USA Today bestselling author Ellen Byron is back at it with fan-favorite plantation B&B owner Maggie Crozat in a fourth installment of the Cajun Country mysteries. 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, … 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.
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We’re back at the Crozat plantation now B&B with our hero, Maggie Crozat, an artist cum antebellum tour guide, her handsome cop boyfriend, Bo, her feisty grandmother and all the regulars.
When a body floats is found in the flood-swollen river just before Pelican’s Mardi Gras celebration, Maggie is determined to give the body a name and find out why he was murdered just as she is being roped into being a Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen judge.
The story is told with the same quirky humor that we’ve come to love sprinkled with genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Can’t wait for the next installment.
Forget about New Orleans y’all. I want to go to Mardi Gras in Pelican and stay at the Crozat Plantation Bed and Breakfast!
Author Ellen Byron has penned another Cajun mystery delight. I was quickly pulled into MARDI GRAS MURDER, and held captivated until the last page.
This was a thrilling murder mystery combined with subplots that increases the depth of the story. Page after page, I hung on every word, and by the end of the book I was near breathless.
Mystery, humor, action, and wonderful recipes make MARDI GRAS MURDER a must read!
Mardi Gras Murder is the fourth in the Cajun County Mysteries by Ellen Byron. Maggie Crozat has come home to Pelican from the big city of New York and is finding a life there with her parents and boyfriend, Bo. It is time for Mardi Gras and in many peoples’ eyes the celebration in Pelican is far more appealing than the larger one in New Orleans. Maggie works as an interpreter/guide at Doucet manor, a local historical museum. The entire area is still reeling from a recent hurricane that plowed through town, leaving mayhem in its wake. At Doucet, a damaged painting is noticed and Maggie, being an artist, as asked to restore it, which she does to amazing ends.
Maggie has been drafted into filling her grandmother’s spot on the Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen’s judging panel, which she is not enjoying at all. Far too many gumbo queen moms jockeying for position, plus an unknown man has turned up dead and Maggie just can’t quite let that go. The Historical Society plans a show soon featuring the Orphan Train passengers that ended up in and around Pelican. There is a lot going on and Maggie is in the thick of it.
Mardi Gras Murder has a definite Southern feel to it, at least to the Westerner. That is one of its endearing qualities. The characters give off a Southern vibe consistently and the whole book reeks of “small town.” The peripheral characters are as well drawn as the main characters, which makes for an enticing read. Characters make up 75% of a cozy’s allure. The mystery is a good one, based on something we are all familiar with: keeping up appearances and peoples’ need to fit in to their world. The setting is appealing and interesting and the subplots are delicious. All in all, a good read for a rainy afternoon. I recommend it.
I received an ARC of Mardi Gras Murder in exchange for a fair and honest review.
What a delightful book – this story was just as colorful on the inside, as the outstanding colorful cover design of this charming Southern murder mystery! This book had me to the very end, with a quick paced story, staging new excitement with every turn of the page. A pageant is afoot and Grand-mere is under the weather, meaning Maggie must take her place as a judge. During the pageantries, multiple murders occur and Maggie must get to the bottom of them before anything further happens. There are many characters in this book but a very helpful chart at the beginning of the book to help remind the reader of who’s who. It’s not too many one can’t follow the story, but i really appreciated the list as this was my first introduction to this series. And speaking of, I don’t feel like I missed out on being able to follow along because I hadn’t read the earlier entries (I can’t wait to catch up!). I was surprised to learn the author was from Southern California as so much of her writing made me believe she couldn’t have been from anywhere else, but the middle of her Southern setting. The great cultural descriptions of Mardi Gras and festivities made me feel immersed in the great South, with very inviting and well researched history and details. There were multiple storylines weaved together and the way each detail was pieced together, flowed just as fast and strong as the floods that brought in the first murdered mystery guest in the story! And again, I just can’t say enough how much I loved the setting! I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships with each other too. I can’t wait to go back and catch up on the first couple of books in this series! Don’t pass this book up!
Another hit from Ellen Byron! This is fast becoming one of my favorite series and I loved the book! Mardi Gras is here in Pelican, Louisiana. A recent flood washed up a deceased man behind the Crozat Plantation. After a judge for the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen contest is murdered, it seems that there might be a connection. Maggie gets involved investigating while in the midst of being a judge for the beauty contest. There are a few bumps in the road for Maggie and Bo, but I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them and Bo’s son, Xander. I really hope there will be many more books in this series as the characters are so much fun and I love learning about the Cajun culture.
