What do you think?
Rate this book
Miss Fortune Mystery #21
Swamp Sweets
It’s November in Sinful and everyone is gearing up for Thanksgiving. But when Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie bag a body on their turkey hunting trip, the quiet enjoyment of fall is over. No one really knew Miles Broussard well, and as he’d recently sold the building his business was in to retire in another state, no one could explain how he’d ended up murdered and dumped in the bayou.
Ally Lemarque has been waiting her entire life to open her bakery, and that day finally arrived when she purchased the building from Miles. But when she visits the site late at night and interrupts an intruder, she comes away with a crack on her head and concerns about why someone would break into an empty building.
Fortune doesn’t think for a minute that Miles’s murder and the attack on Ally are unrelated. And Swamp Team 3 won’t rest until they’re sure Ally is safe.
Ally Lemarque has been waiting her entire life to open her bakery, and that day finally arrived when she purchased the building from Miles. But when she visits the site late at night and interrupts an intruder, she comes away with a crack on her head and concerns about why someone would break into an empty building.
Fortune doesn’t think for a minute that Miles’s murder and the attack on Ally are unrelated. And Swamp Team 3 won’t rest until they’re sure Ally is safe.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 3, 2021
933 people are currently reading
787 people want to read
About the author
Jana Deleon
107 books4,251 followersNew 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews
October 9, 2021
Disappointing
While I love the series and reread regularly, the last two make me think DeLeon has someone else, less versed in Sinful canon and much less talented, producing the novels. They lack the action and the charm of the previous books. Also, if you are a faithful reader, you know Scooter's dad died in jail years ago and couldn't be living behind the bakery. You also know Marie's husband, who owned all of downtown, died 6 years ago. Marie lowered the rents and eventually sold the properties to the shopkeepers. So all the talk about flat demand over the last 5 years was BS. And the timing on the turnovers of the dry cleaners doesn't fit either. When did Scooter get a personality transplant? When did Ida Belle become indecisive? Do authors totally forget their carefully crafted world building?
While I love the series and reread regularly, the last two make me think DeLeon has someone else, less versed in Sinful canon and much less talented, producing the novels. They lack the action and the charm of the previous books. Also, if you are a faithful reader, you know Scooter's dad died in jail years ago and couldn't be living behind the bakery. You also know Marie's husband, who owned all of downtown, died 6 years ago. Marie lowered the rents and eventually sold the properties to the shopkeepers. So all the talk about flat demand over the last 5 years was BS. And the timing on the turnovers of the dry cleaners doesn't fit either. When did Scooter get a personality transplant? When did Ida Belle become indecisive? Do authors totally forget their carefully crafted world building?
January 4, 2022
Soooo good! Obviously!
January 5, 2022
This was the usual good (not great or fantastic) read I expect from a Miss Fortune mystery, complete with humor, action and suspense.
Because there's not really much to rave about, I'll focus on why, for me, this isn't a five-star book.
While I "really liked it" and didn't put it down, it doesn’t offer anything especially exciting like previous books have. Usually, with long-runners like this, the over-arching story arc moves along with each installment, even if by inches. However, nothing really does here, save a romance between two minor characters, one of whom is always good for the "got to protect her at all costs" plot device.
There is also a lot of friend-on-friend, "I know what's best for you whether you like it or not" stuff happening that I really don't appreciate; the trope annoys me when we're dealing with child characters and nearly sends me through the roof when it comes to fully grown adults who, with exception to public health and safety matters, shouldn't have their judgment swapped out for someone else's. I hate when romantic partners pull this stuff and find it no less annoying when friends pull it.
I believe that everyone should be allowed to make their own choices as long as those choices don't hurt or endanger other people. "Because I love/care about/want to protect you" is not an excuse for making decisions for another human, be they old, disabled or ditsier than you think is safe. Folks who use protection as an excuse to restrict other people are usually working to keep themselves off the hook if something happens. This way, they don't feel responsible for the person's misfortune when they get hit with the impulse to make the issue all about them and what *they* should have done/said/stopped. I'm harping on this because it's become the go-too trope and plot device for about 10 books now, and it is just as problematic as it was when it began.
If you've been reading this series for a while, you know what and who I'm griping about. She happens to be one of the best sources of humor in these books but is also the butt of her "friends'" jokes and jabs and gets subjected to ageist and ableist treatment nearly every book. I certainly hope the humor and craziness continues, but the "cruel to be kind" stuff with Gertie is older than the actual character is supposed to be.
