Mischief in Mudbug is the second book in Jana DeLeon’s Ghost-In-Law series, but it works well as a stand-alone. I found it to be a fun, fast-paced, and entertaining read.

Sabine LeVeche has just discovered that she may need a bone marrow transplant. Of course, the best chance for a match is a blood relative. The only problem with that is that Sabine’s parents were killed in a car accident when she was an infant, and in the years since, she’s not been able to find any trace of her relatives. Desperate to find her family, Sabine hires private investigator Beau Villeneuve after learning the former FBI agent specializes in finding missing persons.

Beau starts unraveling the mystery surrounding Sabine’s family fairly quickly, but the information he’s learning isn’t good. After Sabine’s shop is burglarized and she’s attacked on the street, Beau’s instincts are telling him that these incidents are related to the search for her family. Certain that Sabine is in danger, Beau decides to stay close and keep watch over her. Of course it doesn’t hurt that he’s incredibly attracted to Sabine.

The ghost-in-law of the series name is the heroine’s best friend’s former mother-in-law, Helena Henry. She’s a fun character who added some good quirkiness to the story. I haven’t read the first book in the series, Trouble in Mudbug, but other than some repeated references to the first book becoming mildly annoying, I found that Mischief in Mudbug worked fine as a stand-alone. Apparently, each book in the series has a self-contained mystery, but there’s an overarching mystery surrounding Helena’s death running throughout.

The mystery is definitely the strength of Mischief in Mudbug. It’s lighthearted – despite bad things happening – and I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the secrets and the whodunit. I was only partially correct in my predictions – which is always good – and was just plain entertained the entire time. By the climactic ending, it seemed like I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

The romance was also enjoyable, but felt a bit lacking in depth. Sabine and Beau are definitely attracted to each other, but with so much else going on and how little time they’d known each other, I just wasn’t buying the declarations of love and forever at the end. It’s not that I didn’t believe they wouldn’t eventually get there, I just didn’t feel they’d quite reached that point at the end of the book. I would’ve been happier with a commitment to “let’s see where this goes,” simply because I think it would have better fit with the development of their romance.

Overall, I had a great time reading Mischief in Mudbug. If you’re in the mood for a lighthearted mystery to mix it up with your romance, I suggest giving this book a shot.