Trouble in Mudbug

I fell instantly in love with the character of Maryse Robicheaux. She is smart, strong-willed, flawed and amazing. The little town of Mudbug, Louisiana is just as unique as Maryse. This little story has a little bit of everything: danger, romance, humor and paranormal. It is part cozy mystery, harlequin suspense and a telling of living in Louisiana. The character of Helena Henry is absolutely hilarious and I loved how she wasn’t constantly in Maryse’s face. For a ghost, she gave Maryse plenty of space.

I also really liked the love interest because appearance/description wise Luc Lejune is very different from other men I’ve read in books and his connection to Maryse was well written and played out. Maryse doesn’t rely solely on show more Luc in the book and I love that there is plenty of scenes between her and the other citizens of Mudbug.

One of the better parts of this book is how unique the rules to the ghostly world are compared to other books. Jana Deleon did a good job of letting the rules of the ghostly realm be explained in tune with the story’s progression.

Johanna Parker did a good job of narrating. Her accent felt natural and realistic and the characters were very well developed. There were only a couple of times where I got confused between Maryse and her best friend Sabine. show less

Maryse Robicheaux is a botanist for the state of LA and doing some plant research on the side in hopes of finding a cure for cancer. Her office is suddenly invaded by Luc LeJeune, ‘zoologist’ sent by the state to share her office. Luc is really undercover trying to identify an informant who told them about a chemical company’s waste dumping in the bayou and then stopped contacting them. They think it might be Maryse. Maryse has lots of problems, like a 2 year absent husband she needs to locate to serve divorce papers, an evil mother-in-law who is haunting her and an inheritance that has marked her as a murder target, but is not the informant. Her Mother in Law, Helena, is convinced she was murdered and wants Maryse to help her show more find her murderer. This was, sexy, fast paced and hilarious, particularly the parts dealing with Helena trying to figure out how to adjust to being a ghost. I will definitely be reading more of this series. show less

I wanted something completely different to what I usually read and chose this book purely because of the cover, which screamed “light read”. And it is a light read, but by no means was it a boring read. I would class this book as a romance mystery with lots of humour. I really enjoyed it.

Maryse’s mother-in-law, Helena, is dead. This is cause for celebration because the old biddy is a real pain in the backside but before she can celebrate Maryse finds she hasn’t seen the last of her horrid mother-in-law yet. Helena climbs out of the coffin at the funeral and Maryse is the only person who can see her because she’s a ghost.

The combination of these two characters is really entertaining. Maryse has so much on her plate already, show more like trying to serve her allusive husband with divorce papers, trying to avoid a sexy man who makes her think thoughts no decent woman should be thinking, and staying alive long enough to claim her inheritance. Nothing much really, but Helena claims she’s not going anywhere until she also solves a murder case – Helena’s murder!

The story is character driven. It’s not fast paced, as such, but the interaction of the characters draws the reader through each chapter just because you need to know what’s going to happen next. However, underneath all the humour and sex, (yes, I did say sex) is a well thought out plot which I found to be convincing. I commend the author in her delivery of the clues and resolutions. It was very well done.

I recommend this book and will be purchasing book 2 in the series in the near future. show less

If you like your mysteries with a heavy dose of humour, then the "Mudbug" series is for you.

Having a bullying mother-in-law is bad enough, but what do you do when said mother-in-law is so irritating she doesn't even go away after she is dead and 'not so gone'? In a place like Mudbug, Louisiana, it's hard being haunted by your mother-in-law, trying to find your missing ex to serve divorce papers, and trying to solve a murder before the murderer gets you too.

A very funny mystery/ghost story. Recommended for laugh-out-loud reading.

If you like your mysteries with a heavy dose of humour, then the "Mudbug" series is for you.

Having a bullying mother-in-law is bad enough, but what do you do when said mother-in-law is so irritating she doesn't even go away after she is dead and 'not so gone'? In a place like Mudbug, Louisiana, it's hard being haunted by your mother-in-law, trying to find your missing ex to serve divorce papers, and trying to solve a murder before the murderer gets you too.

A very funny mystery/ghost story. Recommended for laugh-out-loud reading.

A paranormal cozy mystery featuring a scientist who is being haunted by her ex mother in law.

Maryse Robicheaux was left holding the debts when her husband fled after 30 days of marriage. In order to pay off the loan sharks, she made a deal with the devil - her mother in law, Helena Henry.

For two years Maryse has been biding her time waiting for a chance to serve her husband with divorce papers and finally be rid of the entire Henry family. And she gets her chance when Helena dies. Except, Helena Henry has been very busy plotting and she has no time for death. When she comes back as a ghost, she discovers Maryse is the only one able to see her and soon has her embroiled in all kinds of trouble.

This was pretty good. It's exactly what show more you'd expect of your cozy mystery with quirky characters, romance, humour and an interesting mystery. I liked that there were multiple plots and the lines of enquiry Maryse and her gang look into. Surprisingly, the main mystery Helena Henry's (the mother in law) murder is left unanswered. Apparently the investigation continues in the following books - so it's not a total standalone - but enough of my questions were answered for it to not bother me. Even if I don't ever pick up the rest of the series.

I didn't particularly enjoy the romance but it didn't take over the entire book so it was okay. It was very much your cheesy insta love with a few sex scenes towards the end. Luc was kind of a nothing character for the most part and Maryse reverted to a lovesick teenager around him. Can't say I really understood why either of them liked each other and I certainly didn't believe the love confessions at the end but meh. It is what it is.

The mystery was fairly straight forwards but had enough twists for me to enjoy and I was happy with the resolution of most of the plots. As for the characters, I liked Maryse and I loved Helena - she was hilarious. Sabine was interesting enough and I loved the name of her fortune telling store - Read 'em and Reap. Since she features in the next book with Helena I'll likely pick up the next few books to find out the answer of who murdered Helena and to enjoy the snarky humour Helena inspires.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. show less

I am disappointed. I loved the title and the book cover. I even found some of the story funny and silly. Then...I'm not a prude, and I probably am able to overlook the sex scenes more than most would, after all I read m/m romances, but where these scenes "belong" in my m/m romances, they stuck out like a sore thumb in this little mystery with the cute title and cover. The language was also way, way, way out of place. I bet it was from just slightly, to extremely offensive to 98% of the people that read, or tried to read, this. I guess it boils down to that I don't understand why authors ruin a good story by doing this. If this is the type of dialog and scenes they want to present, they need to change the genre they are writing in.