French Quarter Fright Night by Ellen Byron

 

First Line: Muhwaa ha ha!

 

It's Halloween in New Orleans, and the staff of the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum is busy setting up a fantastic haunted house tour despite all attempts from the next-door neighbor's nasty assistant to put a stop to it all. 

Gift shop manager Ricki James-Diaz is in for a shock when, in trying to put a stop to the assistant's machinations, she learns that the new next-door neighbor is none other than popular movie star, Blaine Taggart. Yes, there's a history there between the two.

When the aforementioned nasty assistant's body is found in Bon Vee's prop tomb, everyone at the museum becomes a suspect, and that means Ricki and her friends have a killer to catch.

~

French Quarter Fright Night is another enjoyable entry in Ellen Byron's Vintage Cookbook cozy series. I really enjoy the New Orleans setting as well as all the merchandise Ricki finds for her gift shop. I also liked seeing how folks in New Orleans get ready for Halloween.

There's a good mix of characters in this third book in the series. Ricki is likable and smart, and she certainly has an interesting mix of friends. Movie star Blaine Taggart is an interesting addition, often showing how celebrities seem to be from a different planet. Ricki's friend, Cookie the "recovering children's librarian" rapidly became tiresome with all her attempts to flaunt her charms right in Taggart's face, but there are others-- like Mordant "the human Eeyore" and college intern Olivia Felice-- who took my mind right off Cookie.

The mystery is a strong one that kept me guessing, and I liked the continuing search into Ricki's family history. If you like cozy mysteries with a strong sense of place and a good cast of characters, try Ellen Byron's Vintage Cookbook series. The first book is Bayou Book Thief.

French Quarter Fright Night by Ellen Byron

eISBN: 9781448312665

Severn House © 2024

eBook, 256 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #4 Vintage Cookbook

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

Wined and Died in New Orleans by Ellen Byron

 

First Line: Ricki's heart hammered as she glanced at the ominous black clouds hovering over New Orleans from the front window of her shotgun cottage home.

 

It's hard to focus on business when it's hurricane season in New Orleans and you're a hurricane virgin, but Ricki Diaz-James needs to keep Miss Vee's Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop stocked. When a trove of valuable vintage wine is unearthed during some repair work on the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum and the news goes viral, Ricki is thrilled at the thought of the potential boost in her sales.

Eugenia Charbonnet Felice, head of the Louisiana Charbonnets as well as the museum, immediately begins planning for an auction and other related events. The money all this brings in will help keep the museum afloat. But one thing that Eugenia didn't plan for was every possible Charbonnet relative popping out of the woodwork and heading straight for New Orleans and their share of the proceeds.

Then a dead body turns up on the museum grounds and Eugenia is the prime suspect. Ricki isn't about to let the older woman take the blame for a crime Ricki is positive she didn't commit, so for the second time in a few months, it's Ricki to the rescue.

~

This second Vintage Cookbook mystery is every bit as entertaining as the first. I enjoyed reading about seasoned New Orleanians' reactions to hurricane season as opposed to newbie Ricki's, and I certainly enjoyed tagging along as she bought stock for her shop. As someone who's always hated cooking, you'd think that I wouldn't touch a series with a theme of vintage cookbooks and kitchenware, but I find myself a bit enchanted with it. Perhaps it's because Ricki and her stock bring back memories of my mother and grandmother. Who knows? But this series isn't solely vintage-- I also appreciated Eugenia's granddaughter's crash course in using social media to boost sales.

Speaking of Eugenia, the head of the Louisiana Charbonnets, another source of entertainment was watching all the distant relatives scuttle out of the woodwork when the cache of extremely valuable wine was uncovered. I never knew when a new branch of the family was going to pop up next (or where it would be from). 

There are a lot of family dynamics in Wined and Died in New Orleans, and it doesn't just concern who's going to get a share of the wine profits. Byron's series is shaping up to be one of my favorites because, not only does it have a strong, interesting main character, but it also entertains and educates. Who could ask for anything more?

Wined and Died in New Orleans by Ellen Byron

eISBN: 9780593437643

Berkley Prime Crime © 2023

eBook, 288 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #2 Vintage Cookbook mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

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