cover image A Cajun Christmas Killing: A Cajun Country Mystery

A Cajun Christmas Killing: A Cajun Country Mystery

Ellen Byron. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-68331-305-2

Byron’s superb third Cajun Country mystery featuring artist Maggie Crozat (after 2016’s Body on the Bayou) finds Maggie’s father, Tug, under a lot of stress because the family business, Preferred Property Collection, is under threat. Maggie learns from Uncle Tig, Tug’s twin brother, who buys historic properties and turns them into boutique hotels, that unscrupulous hedge fund manager Steve Harmon—a guest at the Crozat Plantation B and B—plans to take over PPC. Later, while giving a tour at Doucet Plantation, her maternal family’s ancestral home, Maggie discovers Harmon dead in a wing chair. In addition to various members of the Crozat family, Maggie’s main man, Det. Bo Durand of the Pelican, La., PD, becomes a suspect in Harmon’s murder. With Christmas and the arrival of the Cajun Santa, Papa Noel, just ahead, Maggie has to work fast to solve the crime. Stir in Bo’s ex-wife and Maggie’s former fiancé, and there’s no end to the mischief and mayhem in this exceptional cozy. [em]Agent: Doug Grad, Doug Grad Literary Agency. (Oct.) [/em]