Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN # 9781643851297
Crooked Lane Publishing
304 Pages
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
September 10, 2019
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Grab your tickets for Cajun Country Live!, the pickers' and crooners' answer to the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, plans to be in the cheering section when her friend Gaynell Bourgeois takes the stage with her band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls.
The festival's headliner, native daughter Tammy Barker, rocketed to stardom on a TV singing competition. She has the voice of an angel...and the personality of a devilish diva. But Maggie learns that this tiny terror carries a grudge against Gaynell. She's already sabotaged the Gator Girls' JazzFest audition. When a member of Tammy's entourage is murdered at the festival, Maggie makes sure Gaynell is number one on the suspect list.
Gaynell has plenty of company on that list - including every one of Tammy's musicians. Posing as a groupie, Maggie infiltrates Tammy's band and will have to hit all the right notes to clear her friend's name.
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Maggie Crozat is happy she no longer has to wear an antebellum gown since she's gotten a new job at Doucet Plantation restoring art, and working at her family's B&B, Crozat. She's delighted Cajun Country Live! will be featuring her friend Gaynell Bourgeois and her group. And she's positively ecstatic that she's going to be marrying Detective Bo Durand - if they can ever find time to set a date. In reality, her life is going along swimmingly...
That is, until the arrival of home-town girl Tammy Barker, who hit it big on a TV show and headed to the big city to make a name for herself. Tammy is now famous, and the festival is happy to have her back headlining, since it will bring in plenty of tourists. But it seems Gaynell isn't happy at all. She shares with Maggie the fact that during high school Tammy made her life miserable, bullying her.
When Tammy and her entourage arrives, she's surprised to learn that she and her manager and assistant, Pony Pickner and Sara Salinas, in that order, have book the entire Crozat B&B in an attempt to make sure star struck fans don't invade their privacy. And after spending time with her, she has a suspicion that Tammy isn't done with her bullying toward Gaynell; especially when Tammy unexpectedly sings a song that's obviously stolen from Gaynell, who hasn't had a chance to debut it herself.
But when one of Tammy's entourage is murdered in what seems like it should have been her instead, and Gaynell is fingered - by Tammy - for the crime, Maggie steps in to find out the truth before her friend - the only suspect - goes to jail. Unfortunately, it also means that Maggie herself will have to resort to subterfuge that she doesn't want but feels is necessary. Now Maggie is not only trying to find out who wants Tammy dead, but also might be trying to kill her to keep her quiet...
I am very glad that I've gotten the chance to visit with Maggie and her family and friends again. I enjoy this series and the fact that Maggie absolutely loves where she lives, and it shows every time I pick up one of these books. Everyone in the book is a colorful character, from Maggie herself right down to every one of her friends. There's several subplots going on at the same time that only make the story more real - her grandmother is 'purging her life' as it were; Vanessa is having a tug-of-war rivalry with Sandy, whose boyfriends were recent rivals for mayor, her parents are having to deal with guests who want special diets, and her cousin Lia is about to give birth to triplets. It's a busy life and makes for a book with plenty of action.
When Maggie starts by trying to become friends with the members of the band, she wants to learn more about them, and if any of them had a reason to kill. She also needs to figure out if Tammy was the target, are they going to try again. But with Tammy such a nasty piece of work, it's not going to be easy to do. Especially since it seems that Tammy's not done with harassing Gaynell; and Gaynell has withdrawn from any kind of life, hiding herself away.
The story is well written, and the characters are fully three-dimensional, pulling you into their world of Pelican, Louisiana. While I've never had the desire to live anywhere near this town (too much humidity for my blood) I have had thoughts of wanting to visit Cajun Louisiana and see the world through her eyes. Such is the ability of Ms. Byron to describe this place. The music, the homes, the food - all of it is appetizing (but only for a visit) and I would love to experience it at least once. (I might actually have to plan a vacation soon).
Maggie's loyalty to Gaynell is fierce indeed, and it shows in her actions how far she's willing to go to prove her friend innocent. We should all be lucky enough to have a friend as loyal as Maggie. I'm also beginning to warm up considerably to Vanessa, who started out as Maggie's own bully but since becoming engaged to Quentin has mellowed her and made her happy, so she's actually becoming Maggie's friend. It's a nice look when there's not an 'evil nemesis' out to destroy the main character and make her life miserable.
As the story progresses and we become more involved, things change. I love how the way everything eventually played out, even in the subplots hiding in the background of the main story. All the twists and turns will keep you on your toes, trying to figure out the murderer and the real reason behind it, which, of course, we learn toward the end, as it should be.
When the final moments come everything is tied up nicely, and we are given a satisfactory ending to a terrific tale, knowing that once more everything in Maggie's world is right and good...at least for this one moment of peace. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Cajun-Festival-Country-Mystery/dp/1643851292/ref=
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2827999107
More on Ellen Byron's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/ellen-byron/
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