A fun cozy mystery to just set back and read when your having a bad day and just want something to get lost in .

Ellen Byron has another great read for readers of cozy mysteries. I recommend this book to all readers.

A fun light read. Despite being part of a series, no prior knowledge was necessary to enjoy the story.

Fun campy story and a quick read, which is all you can ask for in a who done it mystery. This was a perfect read heading into the Fall season!

I really enjoyed this mystery. It's a total comfort read. I thought that the characters are really lovable.

Halloween is around the corner and Maggie gets the idea to team up with other hostelries to combine forces and have several Halloween events every weekend leading up to the big day. Unfortunately a newly found relative shows up and causes nothing but chaos for Maggie and her entire family.

With multiple rougarou siting's and contentious relations Maggie is at her wits end!

I love the setting of this series, the characters are fun and I have loved watching them grow. I have 1 book left in the series and I really hope that there will be more!

I want to thank Netgalley, Ellen Byron and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this story.
I ended up buying all the audiobooks, because I really liked the narrator.

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard

by Ellen Byron

Although I do not usually favor Halloween themed mysteries, I had a good time with Murder in the Bayou Boneyard. Obviously set in Louisiana, Ellen Byron’s series takes the reader to the Crozat Plantation where the family works together to maintain their property by running a B & B.

A lot is going on in the little town of Pelican as the B & B’s in the area try to attract tourists with Pelican’s Spooky Past packages including a special mystery play, themed edible treats, crafts, and spa specials. Hopefully this will counteract the efforts of Gavin Grody who is buying up affordable housing and using them as tourist rentals.

There are so many plot threads! While all this is going on in the town, the Crozat’s distant cousins from Canada arrive bringing chaos and murder with them. Oil companies are making offers on the plantation land whose ownership may be in question. Don’t take any of the characters at face value; some are not who they seem to be, from the scary gardener to the amiable stage manager to the overacting thespian. There are multiple murders and other dangers along the way, but I promise that all the threads connect with a surprise ending.

My only disappointment was the minimal inclusion of Gopher, the Crozat family’s rescue basset hound in the story despite being featured prominently on the book’s cover. Byron makes up for neglecting Gopher by introducing Louie, a quite talkative parrot with a pivotal and humorous role.

I would like to extend my thanks to Netgalley and to Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: 1. #6 in the Cajun Country Mystery Series, but could be read as a standalone. The author dumps you into the story with a prologue that may seem confusing, but will be made clear in the conclusion of the novel. Then she proceeds to provide some background even as the story begins.
2. The characters in the book are listed with relations and connections if the reader needs a reference.
3. The book includes 5 recipes with a Cajun twist.

Publication: September 8, 2020—Crooked Lane Books

Memorable Lines:

“Sandy’s got me on this health kick. There should be a state law against making jambalaya with quinoa, whatever the heck that is.”

“He can be smug, overbearing, opinionated, lazy, a total slob—“ “And you’re with him why?” Sandy teared up. “Because he’s smart and funny and loves me more than anybody I’ve ever known.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Bo said, flummoxed. “That’s a whole lotta word salad, chère. You need to calm down. Take deep breaths.”

I LOVE this series. This is a favorite. I'm so sad to see it ending but love it. Thank you for the preview

Halloween has come to Pelican along with the "Pelican Spooky Past" festival. When a rougarou interrupts the play and promptly dies, Maggie has her hands full looking for the killer. Add in planning a double wedding with her Gran, who has turned into a Bridezilla, the Halloween season cannot end soon enough.
Another great installment in the fun series in small town Cajun country.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for a review copy of this book.

Halloween has come to Cajun Country and to increase the tourists bookings at the Crozat Bed and Breakfast and other area B&Bs Maggie Crozat has developed Spooky Past packages so that visitor can get a scary holiday and vacation all in one. Maggie has also increased the amenities at the Crozat B&B by finding and hiring a distant relative for the spa. But was this a smart idea?

The mystery is full of a frightful cemetery, a wrathful Rougarou, a detective that is not exactly friendly, a talking parrot that always seems to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, multiple murders, and property line that could create major issues for the future.

All in all, a really fun read

I love "traveling" to Cajun Country with Ellen Byron and her wonderful characters in this series. In this latest book it is October and Maggie has come up with a promotion that all of the B&Bs in the area are participating in. They are celebrating Pelican's Spooky Past with special weekend activities throughout the month of October. Also, Maggie's grandmother is busy investigating all of the options for her and Maggie's joint wedding ceremony. Many other things are also going on in Pelican including a tech entrepreneur who is buying up homes and has started "Rent my digs" which has been taking business away from the local B&Bs. And some long lost relatives are visiting from Canada and the two families are getting to know each other. There is never a dull moment in this book or this series. I hope that there will be many more books.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is the sixth book in the Cajun Country Mystery series, I recommend reading the series in order.

Maggie Crozant has planned a series of “spooky specials” for guests staying at area bed and breakfasts in Pelican, Louisiana. Maggie is willing to get creative to come up with ways to compete with a businessman who is buying up local properties that visitors can rent using an app. Her family business has also just opened a spa and Maggie hires a newfound distant cousin as the massage therapist and hopes she won’t come to regret this decision. In spite of all the festivities, Maggie confesses to her fiance, police officer Bo Durand, that she actually hates Halloween! When a murder occurs and Maggie becomes the prime suspect, her opinion of the scary holiday doesn’t get any better. She and Bo do some sleuthing of their own to clear Maggie’s name and catch the real killer.

