Mischief in Mudbug by Jana DeLeon is a another visit to Mudbug and it’s inhabitants. This time the story is featured on Sabine Leveche, the local self proclaimed (but not really) psychic. When she starts to hear Helena Henry, a local Matriarch recently dead and thought to be murdered, she knows that no good can come of her new “ability”.  And she’s right. From the start trouble ensues. Sabine, reeling from the news of her cancer diagnosis pushes forward on her search for her parent’s families. There are no living relatives on her mother’s side, but her father’s, well, things become quite interesting and more than she expected when she hired Private Investigator Beau Villeneuve.  Her family is located, but all is not as it seems in the polite high society family that Sabine finds herself meeting. Already suspicious, when accidents and burglary attempts begin to shadow Sabine and those she loves, she knows there is a troubling mystery ahead. With Helena’s antics and binge eating (Who knew ghosts could eat!) Sabine has no choice but to hold on to a wild ride of a time, while trying desperately to ignore the feelings Beau ignites in her. She’s so scared of dying, that she’s forgetting to live. Good thing Helena, and Beau are there to keep things wild and interesting.

I absolutely love this series. I find myself liking the prickly Helena who is no closer to finding her believed murderer. Her hijinks and crazy fashion experiments are at once hilarious and project moments where you realize that Helena is not all bad. Sabine is a likable character who is going through a horrible time and dealing well with it when she meets Beau. Instantly attracted she fights it believing that it wouldn’t be fair to Beau for him to care for her when she doesn’t have a secure future. There are also lovely visits with character from the first books in the series, Maryse and Mildred. It’s going to be very hard to wait for the next installment in this series, where some mysteries may have been solved, but a few more have been discovered. Please write quickly Ms. DeLeon!

More about this book (and others) and author may be found at: www.janadeleon.com