Mardi Gras Murder

It's nearly Mardi Gras time in Pelican, Louisiana, but one thing not on the list of festivities is a dead body. In Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron, Maggie Crozat is in the thick of an investigation. After a flood plants the body of a man behind her grandmother's house, Maggie tries to discover who is was. When it is learned the body found after the flood was murdered, not a drowning victim, the police get involved. (Mardi Gras Murder will be released on October 9).

The flooding has delayed the opening of the controversial opening of the Louisiana Orphan Train, a little-known piece of history. Battle lines are drawn between those who do not want the exhibit to open and those who feel is is necessary to tell the story of the past.


One of the opposed is Gerard Damboise, head judge of the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen contest and self-proclaimed president of the St. Pierre Parish Historical Society. A fussy man who believes his heritage entitles him to be in charge.

When Gran backs out of being a judge for the contest, Maggie is coerced into taking her place. Gerard is vehemently oppose to the Orphan Train exhibit and tries to delay its opening. He is opposed to telling people about the grimy undergarments of the poor immigrant children who came from the Lower East Side tenements of New York on the Orphan Train. This offends his gentile southern sensitivities.

Not everyone agrees and someone decides to kill Gerard. As Maggie is driving home, she discovers him driving erratically and when they both stop, he tumbles out of the car. With Pelican residents in full Mardi Gras preparation, and Maggie's dad in overdrive, this is a difficult time to be investigating.

As usual, Ellie Bryon adds just the right amount of spice to her gumbo and makes Mardi Gras Murder an enticing mystery. Laissez les bon temps rouler.

For a review of the previous Maggie Crozat book, A Cajun Christmas Killing, click here.

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