a wonderful job infusing life into each voice.

Good Story

This is a good story with interesting characters. The mystery us believable with twists and turns to keep the lustener/reader engaged. Johanna Parker does a good job bringing the characters to life. I look forward to the next book.

Haunted by a nasty mother-in-law

Maryse’s nasty mother-in-law, the parent of Maryse’s deadbeat husband, has died, giving Maryse some freedom from the oppressive woman, when at the funeral, the dead woman, Helena, rises up from her casket and complains about her funeral in Jana DeLeon’s Trouble in Mudbug. However, no one but Maryse can see her. This unnerves Maryse all the more because as a scientist, she has stolidly opposed any possibility of the supernatural. Helena appeals to her daughter-in-law because, despite the official ruling of a natural death, she has been murdered and wants Maryse to find out who did this.

In the meantime, Maryse continues her botany work at the bayou in Mudbug, Louisiana, population 502, a bayou that, to the astonishment of Helena’s heirs, belonged to the deceased woman and has been left to Maryse. But Luke, a mysterious zoologist shows up, announcing he has been assigned to share her work space on the bayou, but he clearly has something else going on, snooping around her small office for someone. Despite her misgivings, Maryse finds herself attracted to him. But first, she has to stay alive because someone seems eager to kill her.

This book is a lot of fun, especially watching Helena learn to develop her abilities as a ghost. She goes from not knowing what is going on or where she is to learning to walk on water and eventually to passing through walls. Helena’s crazy costume changes really made me laugh. At first she doesn’t know how to change clothes at all and is stuck in the hateful link polyester dress she was buried in, but once she figures out how to change outfits, she comes up with some really bizarre outfits such as her covert operation outfit, which is described as looking like a “Michael Jackson video combined with a Saturday morning street walker” and is made of leather spandex with cat patterns on the bust and butt cheeks.

The development of the growing relationship between Maryse and Luke as they learn to respect and admire each other also is enjoyable to read. I also have to say that DeLeon writes the most intense kissing scenes I have read.

I did find a couple details a bit dubious. For a town with a population of 502, it seems strange to have a hospital. It also seems to have plenty of other stores, including a Walmart.

Johanna Parker narrates this book, adding to its delightfulness. She creates good voices for the different characters. She uses a light Southern accent, though Helena doesn’t seem to have much of an accent, which is a little curious to me, since Helena was a lifelong Mudbug resident. Parker’s performance goes a long way to making this book come to life and adds to the fun of the book.

At first, I drew back from Trouble in Mudbug because I didn’t like the paranormal element, but I’ve recently come across some other books with single ghosts that I’ve enjoyed, so I came back to give this book another try. I’m glad I did because this book was a real delight to read, and I had a good time with this book. I look forward to listening to the next book in the series and give this one five stars!

Fun, enjoyable book

I liked this. I got it as part of the romance package, but it isn’t a pure romance - meaning, this baby’s got a plot that doesn’t revolve solely around the will-they-won’t-they thing (and as such, it’s part of the reason I decided to keep the romance package in the first place. I get bored of pure, simple romances too easily and prefer some action in my books). I liked the main character, she’s different - at least I haven’t encountered a botanist protagonist yet. The male lead was okay, too, even though I liked her a lot better - but I loved the MIL the most. She’s a ton of fun.

There were a few minor things that irked me. Like, why couldn’t Maryse, a smart scientist, figure out that it might be better to pretend to be talking on the phone while talking to a ghost in public than to just talk to thin air? She did that once and never thought of it again... it’s not like she didn’t have the opportunity, either. She had plenty of time to take out her phone on several occasions. But, I guess that was for the laughs (personally, I’m more of a vergüenza ajena kinda gal, so that was uncomfortable and irritating to me, but that ain’t the author’s fault).
What I really didn’t like though was when her best friend told Maryse that if she hadn’t isolated herself from “the world” (meaning dating) for two years, she would’ve seen that that one dude she went out with was no good. That’s some BS right there. She recognized him as a player right away and decided to go out and have fun anyway, which is totally fine in my opinion. The thing he did - in trying not to spoil here - was not something she could’ve guessed even if she’d had a doctor in psychology. It’s just impossible to know something like that just from looking at a person. So yeah, her friend wasn’t being a friend at all but instead was being patronizing and unfair and that annoyed the hell outta me, especially since Maryse kinda agreed with her. Like, no honey, that ain’t your fault. You couldn’t have known.

Other than that, I had a lot of fun with this book. It’s light and fluffy and got a few laughs out of me, which is exactly what you’d expect from the description and the cover.

The narrator was good, too. I wouldn’t have regretted spending a credit on this one.

Good Book.

Really liked this book. The story held my interest and I loved all the characters. There was some language and a very graphic love scene which was a little over the top for my taste. But overall throughly enjoyed the book. I will read more of this series.

Why?

I like the story and the “ghost” was a hoot. But why do authors include such explicit sex scenes? The story stood on it’s own without it