Another fun adventure, New Orleans style! A great cast of characters, both old and new! With a special twist, get ready for a special mystery within a mystery, when Grandmere discovers unknown family stories within long lost letters written by a beloved. Get your vocal chords ready for for the Cajun Music Festival, competing bands and murder amongst the players. Another riveting, fast read from one of today's favorite cozy mystery authors and recent winner of the Malice Domestic recognition of Best Contemporary Novel!

This has quickly become one of my favorite cozy series. I like the characters in this book and also find the cajun culture of each book to be very interesting. I'll continue to be a major fan of this series.

Love and murder is in the air at Crozat! The latest in the Cajun Country Mystery series kept me guessing and shedding a few tears!

When Maggie's friend Gaynell, an aspiring singer/songwriter/musician is accused of killing the manager of Crozat's most famous citizen, Maggie and Bo take action! Tammy Barker, is the girl from Crozat who made it to the top of the charts and out of the small town. However,during a visit to a music festival held in Crozat, she is harboring a grudge that just may get Gaynell put away for life. All this is going on as Maggie and Bo are trying to come up with a wedding date and Gran Mere'' is facing a love crisis of her own!

I love Maggie - smart, kind hearted, a talented artist and fiercely loyal to those she loves. She is madly in love with Bo, a local police officer, but never loses her independence. That being said, she doesn't circumvent law enforcement and doesn't run headfirst into danger without a plan! I enjoy the way the author incorporates friends and family into the mystery. Ninette and Tug (Maggie's mom and dad), Gran Mere' (her grandmother) and all her other family/friends are a lovable bunch!

As a regular visitor to Crozat, I can't wait for the next book!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review!

This series seems like a whole lot of fun, and definitely has a distinct flavour! Even with this being the fifth book, I felt welcomed immediately and enjoyed both the mystery and the characters. The setting was a good one, and the music festival was definitely different for a cozy. The time constraint meant the mystery had to be solved quickly too, before the main players left town.

The pralines thing was a mystery for me; I've never heard of them before so I had to look them up after I finished the book. They sound yummy! In fact, loads of the food sounds amazing, and adds an almost mini theme of its own.

A good addition to the series, with more to go back and more to look forward to. Four stars

FATAL CAJUN FESTIVAL, the fifth book in the Cajun Country Mysteries by Ellen Byron, is another entertaining addition to an award-winning series! The reader is treated to a music festival, Cajun-style, in Pelican, Louisiana. Ms. Byron is effective at writing highly visual scenes that tantalized my senses as I turned the pages. The sounds of the zydeco bands, the tastes of the Cajun food served at the festival booths, the sights of the bayou and plantation homes, and the sticky feel of humidity in the hot months of summer were brought to life. The protagonist, Maggie Crozat, and her family own the Crozat Plantation turned bed and breakfast. Local girl turned famous and her backup band have taken over the Crozat’s B & B while in town to perform. The Pelican native, Tammy Barker, seems to have let fame go to her head, yet she can’t let go her grudge against a high school mate, one of Maggie’s close friends. This ramps the drama up and provides a subplot that weaves together with the mystery.

Despite the angst going on in the story, the author manages to create humorous scenes to lighten the mood involving Maggie’s family. I especially loved Maggie’s feisty grand-mère, who just so happens to be the instigator of the festival and has been known to quote, “It’s Louisiana chère. When do we not celebrate?” I appreciate that Ms. Byron has created a close-knit, supportive family for the protagonist, with both her parents and grand-mère, and captures the vernacular of the characters. And of course I can’t pass up mention of Maggie’s fiancé, Bo, Pelican’s handsome detective. It was refreshing to see that Bo respects Maggie’s intelligence and actually asks for her input, realizing she has access to information that people won’t share with him.

I’ll have to admit I thought I knew who the victim was going to be, but Ms. Byron threw in a twist that kept me on my toes the rest of the book. Not only was I uncertain if the victim was the intended target, but who were viable suspects. The twists and turns kept me glued to the pages to see how the author would fit the puzzle pieces together in a convincing mystery. And fit them together she did, with an unforeseen curveball that left me thinking about the story long after it was over.

Maggie’s mother creates quite a few delectable dishes to serve at the family’s B & B, plus Maggie herself is in charge of creating the pralines to serve at the family’s booth at the festival. So many mentions of yummy regional food had my mouth watering. Luckily for the reader, Ms. Byron includes several recipes at the back of the book.

Fatal Cajun Festival by Ellen Byron. 5 stars

The recent Agatha Award winner for Best Contemporary Mystery has a new book available for review - I pounced. This is the first book In the series that I have read, but I will go back and read the other four. This book was very enjoyable and engrossing. Sometimes when you get into the middle of a series you can get a little lost. The characters are well established and some of the banter has no meaning because you haven't read the previous books. I didn't feel that with this book. I'm sure that there were nuances that I missed, but I just loved all the characters. The town of Pelican, LA decides to put on a jazz festival before the legendary New Orleans Jazz Festival to entertain visitors on their way to New Orleans. The headliner is a local girl - Tammy Barker, that won a reality show that is paving her way to country stardom. She brings her entourage to the Maggie Crozat's parents B&B. What comes next after a murder is a lot of red herrings and multiple suspects. Maggie Crozat must investigate to get one of her best friends Gaynell Bourgeois off the suspect list. I loved the interaction between Maggie and her grandmother., it was very sweet. Maggie's relationship with her fiancé Bo was great- that respect each other skills and intelligence. i won't give any spoilers, but this is a mystery worth reading.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane for this ARC.