Add the that the predictable "killer" (news flash, in these books, it’s usually the kindly female whom you're not supposed to suspect) and the needlessly convoluted info dump at the end and you've got the reason why this didn't hit for me as previous books have.
Ultimately, there was a lot that did work in this one, but that has more to do with a genuine love of and familiarity with the town and characters than it does the quality of the storytelling. I'm afraid we may be heading into "should have ended this one about four or five books ago" territory. After all, all of the major conflicts have been resolved, the first of which went down about ten or so installments back. The other was handled in such a lazy and perfunctory fashion that the author probably shouldn’t have even bothered.
This series remains on my “auto-by” list, and I do appreciate when a new book drops, but the shine is definitely rubbing off fast. Here’s to a more compelling future installment.
Because there's not really much to rave about, I'll focus on why, for me, this isn't a five-star book.
While I "really liked it" and didn't put it down, it doesn’t offer anything especially exciting like previous books have. Usually, with long-runners like this, the over-arching story arc moves along with each installment, even if by inches. However, nothing really does here, save a romance between two minor characters, one of whom is always good for the "got to protect her at all costs" plot device.
There is also a lot of friend-on-friend, "I know what's best for you whether you like it or not" stuff happening that I really don't appreciate; the trope annoys me when we're dealing with child characters and nearly sends me through the roof when it comes to fully grown adults who, with exception to public health and safety matters, shouldn't have their judgment swapped out for someone else's. I hate when romantic partners pull this stuff and find it no less annoying when friends pull it.
I believe that everyone should be allowed to make their own choices as long as those choices don't hurt or endanger other people. "Because I love/care about/want to protect you" is not an excuse for making decisions for another human, be they old, disabled or ditsier than you think is safe. Folks who use protection as an excuse to restrict other people are usually working to keep themselves off the hook if something happens. This way, they don't feel responsible for the person's misfortune when they get hit with the impulse to make the issue all about them and what *they* should have done/said/stopped. I'm harping on this because it's become the go-too trope and plot device for about 10 books now, and it is just as problematic as it was when it began.
If you've been reading this series for a while, you know what and who I'm griping about. She happens to be one of the best sources of humor in these books but is also the butt of her "friends'" jokes and jabs and gets subjected to ageist and ableist treatment nearly every book. I certainly hope the humor and craziness continues, but the "cruel to be kind" stuff with Gertie is older than the actual character is supposed to be.
Add the that the predictable "killer" (news flash, in these books, it’s usually the kindly female whom you're not supposed to suspect) and the needlessly convoluted info dump at the end and you've got the reason why this didn't hit for me as previous books have.
Ultimately, there was a lot that did work in this one, but that has more to do with a genuine love of and familiarity with the town and characters than it does the quality of the storytelling. I'm afraid we may be heading into "should have ended this one about four or five books ago" territory. After all, all of the major conflicts have been resolved, the first of which went down about ten or so installments back. The other was handled in such a lazy and perfunctory fashion that the author probably shouldn’t have even bothered.
This series remains on my “auto-by” list, and I do appreciate when a new book drops, but the shine is definitely rubbing off fast. Here’s to a more compelling future installment.
November 14, 2021
Sweet Ally is one of my favorite characters in this wonderful series. She is the niece of Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle's arch enemy, Celia, but, since she bakes like an angel, they don't hold that against her. This book is wonderful, hilarious and has a great mystery too. Beware reading or listening to this book in public: Spontaneous bursts of hilarity are guaranteed.
When Gertie, Ida Belle and Fortune head to Gertie's Camp to hunt turkey with Thanksgiving just weeks away, you just know that isn't the only bodies they will end up bagging. Miles Broussard had sold the building that housed his dry cleaners to Ally for her new bakery and was heading to Florida to retire, except her never left Sinful, LA.
Ally Lemarque is about to realize her dream of opening a bakery in Sinful and everyone is excited for her. Well, almost everyone. When Ally is attacked at the building on the heels of Gertie finding the body of the former owner, Swamp Team 3 springs into action and will get to the bottom of her problems and even Carter is so concerned, he is sharing info with the Team.
Swamp Team 3 is not lacking for theories and suspects surface as they peel back the history of the only dry cleaners in Sinful. But as much as they want to catch the baddie, they want to make sure that Ally is safe and they aren't the only ones who want Ally safe. A certain tough guy has stars in his eyes whenever Ally is around.
