Bayou Book Thief

April 1, 2022
A New Orleans newbie finds charm and murder in the Big Easy. Like most cozy heroines, Miracle "Ricki" Fleur de Lis James-Diaz left a good job in the big city (Los Angeles) under a cloud (her boss's involvement in a Ponzi scheme). But unlike most of the others, she licks her wounds not in some sleepy backwater but in hustling-and-bustling New Orleans. After renting a shotgun cottage from Kitty Kat Rousseau--who despite her name is not a madam but a synchronized parade dancer--she snags a job at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, one of the Garden District's premier tourist attractions. Bon Vee is run by Eugenia Charbonnet Felice, last in a long line of elegant but fun-loving Charbonnets. It was Eugenia's grandma Genevieve who turned the old plantation into a historical site. Madame Noisette, a volunteer docent at the Bon Vee who was Genevieve's friend, regales the staff with tales of champagne-filled parties that lasted until dawn. Executive director Lyla Brandt is impressed, but director of educational programming Cookie Yanover is too busy ogling Eugenia's nephew Theo to care. If only the Bon Vee crew paid as much attention to tour guide Franklin Finbloch, they might have caught on earlier to his pilfering of Bon Vee artifacts. When they do notice, he's fired only to show up days later in a trunk together with a giant collection of books. Ricki is eager to keep all the folks she hopes will become her new New Orleans "family" off the list of police suspects. Her sleuthing places her in all-too-foreseeable peril. Standard cozy fare served up Crescent City style.

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May 1, 2022

Ricki James-Diaz's life has been unusual, beginning with her abandonment at a New Orleans hospital as an infant and her adoption by a nurse. She's now a widow, after her actor husband died while attempting a social media stunt; her former boss has been arrested for a Ponzi scheme; and Ricki has moved back to New Orleans, where she's hired to operate Miss Vee's Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop at Bon Vee, a mansion in the Garden District. As Ricki gets to know he coworkers, she catches Franklin, one of the guides, stealing cookbooks. He's fired, but turns up again--dead, in a steamer trunk sent to the shop. Ricki worries that she's under suspicion; because she feels guilty for turning in Franklin, she calls Detective Nina Rodriguez with every wild guess about suspects. Ricki's new friends rally around her in a dramatic climax. VERDICT Fans of Byron's award-winning "Cajun Country" mysteries will enjoy her return to New Orleans with an engaging, fun cast of characters.--Lesa Holstine

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