I enjoy traveling, although I do like to do it my own way. No fancy cruise ships or all-in-one resorts for me. Give me a vacation where I can wander around the area at my own pace, enjoy moving at my own speed, and there’s no requirement for me to stand in line with bunches of other people, trying to get into a dining area or participate in the current popular activity.
Maybe that’s why I enjoyed taking a freighter cruise so much. We were the only passengers on a freighter bound for Mexico from Savannah. Of course, to travel on a freighter you have to be flexible, and for us that included making an unscheduled stop up the Mississippi river to take on a cargo hold of rice.
The whole trip was fascinating; and particularly the trip up the Mississippi. Because it had rained for more than a week before our ship got there, we were required to anchor on the river for several days, waiting in line for our turn at the rice delivery point. It gave me an opportunity to see the Mississippi delta and the bayou from a different perspective. It was fascinating and relaxing all at the same time.
That’s one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mystery series and her newest, Murder in the Bayou Boneyard, was no exception. In these days of a pandemic, the only serious travel I can do is through books. It’s delightful when I can open a new novel and be immediately transported to a different area. It’s even more delightful when that trip involves a return to some characters I’ve met in previous novels so I get a chance to bring myself up to date with what is happening in their lives.
For more information about the book, here’s my review. You will notice that while I recommend it; I also recommend you start with the first book in the series if possible. That way you have the wonderful experience of traveling with these people as their lives and relationships grow.
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The sixth book in Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mystery series and it’s still going strong. The familiar cast of Crozat family and friends provide a welcome return to bayou country with its unique southern ways and family history. Once again Maggie, the Crozat daughter is confronted with a murder, this time of a long lost relative she found and brought to the area for the Halloween Spooky Past festival she’s dreamed up to try and increase business. As might be expected, things go wrong, the long lost relative turns out to be a thorn in Maggie’s side, and then get murdered. The result is an ambitious detective in the adjacent town sets his sites on Maggie and begins working to prove her guilt. What’s a suspect to do? If you are Maggie Crozat, you try to solve the murder yourself.
Along the way there are additional murders Maggie has to deal with as well as sightings of a rougarou scaring off guests…that’s a werewolf type creature native to Louisiana folklore if you’re wondering. To add to the chaos there’s an internet entrepreneur who is buying up all the available housing in town which is making business difficult for Maggie and housing unaffordable for the residents, plans for the double wedding Maggie and her Gran-mere are planning, and the fear of her long-lost relative’s family selling the adjoining land they just learned they owned to a chemical company.
Lot’s to keep track of and lot’s to keep Maggie running from one area to another. Her fiance, Bo, can’t investigate the murder because of his association with Maggie, and things get really snarled before they finally unravel. The book is a well-paced mix of mystery and local flavor that makes reading the book feel like a trip to the Louisiana bayou country. Read it at your own pace, whether you want to read straight through or take it for a beach read; it’s an excellent escape.
My thanks to Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an advanced digital read copy of this novel. I voluntarily offer this unbiased review.
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I hope you are doing well, getting out and about whether virtually or in the real world, and managing to stay healthy. For now, most of my traveling is being done through books, but that’s a pretty good way to go. Happy Reading.