This was my favorite book of the series so far!

What a great way to celebrate Halloween in the bayou's of Louisiana. I love this series. The characters are fun.
and wow what an ending! This can be read on its own but this is such a great series I am sure you will want to read them all.

We return to Pelican, Louisiana at Halloween, when Maggie has come up with the idea to host Haunted History Weekends at each of the town’s B&B’s to help boost business, since an Air B&B-type company has been buying up properties throughout town and stealing customers. The Crozat has also invited some Canadian cousins to join in the fun and help with the B&B’s new spa. But the cousins aren’t exactly what Maggie and her family imagined - and then guests begin spotting rougarous, Cajun country werewolves, around town. It isn’t long before a body turns up and things spiral out of control.

I love this cute cozy mystery series! It’s full of flavor and really transports right to the small town of Pelican and right there with its quirky and lovable residents. This book is a great addition to the series. However, I do want to point it that this can be read as a standalone - just be warned that you’ll want to go back and read the rest!

There’s a bunch going on in this book, but it’s actually fairly easy to keep track of because the author really has great way of keeping things from being overwhelming. The pieces are all there and it’s exciting to try and figure out how it’s all tied together (or if it is!) and who’s behind everything. Things were well paced too, which helped keep plot lines organized.

I did not guess the ending in this one, either. I had a theory, but it didn’t pan out, and then I was in the dark. But things really made sense when explained. I think everything really fit together nicely and I was satisfied with the ending. I think some cozies can be too predictable, and that was not the case with this one at all!

Overall, I really enjoyed this latest addition to the Cajun Country series, and am looking forward to diving into more to come!

It’s Halloween in Cajun country and the Crozat B&B is helping to host a month of spooky activities. Maggie has discovered a long lost cousin and invited her and her family to be a part of the business. Maggie soon discovers ulterior motives to the cousins visit and the Crozats become murder suspects. Wedding prep, gumbo and rougarous abound.

I love this series and this was an excellent addition.
I had a lot of fun, was happy to catch up with the characters and the mystery kept me guessing.
It's an engrossing and highly entertaining read that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I had not read any of the other titles in this series, so I wasn't as familiar with some of the character's backstories as I would have liked, I think that would have deepened my enjoyment of this title. Overall, though, a great cozy read!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars, I really liked it.

Book 6 in the series.

It's Halloween in Pelican, y'all! The Crozats are doing Halloween right with several other plantation B&Bs, celebrating Pelican's spooky past, in an effort to drum up business. What they don't plan on is a rougarou terrorizing tourists and locals alike.

There's a lot going on in this book, from a visit from long lost Crozat family members to a business stealing vacation rental app to wedding planning for a double wedding. Throw in several murders and the action doesn't ever stop. This was a fast, fun, read and I didn't put it down again until I finished.

As usual, Maggie and the rest of the Crozat crew are super fun to visit and really make me want to visit Cajun county in person if the world ever returns to "normal." Until then, I will look forward to visiting virtually with more Cajun Country mysteries!

It's October and the B&Bs in Maggie's hometown are hosting spooky themed packages to draw in guests. At the same time she and her family are welcoming relatives from Canada. Unfortunately it turns out that these relatives have ulterior motives which include taking over a portion of the family land. When the bodies start piling up, Maggie's family begins to look more and more suspicious. I loved the Halloween themed setting. The characters work well together. All of the wedding stuff was a bit more than I was interested in, but it was still a good book.

This is book 7 in the Cajun Country mystery series and one of my favorite series! This one is no exception!

In this one there is a few things going on. First, Maggie and her family learn that they have a relative they didn’t know about in Canada thanks to one of those DNA testing sites. The whole family was really excited about this and since they needed a masseuse for their spa and this new relative was one they thought it would be a great opportunity to meet their new kin and hired her for the spa. Bad move!

Second thing going on is that some rich guy is buying up property around Pelican and has an app called “Rent my Digs” and is out pricing all the plantation B&B’s which includes her parents place. So she comes up with this fun idea since it was getting close to Halloween to have a “Pelican’s Spooky Past” package offered and all the B&B’s decide to do this to try and go against the Digs guy. It seems to be working, but with all the spooky comes something they didn’t expect.

So things don’t go well with the new family member as it seems there could be ulterior motives for them coming to Pelican. Then someone dressed up as a rougarou, which is a werewolf and vampire hybrid, is scaring off the B&B guest. The only good thing that happens with the sightings is they get some paranormal people to stay at their B&B. 🙂

When a person dressed up as the rougarou ends up dying because the mask has poison in it things go from bad to worse for Maggie and her family. It’s a very complicated mess that has to do with the new relative and because the death happens in half of another county it’s not just the Pelican police that are involved and those guys seem to have it out for Maggie!

Like I said a lot was going on in this one but I loved every minute of it! Maggie and Bo are also planning a wedding with her grandmother as she is getting married too! She is in her eighties and is so super cute as a bit of a bridezilla…lol. I think my only complaint is there wasn’t enough Gopher time in this one! (That is the lovely dog on the cover)

As always I loved the characters! Love Maggie and Bo they make such a cute couple and love how much she cares about his son. Love her family especially her grandmother! Even some of the characters I wasn’t a fan of in the beginning of the series I have come to like and enjoy.

I thought the mystery was pretty good because I only got it half right so there was bits that surprised me which is always good!

I highly recommend this series!