When Gertie, Ida Belle and Fortune head to Gertie's Camp to hunt turkey with Thanksgiving just weeks away, you just know that isn't the only bodies they will end up bagging. Miles Broussard had sold the building that housed his dry cleaners to Ally for her new bakery and was heading to Florida to retire, except her never left Sinful, LA.
Ally Lemarque is about to realize her dream of opening a bakery in Sinful and everyone is excited for her. Well, almost everyone. When Ally is attacked at the building on the heels of Gertie finding the body of the former owner, Swamp Team 3 springs into action and will get to the bottom of her problems and even Carter is so concerned, he is sharing info with the Team.
Swamp Team 3 is not lacking for theories and suspects surface as they peel back the history of the only dry cleaners in Sinful. But as much as they want to catch the baddie, they want to make sure that Ally is safe and they aren't the only ones who want Ally safe. A certain tough guy has stars in his eyes whenever Ally is around.
December 4, 2021
More actual story with less ridiculous Gertie antics please.
This may be my first 3 star rating for a Miss Fortune book. Too many convoluted, silly, far out there shenanigans with Gertie & Ida Belle. I have enjoyed some of the semi-believable situations in past books. But this book contained too many to be enjoyable. The story itself limped along and was then explained in a few pages. And, honestly can Carter and Fortune show a little affection towards each other. They are supposed to be "dating". However, an occasional peck on the cheek doesn't scream a loving & affectionate relationship to me. I'd really like to see the development of their relationship in future books.
This may be my first 3 star rating for a Miss Fortune book. Too many convoluted, silly, far out there shenanigans with Gertie & Ida Belle. I have enjoyed some of the semi-believable situations in past books. But this book contained too many to be enjoyable. The story itself limped along and was then explained in a few pages. And, honestly can Carter and Fortune show a little affection towards each other. They are supposed to be "dating". However, an occasional peck on the cheek doesn't scream a loving & affectionate relationship to me. I'd really like to see the development of their relationship in future books.
October 5, 2021
An absolutely fantastic read! Jana Deleon never disappoints.
Mannie & Ally!! Thank you, Jana!! I have been waiting for them.
The Swamp Team just gets better with each book. Loved it very much.
Mannie & Ally!! Thank you, Jana!! I have been waiting for them.
The Swamp Team just gets better with each book. Loved it very much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2023
Swamp Sweets is book 21 in this cozy mystery series.
I absolutely adore these characters. And I can't wait to see what happens next.
I am especially interested to see if Ally will find love.
I absolutely adore these characters. And I can't wait to see what happens next.
I am especially interested to see if Ally will find love.
October 8, 2021
Jana delivers again! This series is so good and this book delivers everything you expect from a Miss Fortune Mystery. Action, laughter, a fantastic mystery and characters that feel like friends. Fortune, Ida Belle and Gertie find another body. Ally is about to open the bakery she has been dreaming of when she is assaulted and women are going to keep her safe until everything is resolved. Highly recommend this book and this series.
May 12, 2022
2021 bk 311. She did it again. I read this while waiting on a friend having a medical procedure. Things being as they are - I was sitting in my car reading and laughing myself silly when a knock came at my window (scaring the you know what out of me!). I rolled down my window and found a couple from the car parked in front of me. "We didn't want to disturb you - but you were laughing so hard your car was shaking - what ARE you reading?" I shared the book with them. The wife's face lit up "My sister has been trying to get me to read those books for years, but when she says a book is good, it isn't always." The upshot is - she stood there and ordered the first three Miss Fortune's on the phone, we chatted a bit, and then I went back to reading Swamp Sweets. I loved it - loved that Sinful is getting a Sinfully good bakery, Ally is expressing interest in a guy, and the entire gang was back! I will re-read this when the news is bad, the skies are cloudy and gray, and the world isn't right - because it will return the joy back to my life.
May 2, 2023
I love the characters in this series. The comic relief makes them so enjoyable.
April 11, 2022
I love everything about this series by Ms. Deleon and look forward to each book when it's released. Fortune, Ida Belle and Gertie are out at Gertie's river camp to bag a wild turkey when they discover a body that's been dumped in a bayou (of course they find a body). Although they're curious about the victim, he was supposed to have left town after selling his building to Ally for her bakery. When Ally gets injured in her new business building, all bets are off as the Swamp Team will not rest until they find the one who attacked Ally. From Sinful to New Orleans and back, there are plenty of twists as this mystery turns out to have some links to a cold case. Of course, no book would be complete without Gertie's antics which caused me to laugh until I cried.
