In Deep Voodoo [Mass Market Paperback]

Stephanie Bond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2005

Start With Bad Mojo ...

There's something strange afoot in the small town of Mojo, Louisiana. Yet even as the annual voodoo festival gets underway, Penny Francisco, who runs a health food business, refuses to believe in black magic. Her mind is on celebrating her divorce from her lying, cheating husband Deke.

Add a Pinprick of Revenge ...

Fueled by run-ins with her ex-mother-in-law and Deke's busty mistress, Penny is eager for the "emancipation party" her friends plan. When she receives a Deke voodoo doll as a gag gift, she sticks it with a pin as a joke. But when Deke winds up fatally stabbed, the police aren't laughing.

And Watch Things Boil Over ...

A junk-food junkie P.I. offers his services, and although Penny is wary of the sexy Cajun's motives (and his diet), she's desperate. Dodging a media sideshow and a looming murder rap, Penny realizes that somehow she's landed herself In Deep Voodoo.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Deke Black is stabbed through the heart with a lawn stake, the secrets of Mojo, La., start bursting to the fore in this lively first of a new romantic mystery trilogy from Rita Award–winner Bond (Whole Lotta Trouble). Deke's ex, health-food store owner Penny Francisco, is the primary suspect. Not only was she found at the scene of the crime holding the murder weapon but, at her divorce celebration, she stabbed a voodoo doll bearing Deke's likeness. The police are keen to pin the crime on Penny, and only sexy, junk-food-loving PI B.J. Beaumont may be able to keep her out of jail. It's hard to sympathize with Penny, whose troubles often stem from her own stupidity, and harder still to believe that she could fall in love with B.J. while suspecting him of murder. Despite these flaws, Mojo and its zany, likable inhabitants—from a slutty, lawsuit-happy tanning-salon owner to a randy, 109-year-old woman into voodoo magic—form a solid foundation for future books in the series.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060820578
• ISBN-13: 978-0060820572
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #994,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephanie Bond was several years into a corporate computer programming career when an instructor in her night school MBA program remarked that she had a flair for writing and encouraged her to submit one of her projects to academic journals. "But," Stephanie says, "all I could think was 'I wonder if I could write a romance novel?'" Bond grew up on a farm in eastern Kentucky where the entertainment choices were few. Luckily, she had a beloved aunt who shared her passion for reading. "When she visited once a year, she brought boxes and boxes of books by Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and lush historicals--I was in heaven! I think I learned most of what I know about world history from historical romance novels. So suddenly thinking about writing in the genre of the books I loved so much was very exciting." After writing every spare moment for two years, Stephanie sold her first romantic comedy manuscript, IRRESISTIBLE? to Harlequin books. Two years later, she walked away from her corporate career to write commercial fiction full time. To date, she's published over 60 romance and mystery projects with various New York publishers, and is most well-known for her BODY MOVERS humorous mystery series. Stephanie lives in midtown Atlanta and is probably working on a new story at the very moment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable but not great, September 11, 2006

By 

D. Lake "Wannabe stylista" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Deep Voodoo (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to agree with a previous reviewer's assessment of Penny (the heroine in this book) - she's just too stupid to live. The characters seem rather one dimensional (more charicatures than characters). The story flowed easily but some of the plot required too great a suspension of belief (as another reviewer pointed out - the fact that Penny used her divorce lawyer as a defense attorney was a bit much).

Then ending was unexpected and mildly interesting but I never got any real sense of what motivated the characters or why I should care.

I'm glad I got this book from the library rather than purchasing it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Under Its Spell, May 28, 2006

By 

Sonja Foust "romance author" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Deep Voodoo (Mass Market Paperback)

I was under the spell of IN DEEP VOODOO by about page 5. The setting immediately drew me in, and the characters and storyline soon after. At first, I was afraid that there were too many characters to keep them all straight, but everything added up in the end in a satisfying, if darker-than-expected conclusion. The most confusing part of the book, for me, was the tone. Lots of light humor inter-mixed with some pretty dark stuff, like a murder and a grisley conclusion. Still, I enjoyed reading it very much and will probably read the next in the series too!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific amateur sleuth investigative tale, September 28, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Deep Voodoo (Mass Market Paperback)

Penny Francisco came home early only to find her husband attorney Deke making love in their bed to Sheena "litigator" Linder; making it worse is that she had dirty feet. The divorce settlement left Penny with her health store, The Charm Farm, and some adjoining land that she plans to use to grow herbs; Deke got their house across the street that he paints an ugly pink, but he also hid valuable assets in the name of his now fiancée.

Penny's assistant Marie Gaston hosts a divorce celebration for her boss. One of the guests secretly gives Penny a voodoo doll of Deke; Penny stabs the doll in the heart. The next day she goes over to see Deke who had frantically called her several times, but was not answering his phone. She finds him dead with a weapon stabbed through his heart. Everyone else thinks Penny either killed Deke with voodoo or as crime of passion. Penny plans to prove otherwise by uncovering the truth with the help of a donut lusting private investigator as her only ally.

Stephanie Bond provides a terrific amateur sleuth investigative tale with a heated romantic subplot to enhance the bewildered but delightful lead female protagonist. Penny is the fabulous center to the strong story line as her antics will amuse the audience. Her efforts to prove she is innocent though everyone in Mojo, Louisiana believes otherwise while making side comments about pink houses, replacement females, mayoral ex mother-in-laws, hunks, and voodoo make for a fine time. Still the bottom line means diving IN DEEP VOODOO as she has a slight doubt that just maybe her jab with the pin killed her former spouse.

Harriet Klausner