Mardi Gras Murder–review

This is the fourth book in the Cajun Country series by Ellen Byron, and I absolutely loved it! I didn’t want the book to end, but the showdown came a little before the exact ending of the book, which was spent recapping and telling about everyone having fun at Second Mardi Gras. Tug has fussed about his gumbo recipe the whole time and we get to find out who the grand winner of the trophy was. Nope, not going to tell, you’ll just have to read and find out! 😉 There was a fun side story with Maggie restoring a painting and getting to interact with Bo’s son Xander.

My Goodreads review:

Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really loved this newest installment in the Cajun Country series! It’s always like going back home to old friends in Pelican, Louisiana when I read one of this series.

This time it’s almost time for Mardi Gras and that has Maggie’s dad Tug immersed in the ever-important gumbo cook-off for the Mardi Gras festival, and perfecting this year’s recipe. A few weeks before, the whole area had been badly flooded and a John Doe was found on the Crozat property. When one of the judges for the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras pageant was found dead, actually dying (by, you guessed it, Maggie) there was speculation about whether this death was connected to that of the John Doe.

This case took Pelican’s finest, er well Bo being the finest and Ru being the only other detective that could go, on assignment in NYC since the John Doe suddenly had an identity and was from NYC. Oh, it was so funny when Bo would call Maggie with his day’s happenings. If we thought the Pelican PD didn’t think highly of cousin Ru, let’s just say the NYPD really topped them on that. They couldn’t wait to see him leave, lol. Taking Ru to NYC was like taking a kid to a big toy store! All he could think of was food, more food and Broadway shows.

The mystery pulled in some past history regarding orphans that had arrived in Pelican by train. There were plenty of suspects and since I had no idea of who I suspected, I just enjoyed reading how it all turned out. The showdown was awesome and actually fun. And…just wait until you read the book ending. I gar-an-tee you’ll love it!

I really enjoyed all the teen contestant characters, even Belle who proved that she wasn’t as shallow as some people had thought. The bond between cousins Kaity and Allie was pretty awesome, kind of how close Maggie and her cousin Lia are. They weren’t about to let some pageant ruin their family ties. I liked the other new character of Jayden too. Kaity seemed really taken with him, so I really hope that their characters show up again. Maggie was even on good terms now with Whitney, Bo’s ex who was remarried and not having much luck in the baby-having department, but by the end of the book, there was a great solution for her and hubby Zach. I really didn’t want this book to end!

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