November 1, 2021
Once again I'm back in Sinful Louisiana with miss Fortune. Swamp Sweets by Jana DeLeon is another mystery filled with murder and mayhem and lots of humor. It should not be so hard to buy a property and start a business but when Ally gets knocked down by an intruder and the Swamp team 3 finds the previous owner dead the hunt for truth is on. The level of shenanigans usually ocurring in this series is dialed back some but I still find the book very entertaining.
February 3, 2022
I really like the first 12 or 13 of the books in this series. However, I feel like they have progressively gotten more and more formulaic and repeat the same silly hijinks in every story. I do love the relationship/friendship the three women have Which is why I’ve continued to read these books. That being said, there’s a reason why people read Cozy mysteries. Because they’re easy to read, they’re a quick read, and you’re familiar and comfortable with the characters and the general formula of the story. So, as far as that goes, the Miss Fortune series books are all good, fun reads.
October 9, 2021
Oh, Francis… what have you done? 🤣
A whole lot of fun with a couple of good twists thrown in. Still enjoying the chaos Swamp Team 3 manage to create everywhere they go, and Fortune and Carter are adorable. A great mystery, a little bit of romance on the horizon for an amazing character, or two. Can’t wait to see how it plays out in the next book.
A whole lot of fun with a couple of good twists thrown in. Still enjoying the chaos Swamp Team 3 manage to create everywhere they go, and Fortune and Carter are adorable. A great mystery, a little bit of romance on the horizon for an amazing character, or two. Can’t wait to see how it plays out in the next book.
December 11, 2021
Getting a little repetitive with all the scenarios with Gertie and Ida Belle. Seems like the series is stuck in a rut, along with Carter and Fortune's relationship (or lack thereof).
June 23, 2022
****DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER****
Look... I love this series and would love to see it on TV as a show, but this installment kinda made me mad.
Is Fortune getting dumber since moving to Sinful? With Fortune being a former CIA agent, I don't know how she couldn't have figured out who/what Bart was sooner. She just went right to criminal. I kept thinking, why isn't she going the other direction? Especially with his former military background and the fact that he supposedly died while someone paid out his life insurance. It was completely obvious to me.
And though the mystery was fun, I kept getting stuck on the fact that she couldn't figure it out sooner. I kept wanting to skip forward to see when or how she would figure it all out. This one was disappointing, but I guess they can't all be great and it is the 21st book.
Look... I love this series and would love to see it on TV as a show, but this installment kinda made me mad.
Is Fortune getting dumber since moving to Sinful? With Fortune being a former CIA agent, I don't know how she couldn't have figured out who/what Bart was sooner. She just went right to criminal. I kept thinking, why isn't she going the other direction? Especially with his former military background and the fact that he supposedly died while someone paid out his life insurance. It was completely obvious to me.
And though the mystery was fun, I kept getting stuck on the fact that she couldn't figure it out sooner. I kept wanting to skip forward to see when or how she would figure it all out. This one was disappointing, but I guess they can't all be great and it is the 21st book.
March 9, 2024
Swamp Sweets by Jana Deleon is the 21st book in the Miss Fortune Mystery series. On a turkey hunting trip in preparation for Thanksgiving, Fortune, Ida-Belle and Gertie find a body in the bayou, Miles Broussard who had recently sold his business to Ally, who is preparing to open her dream bakery. This is a great book if you want to laugh all the way through. Fortune and her friends manage to get themselves in plenty of strange situations. Lots of fun and lots of laughs.
October 14, 2021
Awesome
Loved it. Lots of humor and laugh out loud moments. I was surprised at the killers identity. It keeps you guessing.
Loved it. Lots of humor and laugh out loud moments. I was surprised at the killers identity. It keeps you guessing.
September 23, 2023
This book is pretty much more of the same which in this case is good, very good. Do not try to fix that which is not broken as they say.
Fortune & Co goes hunting for Turkeys. Gertie with a gun (and her handbag!) What can go wrong?
To no readers surprises surprise they bag themselves more Turkeys than their legal quota as well as a body (no they did not shoot the body).
