USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Ellen Byron cranks it up to eleven in the fifth fast and funny Cajun Country mystery.Louisiana B&B owner Maggie Crozat kicks up her heels at a country music festival–but she’ll have one foot in the grave if she can’t bring the killer of a diva’s hanger-on to heel.Grab your tickets for Cajun Country Live!, the pickers’ and crooners’ answer to the … Country Live!, the pickers’ and crooners’ answer to the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, plans to be in the cheering section when her friend Gaynell Bourgeois takes the stage with her band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls.
The festival’s headliner, native daughter Tammy Barker, rocketed to stardom on a TV singing competition. She has the voice of an angel…and the personality of a devilish diva. But Maggie learns that this tiny terror carries a grudge against Gaynell. She’s already sabotaged the Gator Girls’ JazzFest audition. When a member of Tammy’s entourage is murdered at the festival, Tammy makes sure Gaynell is number one on the suspect list.
Gaynell has plenty of company on that list–including every one of Tammy’s musicians. Posing as a groupie, Maggie infiltrates Tammy’s band and will have to hit all the right notes to clear her friend’s name.
more
This was a fun cozy and gave a nice look into life in Cajun Country life. The town of Pelican is host “Cajun Country Life!”. The main draw is a home town girl who has made it big named Tammy. Maggie’s family B&B is is hosting Tammy and some of her “people”. When Tammy’s manager is murdered, the finger is pointed at Maggie’s friend Gaynell. Maggie is set to prove her innocence along with her fiance Bo, who is a police officer.
The story is filled with jealousy, egos, and intrigue. I like Maggie and her fiends. Lots of quirky characters, and Cajun info. The mystery kept me turning the pages.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Maggie is getting ready for the country music festival in town. The festival headliner and Pelican native Tammy is staying at Maggie’s family home which is now Crozet B&B. Tammy may have the voice of an angel but not the personality of one. She seems to be out to sabotage one of Maggie’s friends, Gaynell. When one of Tammy’s entourage is killed Gaynell is a person of interest. Maggie is determined to prove Gaynell is innocent and reveal who Tammy really is.
I love this series, the books are always well written and entertaining to read. The characters are interesting and delightfully quirky. The mystery is well plotted, with a great pace and contains several well placed red herrings to keep the reading engaged and guessing until the big reveal. The setting of the music festival was a fun way to bring in Tammy’s character and show how famous some times changes people or how some people don’t really change others just accept their rotten personalities because they are “famous”. I recommend this book to fans of the series and all cozy mystery lovers, also for the foodie’s out there this book includes some recipes from the Crozet B&B.
I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.
entertainer, Louisiana, law-enforcement, jealousy, cozy-mystery, recipes, family, friendship
***** Great story whether you’ve read the earlier ones or not! However, this is not an unbiased review because I love this series, NOLA and the Bayou country, and especially the FOOD.
Maggie Crozat is the main person along with her extended family and friends. This year the celebration is a music festival headlined by a gal raised locally but so full of herself that she alienates everyone around her. Her manager gets murdered and that sets everything off. Meanwhile, cousin Lia is on bed rest awaiting triplets, friend Gaynell gets arrested, Maggie and her local detective fiance pretend to be having issues as a diversion in the murder investigation. And besides all that, Grandmere is going through all her memorabilia and finds something disturbing.
The cast of characters is at the beginning, and a few great recipes at the end.
An excellent read and well worth the price.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
So many people made me mad in this book. Tammy and the Gator Girls minus Gay and all of Tammy ‘s entourage. The Gator Girls joining up with Tammy without Gay was so wrong that I might have said a bad word. I was hoping Tammy would have been the victim or the killer (either way she would go away ) but I actually felt sad at the reveal. Good story either way and I have a couple more to read .
Dollycas’s Thoughts
We arrive in Pelican, Louisiana just in time for Cajun Country Live! the brainchild of Maggie’s grandmere. The event has lured hometown favorite, Tammy Barker, back as the headliner for the first time since she won that singing competition on television. Maggie’s friend Gaynell will also be performing with her band the Gator Girls in hopes of making it big like Tammy. It isn’t until after Tammy checks into Crozat Plantation B&B that Maggie learns that Tammy is holding an old grudge against Gaynell.