Don’t let book 4 scare you off if you haven’t read the rest.
This is a great series and you can jump in at anytime.
You’ve only missed a little romance and alot of mystery but you can always go back.
Mardi Gras Murder was a fun read. I did have a bit of a hard time keeping the pageant contestants and moms straight but I finally got them all straight.
There are quite a few characters in the story/plot but they all have their own places in the story and everything comes together in the end.
The series takes place around an historical home turned museum.
The main character Maggie works at the museum as a tour guide.
But she is really a talented artist. When it’s realized that a painting in the museum has been painted over Maggie gets the job of doing the restoration. While restoring the painting a ‘can of worms’ is opened and more drama/conflict.
All the while she is hoodwinked by her granny into judging the
Miss Gumbo pageant. More drama/mystery begins when one of the other judges is murdered.
And so while the gumbo simmers the plot thickens until the climatic end when the real villain tries to take out not only Maggie but her best friend and Maggie’s beau. On a side note the ending reminded me of one of my favorite movies Romancing The Stone. You’ll have to read it yourself to find out why!
If you enjoy a good great cozy you’ll be hooked on this series.
I received a complimentary copy.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Pelican, Louisiana is underwater, floods have ravaged the area. The clean up continues as the residents prepare for their Mardi Gras celebration complete with a parade, contest to crown a gumbo queen and a gumbo cook-off. Then a body is found in the water behind the Crozat Plantation B&B. No one recognizes the man so its going to be a tough case to solve but Maggie is going to do her best to find out who he is and who killed him.
Maggie also gets roped into the queen contest as a judge where she learns about the Louisiana Orphan Train and that the exhibit set to open has been postponed. She also comes upon another dead body, one of her fellow judges. She is starting the think the deaths have to be connected and may even have something to do with the Orphan Train exhibit. She also makes an interesting discovery at Doucet and another at Grove Hall.
The floodwaters are receding but the bodies are starting to pile up. It’s time to catch this killer before they strike again!
Oh my goodness, the author has filled this book with so much Mardi Gras goodness! Maggie is involved in everything, I was tired out she reading about all the things she did. In addition to all her duties and murder queries she and Bo are having trouble connecting. With his job, the flood damage, and his son he doesn’t have much free time. But there are some issues below the surface too. I was rooting for this couple through the entire story, worried and concerned but so happy with the ending.
There are a lot of characters within these pages. Study the wonderful cast of characters list the author provides at the beginning of the book before you start reading. Each character is unique so you shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping everyone straight. The core characters all shine and the supporting cast is excellent. The character development over the series and within this story is exceptional.
The story is very well plotted with some fabulous twists. I love the way Ms. Byron entangles the story-lines all together and blends in history and humor that hooks the reader from the first page to the last. Filled with Southern charm and a Cajun’ theme this story was so much fun to read.
Each story in this series has been a perfect escape. I always recommend starting a series from the beginning for maximum enjoyment but this story would read well all on its own.
This is a story about Mardi Gras and Gumbo in a little town called Pelican. While the town might be little, the celebrations and cooking contests are most certainly not. Nor are the contests taken lightly. The contests are as important as one’s blood line. This is a story about some families still of a mind that good blood lines are more important than good people.
Right in the middle of the Pelican contest highlights, Maggie’s dad loses his well-seasoned jumbo gumbo pot. Can you imagine? Not only does someone take their best jumbo gumbo pot but it is also the pot that it has taken years and years to get all of that burny crud on there to season it. What a loss huh? Actually, if my mom read this she’d be mad at me for making fun of how long it takes to season a good iron skillet. Nonetheless, you have to like a little gumbo to get this gist of this. Before I leave this part of the review, I do want to remind you that gumbo has okra in it, just in case you have forgotten. Ew.
I think from the above paragraphs you can see that many of the scenes as well as the characters were well-defined enough for me to have a pretty good picture of life in Pelican and of Maggie’s family.
I hope I’ve given you the impression that this is a light-hearted, quite sarcastic and funny cozy. I love sarcastic and I love light-hearted so it was truly my kind of story.
This is a part of a series titled “A Cajun Country Mystery”. Looks online like they all have good reviews so I think you should check them all out.
***This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for an honest review.