What follows is the usual rollercoaster ride of investigation with a number of twists, Carter rolling his eyes (a lot), the evil bitch Celia suffering a number of misfortunes to everyone’s delight and, of course, a murderer being exposed.
Mannie gets a fair part in the story as well which is good.
Overall, this book is as good as most of the previous books in the series and was an enjoyable, four star, read.
Fortune & Co goes hunting for Turkeys. Gertie with a gun (and her handbag!) What can go wrong?
To no readers surprises surprise they bag themselves more Turkeys than their legal quota as well as a body (no they did not shoot the body).
What follows is the usual rollercoaster ride of investigation with a number of twists, Carter rolling his eyes (a lot), the evil bitch Celia suffering a number of misfortunes to everyone’s delight and, of course, a murderer being exposed.
Mannie gets a fair part in the story as well which is good.
Overall, this book is as good as most of the previous books in the series and was an enjoyable, four star, read.
December 16, 2023
Always fun to follow Fortunes adventures, even if the intro to the story is more engaging than the end, which somehow seems to just get written.
November 21, 2023
This was entertaining, as always with this series, but the different shady characters and their motivations took a lot of explanation at the end.
January 19, 2022
oh, my face hurts from laughing so much! This is such a fun series! Love the Swamp team 3 , gotta love Gertie who has her own verb, Gertied ,lol. this one is personal for these ladies as their friend has been attacked, they will stop at nothing to find out who, and why, another fun sleuthing with these three.
October 6, 2021
Good grief, these books just keep getting better! Jana DeLeon gives her readers exactly what they've been waiting for with this page turner of an adventure.
Beloved characters, accidental hijinks, and a mystery with more twists and turns than the bayou the book begins in, make this one of the best books in the series. Francis the parrot is worth the read on his own.
Fabulously fun!
Beloved characters, accidental hijinks, and a mystery with more twists and turns than the bayou the book begins in, make this one of the best books in the series. Francis the parrot is worth the read on his own.
Fabulously fun!
October 9, 2021
Lackluster
While DeLeon does her best to keep up with the intrigue and the capers of the Sinful Threesome, this book is particularly lacking in Gertiness, madcap mayhem and the overall laugh-out-loud musings from Fortune that help you see why life in Sinful is anything but straightforward.
While DeLeon does her best to keep up with the intrigue and the capers of the Sinful Threesome, this book is particularly lacking in Gertiness, madcap mayhem and the overall laugh-out-loud musings from Fortune that help you see why life in Sinful is anything but straightforward.
October 26, 2021
Unfortunately this was not the best one of in this series. The mystery was choppy and slow. I missed the interaction with the townspeople. Most of the action took place in NOL. I love this series just not this book. It appears to be hastily written -reads like a draft.
April 3, 2025
Swamp Sweets opens with Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie doing what most people in Sinful, Louisiana do to celebrate Thanksgiving: wake up at dawn and hunt something. Except instead of bagging a turkey, they stumble across a dead guy dumped in the swamp. Which, let’s be real, is basically this town’s version of a holiday tradition.
The body? Miles Broussard. Former shopkeeper, recent retiree, and all-around forgettable man whose biggest crime seemed to be selling his building to the wrong dreamer. That dreamer? Ally Lemarque, a cupcake-wielding ray of sunshine who just wanted to open a bakery, live her best cinnamon roll life, and not get cracked on the head by a home intruder. Alas. This is Sinful.
Ally shows up to her new building late one night and walks directly into a break-in. She leaves with a head injury and a whole lot of questions. Like: why would anyone be after her? She doesn’t even have flour in stock yet.
Fortune, of course, doesn’t buy the whole “random coincidence” theory for a second. Miles’s death and Ally’s attack? Absolutely connected. And you know what that means: it’s time for another illegal investigation led by three women who treat personal safety as a suggestion and local law enforcement as an obstacle. Carter, ever the buzzkill, tells Fortune to let the police handle it. And Fortune, ever the emotionally unavailable hurricane in yoga pants, immediately does the opposite.
Let’s get into the vibes, though, because this one’s a little different. The stakes feel… softer? There’s no personal blood vendetta, no family skeletons, just a sweet young woman who’s in over her head and the trio of feral aunties who will burn down the parish to protect her. And honestly? That shift works. This book doesn’t need emotional carnage—it’s cozy murder with heart. High stakes, low body count, max chaos.
