Wednesday, June 08, 2022

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron

First Line: In some cities, a middle-aged woman dancing down the street dressed as a cross between a 1970s disco queen and Wilma Flintstone would be unusual.

When her husband dies attempting a stupid internet stunt, 28-year-old widow Ricki Diaz-James returns to New Orleans, the city where she was adopted by the NICU nurse who cared for her when Ricki's teenage mother disappeared from the hospital.

Now she's got her dream job: running the gift shop in the spectacular Garden District mansion Bon Vee which is now the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, an homage to its former owner, celebrated restauranteur Genevieve "Vee" Charbonnet. Ricki's passion is collecting vintage cookbooks, so Miss Vee's Vintage Cookbooks & Kitchenwares is just the business to make her heart sing. That isc until she opens a trunk of donated books to find instead the body of a cantankerous Bon Vee employee who'd been caught stealing books and fired.

Ricki doesn't want to see her new career crash and burn before it truly starts, so she begins using some of the skills she's honed in ferreting out vintage treasures to find a killer. But will her past prove more of a liability than she anticipated?

~

New Orleans, vintage cookbooks and kitchenwares, a book thief, a fabulous Garden District mansion... Ellen Byron's Bayou Book Thief was an irresistible siren call to my imagination, and reading it was a delight.

Ah, New Orleans, which dubs itself as the home of the original foodies. From streetcars to peacocks named Gumbo and Jambalaya to po'boy contests, the city is a character in this enjoyable mystery. I had to smile at a running thread throughout the book which concerns Ricki's air conditioner breaking down, her investigation of a repairman, and her purchase of a swamp cooler-- an item that I'm quite familiar with here in the Sonoran Desert (where it works much better than in soggy New Orleans).

The cast of characters is rich and varied, and I enjoyed learning about them all: Ricki herself, Cookie the "recovering children's librarian," Madame Noisette whose signature color is purple, nonagenarian German Guillory, Eugenia Charbonnet, and all the rest. Byron has peopled the first book of her series with just enough characters to keep the focus moving from mystery to mystery.

For someone who doesn't like to cook, you'd think I wouldn't enjoy books with strong ties to vintage cookbooks and kitchenware, but I do. Possibly because those things bring back memories of my mother and grandmother creating amazing things in their kitchens with tools and books similar to the ones Ricki has in her shop. 

Let's see... a fantastic setting, characters who will become your fictional friends, a good mystery to solve, and plenty of (often laugh-out-loud) wit, Bayou Book Thief is a great beginning to a series that I will be returning to again and again.

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron
eISBN: 9780593437629
Berkley Prime Crime © 2022
eBook, 304 pages
 
Cozy Mystery, #1 Vintage Cookbook mystery
Rating: A
Source: Net Galley

9 comments:

  1. I'm glad you enjoyed this so much, Cathy. The setting is terrific, and if it's about books, count me intrigued! I like the sound of the main character, too - a solid female lead character who's not a 'superhero.'

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    1. Far from it-- which makes her more relatable.

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  2. My younger daughter (the former librarian) and I are taking a road trip next week. This sounds like it might be a good audio book to listen to on the trip.

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  3. Great review, Cathy! I'm looking forward to reading this one.

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    1. I think you'll really enjoy it, Gretchen.

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  4. I watch the short videos for recipes that my friends post without ever feeling the need to try said recipes myself, so I certainly understand your reaction to the food from this setting. Having been lucky enough to visit the Big Easy briefly, I still think fondly of the food and hope for the chance to plan a longer visit sometime.

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    1. ?!? Not only do we share reading DNA but we also have similar attitudes toward the culinary arts? We must be related!

      I've been close to New Orleans, but have yet to visit. I'd love to because with my love of Cajun food, I swear I have ancestors from the Crescent City and the bayous. Denis loves my jambalaya, gumbo... oh oh. I started hearing Hank Williams Sr. singing "Jam-bo-lye and a crawfish pie and a filet gumbo! For tonight I'ma gonna see..." LOL

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  5. New series for me. Thanks for the post.

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