These are fun reads. Colorful characters and a good mystery that keeps you guessing. They are very clean with no sex or foul language. A nice change and something I have reader's ask for. (I'm a library director). I did get a good chuckle here and there thought as a bad guy would not swear in an amusing fashion when you know darn well what they'd really say.

It was so fun to be back with Maggie in Louisiana. There is a wonderful lightness to this series that is balanced by a depth in subject matter. The mystery was well done and I had no idea who was guilty until the surprising ending. I thoroughly enjoy the closeness of Bo and Maggie, and how well they work together. There was a touching side story involving Gran that had me in tears, it was that profound. I recommend the entire series and look forward to more.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Another fun trip to Pelican, Louisiana! Musicians, pralines, local mean girl made music star, romance, and murder.
Do we really need more? I wish Pelican was real. I'd move there in a heartbeat!

This was an amazing and fun book! Ellen Byron is such a great mystery writer. Her characters are exciting and the back stories on all of them are great. This book is a perfect addition to the series and I hope she writes more!!

E-book/Cozy Mystery: This is book five of the Cajun Country Mysteries and I have only read the first two. I want to thank NetGalley for letting me have a copy of this book.

I didn't like it as much as the first two. I loved the first book which was a lights go out murder and the second book kept the homey plot with B&B getting over the small town scandal... and another body drops. While the second one was a wedding at the B&B, this one is a music festival. I had a hard time reading it. I was more interested in the grandmother's Swedish Death Cleaning. I am giving it two stars since I didn't guess the murderer. To me, it was a lot of filler around a contrived plot.

This is the 5th book in the cajun country mystery series . Ellen likes to keep you in suspense as to who dun it. If you haven't read this series I highly recommend it. Gran plans a cajun music festival and invites a local celebrity to live at crozat for a few weeks and her entourage.

Maggie had to solve the puzzling murder before her best friend got railroaded to jail for a murder she didn’t commit. This puzzle was rife with petty jealousy, which Maggie figured out was the root cause of the murder. With things getting dicey she knew she had to give it her all before it was too late. An interesting puzzle indeed.

A fun and interesting glimpse into a small Lousiana town life. Maggie Crozat, a small town B&B owner, is thrust in the middle of a murder investigation when the manager of a famous singer Tammy, Pony Picker, is killed getting ready for the Cajun Country Live festival. All fingers point to one of her best friends, a local singer Gaynell. Maggie and her fiance Bo, a local police officer, team up to prove Gaynell's innocence and discover that every member of the band had a motive to kill Pony. Along the way secrets are uncovered and an old rivalry comes to a head.

Another great mystery in the series! Rich background detail, an unputdownable plot to drive things forward, and an entertaining glimpse into the music industry.

Love this book, could not put it down. Thank you Ellen Byron for this great story.. The characters are engaging and the plot moves along. I look forward to reading the next book in this great series.

I love so many things about this series: the relatable and likeable characters, the not-so-likeable characters, the well written mysteries, and the captivating stories. In Fatal Cajun Festival, Maggie and her family's B&B host a local-turned-famous singer who comes to town to headline the Cajun Festival and someone dies under suspicious conditions. When someone close to Maggie becomes the main suspect, Maggie decides she needs to find the real culprit before an innocent bystander is unjustly accused. I never once suspected the real culprit in this story, though there were some strong suspects. I love how this book - and series - focus on family, friends, food, and festivities in true Louisiana style! The relationships and the mysteries keep me coming back for more.

I received an advance copy of this book. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Maggie is getting ready for the country music festival in town. The festival headliner and Pelican native Tammy is staying at Maggie’s family home which is now Crozet B&B. Tammy may have the voice of an angel but not the personality of one. She seems to be out to sabotage one of Maggie’s friends, Gaynell. When one of Tammy’s entourage is killed Gaynell is a person of interest. Maggie is determined to prove Gaynell is innocent and reveal who Tammy really is.

I love this series, the books are always well written and entertaining to read. The characters are interesting and delightfully quirky. The mystery is well plotted, with a great pace and contains several well placed red herrings to keep the reading engaged and guessing until the big reveal. The setting of the music festival was a fun way to bring in Tammy’s character and show how famous some times changes people or how some people don’t really change others just accept their rotten personalities because they are “famous”. I recommend this book to fans of the series and all cozy mystery lovers, also for the foodie’s out there this book includes some recipes from the Crozet B&B.

I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.

Love this series more and more every time I read the next book. The setting in Louisiana just adds the perfect flavor to the murder mystery. The Crozat family is very entertaining. The locals are colorful. There is a lot going on in this one but Byron expertly ties them all together in a satisfying read. Loved it from cover to cover.

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.