Ally is a fun addition. She’s competent but vulnerable, and she doesn’t put up with Fortune’s evasive BS, which is honestly refreshing. There’s also a side plot brewing with romance between side characters, and while it’s light, it’s enough to keep things simmering.
Gertie, as always, is a fever dream in a church hat. One minute she’s taste-testing bakery samples, the next she’s threatening someone with a makeshift flamethrower made out of household cleaners and rage. Ida Belle remains the grounded glue, managing to wrangle the team with one hand and plan Thanksgiving with the other like a woman possessed by both Martha Stewart and Rambo.
And Fortune? She’s still grappling with what it means to have roots. Real relationships. A life that’s more than just survival mode. It’s subtle, but you feel it—especially in how fiercely she protects Ally, not as an asset, but as someone who matters. Growth! Feelings! Character development snuck into a murder investigation like a mini bottle of whiskey in a purse.
The mystery itself is solid, if a bit by-the-numbers—there’s real estate drama, small-town secrets, and one twist that made me say “OH you shady little bastard” out loud. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does spin it fast enough to keep the plot zippy and the pacing tight.
Five stars. Because any book that gives me murder, muffins, and geriatric chaos in equal measure is a full damn meal.
The body? Miles Broussard. Former shopkeeper, recent retiree, and all-around forgettable man whose biggest crime seemed to be selling his building to the wrong dreamer. That dreamer? Ally Lemarque, a cupcake-wielding ray of sunshine who just wanted to open a bakery, live her best cinnamon roll life, and not get cracked on the head by a home intruder. Alas. This is Sinful.
Ally shows up to her new building late one night and walks directly into a break-in. She leaves with a head injury and a whole lot of questions. Like: why would anyone be after her? She doesn’t even have flour in stock yet.
Fortune, of course, doesn’t buy the whole “random coincidence” theory for a second. Miles’s death and Ally’s attack? Absolutely connected. And you know what that means: it’s time for another illegal investigation led by three women who treat personal safety as a suggestion and local law enforcement as an obstacle. Carter, ever the buzzkill, tells Fortune to let the police handle it. And Fortune, ever the emotionally unavailable hurricane in yoga pants, immediately does the opposite.
Let’s get into the vibes, though, because this one’s a little different. The stakes feel… softer? There’s no personal blood vendetta, no family skeletons, just a sweet young woman who’s in over her head and the trio of feral aunties who will burn down the parish to protect her. And honestly? That shift works. This book doesn’t need emotional carnage—it’s cozy murder with heart. High stakes, low body count, max chaos.
Ally is a fun addition. She’s competent but vulnerable, and she doesn’t put up with Fortune’s evasive BS, which is honestly refreshing. There’s also a side plot brewing with romance between side characters, and while it’s light, it’s enough to keep things simmering.
Gertie, as always, is a fever dream in a church hat. One minute she’s taste-testing bakery samples, the next she’s threatening someone with a makeshift flamethrower made out of household cleaners and rage. Ida Belle remains the grounded glue, managing to wrangle the team with one hand and plan Thanksgiving with the other like a woman possessed by both Martha Stewart and Rambo.
And Fortune? She’s still grappling with what it means to have roots. Real relationships. A life that’s more than just survival mode. It’s subtle, but you feel it—especially in how fiercely she protects Ally, not as an asset, but as someone who matters. Growth! Feelings! Character development snuck into a murder investigation like a mini bottle of whiskey in a purse.
The mystery itself is solid, if a bit by-the-numbers—there’s real estate drama, small-town secrets, and one twist that made me say “OH you shady little bastard” out loud. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does spin it fast enough to keep the plot zippy and the pacing tight.
Five stars. Because any book that gives me murder, muffins, and geriatric chaos in equal measure is a full damn meal.
January 29, 2026
5🌟
SUMMARY
fortune redding planned for a relaxing weekend reading a couple of paperbacks, instead she discovered a dead body in the bayou. she has a tendency to get involved with police business, considering she’s a private investigator.
carter leblanc is the deputy sheriff in sinful, louisiana, seeing firsthand as the crime rate steadily takes an upward shift. he
was moderately concerned for his girlfriend after she left for a weekend trip only for her to come back with a open case. he’s tries to track down lead, hoping to not see her end up in a jail cell for interference.
