Trouble in Mudbug

In Jana DeLeon's Trouble In Mudbug, the first installment in the Ghost-in-Law paranormal cozy series, this debut has some humorous and enthralling moments that would leave you chilled and bewildered. For Maryse Robicheaux, she was just a botanist who's looking for a cure for cancer. But when her mother-in-law Helena Henry died, she didn't expect her life to get exciting and interesting for sure in Mudbug, Louisiana, when Helena's ghost visited her from the grave. At first, she had butted heads with Luc DeJeune, an undercover DEQ agent posing as a zoologist, who entered her life and had a mission to find out where she knows. And he might be a little over his head, when he first met her. When Maryse received word that Helena gave her the land with oil fields in her will, that might be a prime target with her absent-minded husband Hank and her father-in-law Harold. And they would do anything to get the land back. With multiple attempts on her life, she had to know that someone meant serious business, while Helena wanted to know who wanted her dead and why. As they worked together to find the answers, sparks did fly for Maryse and Luc in an intimate way when she became face-to-face with her would-be killer in a climatic showdown.

This was an intriguing debut for this paranormal cozy series. I did find the small town of Mudbug charming to be set close to New Orleans. It had great visual scenic settings and compelling locations around in Louisiana's swamp areas. I did care for Maryse who just wanted to save the world and end her stale marriage to Hank. I did like her vocation as a botanist and did see sparks between her and Luc that sizzled and didn't fizzle close enough to the beginning. I did care for Sabine, who wanted to say goodbye to her late parents, and to Helena, who wanted to do something right from beyond the grave. This would make you want to laugh out loud and be intrigued to read more with some goose bump-raising moments with non-stop action, drama, suspense, sparks of romance, and plenty of mystery.

Will you find all sorts of Trouble in Mudbug tonight?