Fatal Cajun Festival (A Cajun Country Mystery)

Have all other books by this author and thought this was one of the best. Love the story set in Louisiana. So different. Would highly recommend for the season.

As expected, this newest installment of the Cajun Country Mysteries proved to be another fast-paced adventure filled with live boot-scootin’ music, scrumptious Southern cooking and a dash of romance as steamy as a pot of Tugg’s famous jambalaya! Will we see wedding bells in the next book? I hope so!

Summed Up: Maggie Crozat is on the case once again—and this time it’s happening at a music festival starring the illustrious Tammy Barker, a small town mean girl-turned country sensation superstar (think Taylor Swift meet Miley Cyrus…yuck). The mystery begins when Tammy’s sleazy manager gets zapped to death on stage, and all eyes are on Maggie’s best bud, Gaynell! It’s up to Maggie to piece together the clues (with her hunky cop boyfriend, of course) to find the real killer before her songbird bestie becomes a jailbird. Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.

What worked: The mystery proved to be quite a puzzle with loads of suspects who all have ample motives for electrocuting the womanizing manager. As with all cozy mysteries, there’s a tangled web of characters thrown into this big ol’ spicy pot of jambalaya, but thankfully we have a character map at the front of the book to sort them all out. I’m sure that all my fellow cozy mystery lovers would agree that this is a highly necessary tool. Either way, this was another clever whodunit with a surprise ending—even for this seasoned mystery fan.

What didn’t work: I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of the sub-plot involving Maggie’s granny doing her “death cleaning,” meaning downsizing her belongings to prepare for the great beyond. I know it’s practical and worth doing, but yeah…it made me squeamish.

Favorite Character: CeeCee and I love a strong, dog-loving heroine with a penchant for mischief! What we love most about Maggie is her loyalty to her friends and family. Gaynell is a lucky girl to have such a talented super sleuth for a bestie. Let’s face it, in a town with such a high body count, you just never know what’s going to happen!

Least favorite character: Tammy Barker is—hands down—the most deplorable character in this book. She’s everything that’s wrong with country-crossover-pop music these days, and I couldn’t wait for her to become the next victim. Did she end up on the killer’s hit list? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

This book is best pared with: A giant homemade praline and a cold glass of sweet tea.

I have to admit – I just love the Cajun Country Mystery series and the fifth entry, Fatal Cajun Festival, did not disappoint! Maggie is gearing up and turning out pralines like hot cakes for the upcoming Cajun Country Live music festival. I’m glad to see that Ellen Byron is developing and adding complexity to her great collection of eclectic characters. There are some new introductions, including the hometown girl (Tammy) who hit it big on a reality singing show and her entourage, including her off-putting manager Pony.

Maggie’s good friend Gaynell, who packs her own serious set of pipes, is less than happy to see her high school tormentor Tammy returning to town and once again stealing the limelight (and a song or two). Not Pony makes a rather indecent proposal to Gaynell, he’s electrocuted on stage. Freak accident or well-planned murder?

While I’m not loving all of the plot points (the fake break-up was just awkward and didn’t move the plot forward), it was a solid entry in the series. I loved GranMere’s side story. Overall, I enjoyed Fatal Cajun Festival and I’m excited for the next book in the series!

Love this author great series

Thank you so much for the quality of this item. This is currently my favorite book series. Her books have gotten me through the last year! I would advise anyone to read them, you will not be disappointed.

This is my second book by Ms Byron and I found it quite fun reading! Never been to Louisiana, she make you feel like you are right there in all the action and melee at the festival. You even get a feeling of resentment from a couple of her characters and suspicions that the police have fir several band members. This was awesome what with all the cooking Ninette and Tug had to do at the B & B. Great fun read😊😊

Fatal Cajun Festival is the fifth installment in the Cajun Country Mystery series by Ellen Byron. The protagonist, Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, is excited to attend the Cajun Country Live! Festival in their small Louisiana town, especially since her talented friend, Gaynell, with her band, the Gator Girls will be performing. Tammy Barker, who became famous when she won a singing competition, comes back to her hometown to headline the festival, and when the locals see how she treats them, she all of a sudden becomes less popular to them. However, when one of the members of Tammy’s staff is murdered, and Gaynell is blamed, Maggie gets involved in amateur sleuthing to clear her friend.

One of the fun things about this series is the food. Almost everything revolves around it – Maggie sells pralines at the festival, and others are constantly making mouthwatering Cajun food at the B & B. It’s nice that there are good recipes at the end of the novel, too; they are fairly easy, so readers will want to try them.

Maggie is a likeable character who has been well-developed; readers will like her even if they haven’t read the previous books. The supporting characters are also likeable and well developed (well not all are likeable, of course because there is a murderer in the mix and a very big-headed singer that thinks she is better than her old friends). Actually, there is a good variety of characters that are relatable.

The story is told in an easy-to-follow way, and is typical of small-town America. Readers will enjoy Byron’s writing style, and will appreciate the fact that it is a fast and fun read. Most readers will want to read all of the books in the series.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Love this series!!! A jazz Festival is going on in Pelican and a local girl who is now a famous singer returns. When the singer's manager is murdered on stage, Maggie's friend, Gaynell, is the prime suspect as she had just had a very public argument with the man. Tammy, the singer, doesn't help as she has some sort of grudge against Gaynell. It's up to Maggie to infiltrate the band and ferret out a killer. This book kept me guessing with all the band members and Tammy herself being suspects. This was a very enjoyable read and I can't wait to read more of this fantastic series!! Excited to see Maggie and Bo get married, too! If you haven't read this series yet, you definitely need to start!

Great story!

Ellen Byron's excellent mystery series is just what I love.. I found myself laughing out loud with the zany antics of this coulorful cast.. Mystery, murder , and a story that's very well developed kept me interested until the masterful end .. Highly Recommended Series !!