🍰 cozy mystery
🍰 sheriff
🍰 small town
SPOILERS
the victim is miles broussard. they found him in the bayou in a dry cleaning bag. he was a petty criminal, having been arrested practically for every crime he committed over the years.
ally recently purchased a building in town, planning to open her own bakery. she was attacked one evening, admitted to the hospital for a concussion. she has mannie install a security system at the bakery. the running theory is that the burglar was searching for something hidden on her property.
they traced some bills associated to the crime scene back to a bank heist that was unsolved nearly half a century ago. they reached out to their contact at the bank to run the serial numbers which linked them to the robbery.
the security cameras installed at the bakery caught someone trying to break-in. the intruder was shot before he could make it through the back door, taken to the hospital and has been in a coma. he was later identified as a former sinful resident but he was supposedly dead. he faked his death years ago, likely turning into a career criminal.
bart beniot is actually an FBI agent. he was keeping tabs on louisiana and came back suspecting his mother. dinah beniot, arrested for the attempted murder of her son. dirk was responsible for the murder of miles broussard.
dinah planned on taking out miles, but dirk beat her there. they didn’t recovered the money which i was hoping to get answers about.
ally opened her bakery, aptly named sinfully delicious and have launch event with her close friends in attendance. mannie got her a bouquet of flowers and asked her out on a date.
0🌶️
SUMMARY
fortune redding planned for a relaxing weekend reading a couple of paperbacks, instead she discovered a dead body in the bayou. she has a tendency to get involved with police business, considering she’s a private investigator.
carter leblanc is the deputy sheriff in sinful, louisiana, seeing firsthand as the crime rate steadily takes an upward shift. he
was moderately concerned for his girlfriend after she left for a weekend trip only for her to come back with a open case. he’s tries to track down lead, hoping to not see her end up in a jail cell for interference.
🍰 cozy mystery
🍰 sheriff
🍰 small town
SPOILERS
the victim is miles broussard. they found him in the bayou in a dry cleaning bag. he was a petty criminal, having been arrested practically for every crime he committed over the years.
ally recently purchased a building in town, planning to open her own bakery. she was attacked one evening, admitted to the hospital for a concussion. she has mannie install a security system at the bakery. the running theory is that the burglar was searching for something hidden on her property.
they traced some bills associated to the crime scene back to a bank heist that was unsolved nearly half a century ago. they reached out to their contact at the bank to run the serial numbers which linked them to the robbery.
the security cameras installed at the bakery caught someone trying to break-in. the intruder was shot before he could make it through the back door, taken to the hospital and has been in a coma. he was later identified as a former sinful resident but he was supposedly dead. he faked his death years ago, likely turning into a career criminal.
bart beniot is actually an FBI agent. he was keeping tabs on louisiana and came back suspecting his mother. dinah beniot, arrested for the attempted murder of her son. dirk was responsible for the murder of miles broussard.
dinah planned on taking out miles, but dirk beat her there. they didn’t recovered the money which i was hoping to get answers about.
ally opened her bakery, aptly named sinfully delicious and have launch event with her close friends in attendance. mannie got her a bouquet of flowers and asked her out on a date.
0🌶️
July 28, 2025
Ally Lemarque finally has sufficient dough to turn a rickety defunct drycleaner building into Sinful’s long-awaited bakery, and she’s eager to start the process.
Because it’s nearly Thanksgiving, Swamp Team 3, Gertie, Ida Belle, and Fortune, want wild turkeys for the table this year. So, it’s off to Gertie’s new hunting camp they go to eat, drink, watch TV, and, oh, yeah, to hunt turkeys.
Gertie brings her parrot, Francis, along. Don’t skip earlier pages where Francis causes a scene in the general store that includes Swamp Team 3’s arch-nemesis, Celia. Any time you can start a book by describing pratfalls and parrot poop, you’re rockin’ the house.
Gertie demonstrates that Francis can sound like a nymphomaniac female turkey, and his talent brings a frenzied feathery flock of male wild turkeys down on Swamp Team 3 like a Biblical plague.
Nearly buried in horny turkeys, the women bag four but lose one in the bayou when Fortune puts too much English on the bird’s last flight, overthrowing the boat. They had wrapped the turkey in a tarp before giving it the old heave-ho. Gertie insisted she was going after it. She grabs a handful of cloth underwater. Presuming it to be the lost bird, Gertie retrieves instead the body of Miles Broussard, the guy who, days earlier, sold his drycleaner building to the eager Ally. Everyone assumed he had moved to Florida. Funny how a gunshot wound to the chest can change your plans.