Tammy seems to be trying to help Gaynell when in truth she is trying to sabotage her any way she can and when one of Tammy’s crew is freakishly killed in front of a crowd at the festival, she makes sure Gaynell is the police’s prime suspect. Maggie knows her friend is innocent and will pull out all the stops to prove it.
____
This series has some of the most well-developed characters out there. Their lives are interesting and entertaining even before adding the murder mystery. These daily life subplots never fail to draw me in. This time Maggie’s grandmother is doing the Swedish tradition of döstädning, which translates to death cleaning. Through this process, she makes a surprising discovery.
The main mystery did have a variety of suspects with opportunity and the author really tangled up all the possibilities. A twist confirmed a little inkling I had and the ending of the murder mystery came together nicely. But that wasn’t the end of the story. There were more surprises to come.
Music, mystery, and mayhem make Fatal Cajun Festival a must-read. I was so excited to have the next book, Murder in the Bayou Boneyard waiting on my Kindle that I dove right in as soon as I finished this book.
Love this series!!! A jazz Festival is going on in Pelican and a local girl who is now a famous singer returns. When the singer’s manager is murdered on stage, Maggie’s friend, Gaynell, is the prime suspect as she had just had a very public argument with the man. Tammy, the singer, doesn’t help as she has some sort of grudge against Gaynell. It’s up to Maggie to infiltrate the band and ferret out a killer. This book kept me guessing with all the band members and Tammy herself being suspects. This was a very enjoyable read and I can’t wait to read more of this fantastic series!! Excited to see Maggie and Bo get married, too! If you haven’t read this series yet, you definitely need to start!
Reading one of Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country mysteries is almost like taking a trip to Louisiana. Maggie would be sure to have a room for me at her B&B. Here we are with the fifth mystery for Maggie and her friends and family to investigate. Her Grand Mere has come up with the idea of putting on a music festival to be a lead in to the big Jazz Festival in New Orleans. That brings trouble to their town of Pelican in the form of a homicide. Tammy Barker left her home town and made it big as a singer. Coming back because of the festival makes more than one person very uncomfortable and it leads to the killing of her manager. Because there had been bad blood between Tammy and Maggie’s friend Gaynell back in high school, poor Gaynell becomes a prime suspect. Maggie isn’t about to let anything to happen to her and works to track down the killer.
Several sub stories are added – one involving her Grand Mere and something she uncovers when she does a Swedish death cleaning called dostadning that will bring change to her life and the other is the question of when, oh when will Maggie and Bo finally tie the knot.
I love spending time with these characters, the B&B and the bayou. The mystery is always a challenge and the twists, turns and red herrings get me every time. Just the way I like my mysteries.
If that’s not enough, there are recipes – yummy recipes for jambalaya, pralines, shrimp etouffee and a rum raisin cake with rum frosting.
My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Pelican is having a music festival and Maggie and her family are heavily involved. A local band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls plan to play and hope to become successful. However, a local girl gone viral, Tammy Barker, is the headliner. Tammy bullies Gaynell as she did in high school. When an electrical issue causes a death, Gaynell is the chief suspect.
This is my first Cajun Country Mystery book to read. I loved the characters and look forward to reading about them again. Good story and great location.
Fatal Cajun Festival is the fifth in the Cajun Country Mystery series by Ellen Byron. I have read every book in this series and it is one of my all time favorites. Having said that, I feel you could read this as a stand alone but you will benefit from reading all of the books.
Our protagonist, Maggie Crozat, and her family own a B&B in Pelican, LA. and it’s time for Cajun Country Live, a music festival Maggie’s friend and co-worker, Gaynell has an all girls band, the Gator Girls and will be performing and hoping this will be the big break for them. But when there is a murder on the stage of a member of the headliners entourage, all eyes are on Gaynell. Maggie knows she couldn’t nor wouldn’t have done it. It’s up to Maggie and her detective finace, Bo to find the actual killer.
You get plenty of twists and turns, romance, humor, and family and friendship.
This is a well written, easy to read cozy mystery
Warning, you may have a craving for pralines but there are recipes included.
I was given an ARC by the publisher and NetGalley and have provided an honest review..
