Fortune Furlough (Miss Fortune Mystery, #14).
By Jana Deleon.
My rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ out of 5 stars.
It’s not a vacation until there’s a murder.
Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie are finally off to Florida on the vacation they’ve always talked about. Days filled with white sand, turquoise water, and fruity drinks are the only thing on the agenda. But when Gertie’s “hot date” turns up dead and she’s the number one suspect, they’re forced to hang up their bathing suits and shift to investigating mode.
They soon discover that Gertie’s beau was up to all kinds of shady behavior, leaving them with a long list of people who are happy he’s dead. But which one resorted to murder?
This book is pretty much more of the same, in a good way, with one big difference. A complete change of scenery. Fortune and the Geritol Mafia are heading for Florida on vacation.
It is of course not much of a spoiler if I say that things go pear shaped rather quickly starting with Gertie having unfortunate wardrobe issues on the beach and moving on to her becoming the profoundly lazy, incompetent and downright criminal local Sheriff’s prime suspect for a murder.
So Sinful is replaced by a beach village in Florida and that uber-annoying bitch Celia Arcenaux is replaced by previously mentioned asshat Sheriff. Apart from that it is business as usual.
Fortune & Co of course dives straight into solving the murder in order to get Gertie off the hook and as usual it is a bumpy ride with a fair share of mishaps including Gertie being chased by a pink, flamingo wielding, furious woman. Spoiler: the flamingo was fake. Along the way they meet a number of interesting people with various skeletons in the closet.
Overall a fun read. I really like the trio, their interactions and their adventures. Fortune herself has become more competent in her new role and less slapstick. Ida Bell was kicking ass from the start and Gertie… well Gertie and her explosive handbag is… Gertie.
I quite like these books as a change of pace to clear my mind of the usual science fiction and fantasy stuff I read.
The one thing I would, if not complain about, so at least say it would have been nice of that useless wanker of a Sheriff would have gotten his ass kicked a bit more. He truly deserved it.
PG's Ramblings 