Mardi Gras Murder
A Cajun Country Mystery
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
USA Today–bestselling author
Southern charm meets the dark mystery of the bayou as a hundred-year flood, a malicious murder, and a most unusual Mardi Gras converge at the Crozat Plantation B&B
It’s Mardi Gras season on the bayou, which means parades, pageantry, and gumbo galore. But when a flood upends life in the tiny town of Pelican, Louisiana—and deposits a body of a stranger behind the Crozat Plantation B&B—the celebration takes a decidedly dark turn. The citizens of Pelican are ready to, “Laissez les bon temps rouler”—but there’s beaucoup bad blood on hand this Mardi Gras.
Maggie Crozat is determined to give the stranger a name and find out why he was murdered. The post-flood recovery has delayed the opening of a controversial exhibit about the little-known Louisiana Orphan Train. And when a judge for the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen pageant is shot, Maggie’s convinced the murder is connected to the body on the bayou. Does someone covet the pageant queen crown enough to kill for it? Could the deaths be related to the Orphan Train, which delivered its last charges to Louisiana in 1929? The leads are thin on this Fat Tuesday—and until the killer is unmasked, no one in Pelican is safe.
A simmering gumbo of a humorous whodunit, Mardi Gras Murder is the fourth piquant installment in USA Today–bestselling author Ellen Byron’s award-winning Cajun Country mysteries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Byron's superior fourth Cajun Country mystery (after 2017's A Cajun Christmas Killing), Pelican, La., is flooded due to unseasonable rains a few days before the town's annual Mardi Gras celebration. While clearing up debris, the body of an unidentified man surfaces under the bridge over a bayou at the far end of the property belonging to the Crozat family, also the site of the Crozat Plantation Bed and Breakfast. But Maggie Crozat, an artist by training and an innkeeper by inclination, has no time to worry about the body, as the pressure is on to help get the Mardi Gras festivities back on track. "Yes, we Peli-CAN" is the town's rallying cry. When her beloved Grand-m re comes down with walking pneumonia, Maggie takes her place as a judge in the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen competition. The murder of a fellow judge puts her knee-deep in plausible suspects and a variety of murky motives. Well-rounded characters, a fair-play plot, entertaining repartee, as well as dashes of Cajun lore and Louisiana history make this cozy a winner.
Customer Reviews
Ellen Byron’s Mardi Gras Murder
Pelican, Louisiana is recovering from a flood.
During the flood the body of an older man
washes up on the Crozat property. Who is
this man? How did he die? Why was he on
the Crozat property?
Magnolia Crozat better known as Maggie
helps her parents( Ninette and Tug) and
her Gran-mere at the Crozat Plantation
Bed & Breakfast.
Gran-mere falls ill so a Maggie takes over
as a judge for the Miss Teen Pelican Mardi
Gras Gumbo Queen Contest, A contest
Maggie of which she never approved.
The chairman of the judges has already
decided who should win because of whose
daughter she is and the position the family
holds in the community plus the family
would be apt to donate some of their
antiques to the Pelican Historical Society.
This man has a lot to do with the Society.
He also had wanted to bring an exhibition
to Pelican about the Louisiana Orphan
Train. This train brought numerous orphans
to Louisiana in the early 1900’s. These
children were provided homes and raised
in Louisiana. It was interesting learning the
historical information about this phenomenon.
Then the chairman changed his mind about
the exhibit. Why did he abort the Orphan
Train exhibit idea?
Then he is shot!!! He dies after running his
car into the back of Maggie’s car. Who killed
him? Was the killing of the older unknown man
related to the killing of the contest judge?
Is there a connection between the two men?
There is a variety of characters involved in
the Pelican Mardi Gras Festival Activities
that all add flavor not only to the gumbo
being made but to the contest and murder
mystery. There are plenty of well created
suspects to sift through to find the culprit.
Mix a taste of deceit, secrets, murders, social
issues (autism, veterans and teen pregnancy),
deft description, historical fiction, romance
and plenty of southern humor makes this
story an intriguing, suspenseful and dramatic
read with mouthwatering recipes at the end.
This is book # 4 in the Cajun Country Mysteries
series. It can be read as a stand alone.
I volunteered to read Mardi Gras Murder.
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books via Net Gallery
for the opportunity. My opinion is voluntary and
my own.