I love so many things about this series: the relatable and likeable characters, the not-so-likeable characters, the well written mysteries, and the captivating stories. In Fatal Cajun Festival, Maggie and her family’s B&B host a local-turned-famous singer who comes to town to headline the Cajun Festival and someone dies under suspicious conditions. When someone close to Maggie becomes the main suspect, Maggie decides she needs to find the real culprit before an innocent bystander is unjustly accused. I never once suspected the real culprit in this story, though there were some strong suspects. I love how this book – and series – focus on family, friends, food, and festivities in true Louisiana style! The relationships and the mysteries keep me coming back for more.
I received an advance copy of this book. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
Once again Ellen Byron takes us to the fictional town of Pelican, Louisiana, where rising country star Tammy Baker returns to her hometown bringing with her a group of musicians with problems of their own, and it doesn’t take long for a member of her entourage to be murdered. When Maggie’s friend Gaynell is accused of the deed, Maggie and her hunky fiance, Detective Bo Durand, must work together to find the real murderer and clear her name.
Another rollicking good time set in the bayou, Agatha Award winning author Ellen Byron shows readers exactly why her Cajun Country Mystery Series is an absolute must for all lovers of cozies, Scrumptious recipes are included at the end, and I’m really looking forward to making the pralines!. 5 stars, A+, and highly recommended!
I think I’ve figured out part of the author’s secret to my inability to outthink the plot: there are always so many other fascinating things going on, I get distracted by the sparkly red herrings and totally overlook the important clues. For this fact alone, I adore this series. I was completely engrossed in the story, invested in the lives of the whole Crozat clan, and desperate to find out what was really going on since I didn’t pick up on the vital information to solve the mysteries. That was such a fun ride, I can’t wait to do it again.
I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book through NetGalley.
COME PASS A GOOD TIME, CHÈRE!
When you open an Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mystery, set in the beautiful and inviting Pelican, LA, you will be greeted by all the locals saying, “Come Pass A Good Time, CHÈRE!” In other words, “Come join our family and friends and have a great time!” You will always be welcome to stay at the Crozat B&B where descendants of the original owners still reside. FATAL CAJUN FESTIVAL is Byron’s latest installment and it is a winner!
Grand-mère Crozat suggested at the tourism board meeting that the town host CAJUN COUNTRY LIVE! for people who were passing through on their way to Jazz Fest in New Orleans. The headliner will be a local girl who recently found fame & fortune by winning a national talent search. Sounds Simple Enough. When said singer & her entourage roll in to Pelican, it seems as if most everyone else’s brains have taken a leave of absence! Old jealousies, past hurts, hero worship and relatives who haven’t been heard from (much less SEEN) in years suddenly appear to be bosom buddies, a band made up of thrown together has-beens and an egotistical, womanizing manager all add up to one thing – Peril in Pelican that ends up with a Fatality during the Festival!
Byron is a master of this genre and this area and its people. When you’ve finished one of her books, you feel as though you’ve literally taken a trip to small town Louisiana and had a visit! Like any good Louisiana Hostess, she always shares her favorite Recipes. Don’t overstay your welcome though or cause any mayhem or mischief because there’s always something spooky going on in the Bayou …
I was provided an ARC of this book by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.
Series: A Cajun Country Mystery – Book 4
Author: Ellen Byron
Genre: Cozy Mystery/B&B
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Page Count: 304
Publishing Date: September 10,
The newest addition Fatal Cajun Festival to the “A Cajun Country Mystery” series by Ellen Byron comes from Crooked Lane Books on September 10th. Readers should rush to get this one and the entire cozy series! The 4th book in this series will not disappoint fans. It is brilliantly entertaining, exciting, with enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing to the very end. These cozies are addictive and fun!
Maggie is easy to like. She is loyal, compassionate, and determined. When her friend’s career and possible prison time threatens Gaynell’s future, Maggie comes to the rescue. Characters in these cozies are lovable, readers connect with, and find them believable. There is at least one member of the cast that readers love, for me its Maggie’s Gran. I wanted her to play a much more significant role in this new book, but the story works well with minimal scenes with her, and other characters that are part of Maggie’s world.
The victim is not likable in the least, exactly the way you want your victim. Towards the end of the book, readers may find themselves feeling sympathy for him. The killer is remorseless and a perfect villain. Red herrings thrive in this book and keep readers on their toes. The unmasking of the murderer in cozies is traditionally the most exciting part of the mystery, and this remains true in Fatal Cajun Festival.
I enjoyed reading this book and the series and happily recommend it to readers of cozies everywhere. If you haven’t read any of the books in this series, now is a great time to start. You won’t regret it!