Not long after Gertie dredges up Miles’s body, someone attacks Ally while she’s working late in her as-yet unopened bakery. Fortune and her associates are sure there’s a connection between Miles’s death and Ally’s attacker.
This is a solid mystery with lots of laugh-out-loud moments that fuel you to the back page. I love Cassandra Campbell’s Audible narration. The woman who narrates the book for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled is wonderful with any other book she narrates, but Campbell is without parallel the voice of Fortune Redding and her aging associates.
Because it’s nearly Thanksgiving, Swamp Team 3, Gertie, Ida Belle, and Fortune, want wild turkeys for the table this year. So, it’s off to Gertie’s new hunting camp they go to eat, drink, watch TV, and, oh, yeah, to hunt turkeys.
Gertie brings her parrot, Francis, along. Don’t skip earlier pages where Francis causes a scene in the general store that includes Swamp Team 3’s arch-nemesis, Celia. Any time you can start a book by describing pratfalls and parrot poop, you’re rockin’ the house.
Gertie demonstrates that Francis can sound like a nymphomaniac female turkey, and his talent brings a frenzied feathery flock of male wild turkeys down on Swamp Team 3 like a Biblical plague.
Nearly buried in horny turkeys, the women bag four but lose one in the bayou when Fortune puts too much English on the bird’s last flight, overthrowing the boat. They had wrapped the turkey in a tarp before giving it the old heave-ho. Gertie insisted she was going after it. She grabs a handful of cloth underwater. Presuming it to be the lost bird, Gertie retrieves instead the body of Miles Broussard, the guy who, days earlier, sold his drycleaner building to the eager Ally. Everyone assumed he had moved to Florida. Funny how a gunshot wound to the chest can change your plans.
Not long after Gertie dredges up Miles’s body, someone attacks Ally while she’s working late in her as-yet unopened bakery. Fortune and her associates are sure there’s a connection between Miles’s death and Ally’s attacker.
This is a solid mystery with lots of laugh-out-loud moments that fuel you to the back page. I love Cassandra Campbell’s Audible narration. The woman who narrates the book for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled is wonderful with any other book she narrates, but Campbell is without parallel the voice of Fortune Redding and her aging associates.
October 7, 2021
It's hard to believe that we are now 21 books into the Miss Fortune Mystery series. "Swamp Sweets" is another great installment. Ally has always wanted to open her own bakery. The whole town knows and appreciates her baking prowess. After her mother dies, Ally cashes in on a $100,000 life insurance policy. This police allows her to buy out the local dry cleaners and convert it into her dream. Unfortunately before she can even start the renovations someone breaks into the building and knocks her on the head.
Of course Fortune is not about to sit idly by while someone attacks her friend. After a turkey hunting trip yields more than just turkeys but a dead body as well, Fortune soon discovers that the body they found belonged to none other than the former owner of the dry cleaners. Very quickly it becomes clear that Ally's attack and the dead body are linked somehow. Fortune just has to find out what that link is.
This read has our favorite characters up to the usual shenanigans as well as a few new ones. It was nice to get a small glimpse of the Heberts in this read as they are two of my favorite characters. It was also nice to be back at the Swamp Bar and trust me when I say that Gertie will not disappoint with a epic tale.
The only thing missing from this read for me was I wish that Fortune and Carter would have more sexy time in the novels. They always seem like ships passing in the night. It's more the situation between an old married couple rather that two young people. Hopefully, Ms. Deleon will incorporate more snuggle time for the couple in the future.
Of course Fortune is not about to sit idly by while someone attacks her friend. After a turkey hunting trip yields more than just turkeys but a dead body as well, Fortune soon discovers that the body they found belonged to none other than the former owner of the dry cleaners. Very quickly it becomes clear that Ally's attack and the dead body are linked somehow. Fortune just has to find out what that link is.
This read has our favorite characters up to the usual shenanigans as well as a few new ones. It was nice to get a small glimpse of the Heberts in this read as they are two of my favorite characters. It was also nice to be back at the Swamp Bar and trust me when I say that Gertie will not disappoint with a epic tale.
The only thing missing from this read for me was I wish that Fortune and Carter would have more sexy time in the novels. They always seem like ships passing in the night. It's more the situation between an old married couple rather that two young people. Hopefully, Ms. Deleon will incorporate more snuggle time for the couple in the future.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews