Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Book Tour

I'm so happy to be a stop on the blog tour for

MARDI GRAS MURDER

Book 4 in the Cajun Country Mysteries

by Ellen Byron

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, 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.

A GUEST POST FROM MAGNOLIA “MARIE” MAGGIE CROZAT OF THE CAJUN COUNTRY MYSTERIES

Hi! I’m Magnolia Marie Crozat, although everyone calls me Maggie. About a year ago, I moved from New York back to my hometown of Pelican, Louisiana – town motto, “Yes, We Peli-CAN!” – to help out at the family business, Crozat B and B. Crozat is a plantation that’s been in my dad’s family since it was built in the 1800s. I also work as a tour guide at Doucet Plantation, which belonged to my mother’s family but is now open to the public.

I’m an artist. Before I returned to Pelican, I was living in New York with my boyfriend. We ran an art gallery together. Chris and I had been together for years, but he was dragging his feet about progressing to what he called the “M word” – marriage. I gave him six months to decide whether or not he wanted to make the leap. He decided he did – but to someone else. That’s when I bailed on our relationship and our business and retreated to my tiny hometown between Plantation and Cajun Country.

I never imagined I’d end up back home, where an artistic type like me is a bit of a fish out of water. But I’m starting to see that maybe I was meant to be here. The local scenery, with its bayous and lush vegetation, is inspiring my paintings. I’ve also created a line of souvenirs featuring my less traditional illustrations of local plantations and historical sites. And… I have a boyfriend. Bo Durand, who moved to town around the same time I did. He’s a detective with Pelican PD, where his cousin Rufus is chief. Rufus Durand has carried on a grudge against my family that’s lasted for a hundred and fifty years. Seems one of my great-great-greats was engaged to one of his, who was caught cheating on her. The Durands believe my ancestor put a curse on his family dooming all their relationships. Of course, this relieves Rufus of any of his own responsibility for messed up romances. But he doesn’t see it that way.

Luckily, Bo thinks the whole curse thing is ridiculous, although he is divorced. Unlike Rufus, he owns up to his part in the breakup. He and his ex, Whitney, married right out of college and grew apart. They share custody of their seven-year-old son, Xander, a darling boy with Asperger’s Syndrome who happens to be an amazingly talented artist himself. I give him art lessons and watching him blossom as an artist and increasingly confident young boy has been one of the great joys of my life.

Now if we could just find a way to stop the murders that keep up-ending life in Pelican and our family business…

📚📖📚📖📚

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

Winner will be chosen after November 2.

at the end of the tour

1 lucky reader will win a hardcover copy of

MARDI GRAS MURDER
and author swag!

USA only

Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.

This giveaway is through Great Escape Book Tours, not Lisa Ks Book Reviews.

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!

About the Author

Ellen Byron authors the Cajun Country Mystery series. A Cajun Christmas Killing and Body on the Bayou both won the Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery and were nominated for Agatha awards in the category of Best Contemporary Novel. Plantation Shudders was nominated for Agatha, Lefty, and Daphne awards. Mardi Gras Murder launches October 9th. Ellen’s TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents. She’s written over 200 national magazine articles, and her published plays include the award-winning Graceland. She also worked as a cater-waiter for the legendary Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing.