This is another winner by Ellen Byron. I recommend this book to anyone who likes cozy mysteries. I hope Ellen Byron just keeps writing..

I really loved this first book in a new to my series and author. I can't wait to read the next one. The characters and location really add to the plot. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

The story begins with Ricki waiting to meet Eugenia, President of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. She's nervous and wonders if Eugenia would accept her proposal to start a vintage cookbooks and kitchenware section at the museum.

Eugenia readily accepts Ricki's proposal and Ricki is over the moon. But things take a turn for worse when an employee is caught stealing vintage cookbooks. The next day, he's found dead in a box of vintage cookbooks. As Ricki starts to look into the owner of the vintage box, she learns the box and its contents were donated by the victim himself.

Curiosity gets the better of her and Ricki starts to investigate. She's been a victim in the past - her previous boss turned out to be a fraud. This was followed by a failed marriage with her late husband. Ricki wants to make sure she's not in trouble now... but it comes at a cost. The local detective is okay with Ricki investigating things on her own, but it doesn't mean Ricki must put herself in harm's way, innit?

I loved the story, the series-plot setting, the scene setting and the theme. I also found the main character (Ricki) and her backstory interesting. The only niggle I had with this book was the plethora of characters. As a series debut, character introduction plays a major role, yes. But I had trouble following who's who until the first 75% of the book. To be honest, this dampened the read a tad. Just a tad.

The mystery behind the murder and the victim's secret obsession kept me guessing till the end. We have a couple of side stories here. The ones that stood out the most (for me) were Ricki's past (curator life and married life), Virgil's involvement (former chef and most-probably Ricki's beau in the near future *wink*), and a volunteer docent who's leading a double life (or, should I say secretive life?)

The storytelling is excellent and the characters, likeable. Too many red herrings made it impossible for me to play detective so I let our amateur sleuth Ricki do the honors of finding the perp.

Overall, Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron was an entertaining read. An impressive start to the series. I am looking forward to knowing what's next for Ricki.

Bayou Book Thief is the first book in the Vintage Cookbook mystery series by Ellen Byron. I have enjoyed Byron’s Cajun Country series, so I was excited to see she had a new mystery series.

Ricki James has moved back to New Orleans. She lands a dream job running a gift shop at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum in the Garden District. The shop, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware, is housed in the former home of a Vee, a late New Orleans restaurateur.

While going through boxes of donated books, Ricki finds the body of a recently fired employee of Bon Vee. The employee was exposed as a book thief and let go. Ricki puts her research skills to the test, and investigates the murder. She is especially interested in finding the killer, after one of her new friends is considered a suspect.

Bayou Book Thief has quirky characters, an enchanting setting, and a well-plotted mystery. This was a delightful start to a new cozy mystery series.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this first book in a new series. Ricki has moved backed to New Orleans after losing her job and husband in LA. She has decided to open a vintage cookbook and kitchen store on the grounds of Bon Vee, a house museum once owned by Miss Vee, a New Orleans chef and restaurant owner. After a guide is caught stealing books from the shop, fired and murdered she sets out to solve the crime. I enjoyed the museum and book back ground. The characters are a lot of fun. The mystery was good, there were a lot of suspects and the solution made sense. I am looking for word to reading the next book. Enjoy

Bayou Book Thief, A Vintage Cookbook Mystery, is a fun cozy mystery that takes readers on a second line walk through New Orleans as Ricki James, a 29-year-old widow, returns from her life as the wife of a LA media star to her roots as an adopted child in New Orleans. Ricki opens a vintage cookbook gift shop and soon finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation involving a first-edition book scam. Author Ellen Byron introduces readers to a group of good, strong characters in a great setting. Good first book in a new cozy mystery series.

A new cozy mystery. Interesting setting in New Orleans with vintage cookbooks and food. How is Ricki really? How long until her parents are revealed?

This is book 1 in the Vintage Cookbook series. Rikki has returned to her hometown of New Orleans after the death of her husband. She dreams of opening an antique cook shop. Her dream comes true when is is approved to rent space in the Bon Vee Culinary House museum. But someone at the museum is doing their best to sabotage the museum's success. lots of hometown flavor and good descriptions of various locations around the "Museum". The characters are liable and there is potential for exciting crimes to solve.

As readers of this blog will know, I absolutely love "book-themed" cozy mysteries. There is just something about books within books that is so tantalizing. Which is why Ellen Byron's new series, the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, are perfect for me!

Ricki James-Diaz is originally from New Orleans, and after a disaster of a relationship in L.A., she decides to get back to her roots when she opens a vintage cookbook shop. However, not all is smooth sailing when a local curmudgeon is found dead and the police are determined to pin it on someone at "Bon Vee". Ricki quickly steps in to investigate and clear her new family!

I enjoyed this book so much! I've never been to New Orleans and the author instantly transports you through the pages. From the mouth-watering food, to the places and sounds, it was a festival of delight with every page!

The mystery surrounding Franklin's death was first class! Over the years I've gotten pretty good at guessing who the killer is, and with this one I had no clue! It was a mystery wrapped within a mystery, and the bibliophile in me was very fascinated!!

I simply loved everything about Bayou Book Thief. When the last page was turned, I was disappointed that I would be leaving Bon Vee. Although I know I will be back there very soon! If you're looking for a book-themed mystery that combines a culinary mystery, this should be right on the top of your list! I can't wait to visit with Ricki and her friends again!

Newly widowed Miracle "Ricki" James-Diaz returns to her hometown of New Orleans to get away from a scandal-ridden life in Los Angeles. Ricki gets her dream job running a unique gift shop at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. The home of famed restauranteur Genevieve "Vee" Charbonnet is the perfect place for Ricki to sell her collection of vintage cookbooks and assorted kitchenware. Ricki likes most of her quirky work colleagues and the characters who visit Bon Vee, and the shop is popular. But Ricki's new business is in danger when she finds a man's body in the trunk of donated vintage cookbooks. The victim, tour guide Franklin, had been recently fired from Bon Vee after being caught as a book thief.

Ricki helps the detectives find possible suspects into Franklin's murder while dealing with a steamy hot apartment with a failing AC. Franklin's sketchy landlords and an older series of erotic books among his extensive book collection provide a key clue and motive to the murder.

Although I was sad when the Cajun Country Mystery series ended, this first book in the new vintage cookbook series is a welcome return to New Orleans with a wonderful new sleuth and cast of quirky characters.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley and Berkley. All opinions are my own.

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron is the first book in the new cozy Vintage Cookbook Mystery series. As with most cozy mysteries each book of the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series will contain it’s own mystery to be solved so they can be read as a standalone if choosing to do so. There will be character development that carries over from book to book however for those who follow the series from the beginning.

At twenty eight Ricki James never expected to find herself a widow but that is exactly what she is. Ricki’s husband had died doing a stupid internet stunt so now she had decided to begin again by moving from Los Angeles to New Orleans where she was born.

Ricki has opened her own shop, a gift shop in the museum for Genevieve (Vee) Charbonnet who had run a restaurant in the city before passing. Ricki loved that she could turn her passion of collecting vintage cookbooks into a business but she never expected to find a body at her business, that of a former Bon Vee employee who had been fired for being a thief, so now Ricki needs to find a murderer before it’s too late.

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron certainly brought the city of New Orleans to life as I began this new series with the author doing a great job with the setting of the story. I did find it a little tough to keep track of all the secondary characters in this opening as there were quite a few but I did enjoy getting to know the lead along the way. Definitely a series that has that mix of quirky humor to go along with a solid mystery leaving this opener at three and a half stars for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Great start to a new series!!! The concept of the story is fairly unique which can be hard to find in Cozy Mysteries. The story is very well written and the characters are well developed. I am looking forward to more relationship building in the books to come. I feel like this will be friends I look forward to visiting with for years to come.

I was completely blindsided by the plot twist/cliff hanger and cannot wait to get more information in book 2!!!

Ellen Byron’s first book in the new Vintage Cookbook mystery, Bayou Book Thief, was released on June 7th. Many of the elements of her Cajun Country mystery series permeate this new series—mainly, the environment and culture of Louisiana. Set in New Orleans, the city spice seeps through the pages to readers’ senses. It’s a lot to consume on the page. I wonder how overwhelming a visit to the city would be.

Main character Ricki James is only twenty-eight, but she carries a lot of baggage, from her birth to her marriage to her former boss. She’s trying to overcome the past and restart her life. When a body is shipped to her new store inside the Bon Vee mansion, she’s also determined to find out whodunit to save her store and nonprofit’s viability with the help of her work colleagues and neighbors.

Please welcome Ellen Byron back to WWK. E. B. Davis

What is an Irish Channel and how can it be a neighborhood? LOL, it’s not an actual channel. It’s the nickname for a section of the city that borders the Mississippi. The origin of the name is murky. It was a working-class neighborhood where a lot of Irish settled after immigrating to the city, but many other ethnicities lived there as well. My feeling is the “channel” part of the nickname comes from the neighborhood being long and narrow. But that’s just a supposition on my part.

Although born in New Orleans, Ricki is relocating from L.A. Why did she decide to move back? She lived there the first seven years of her life and it remained the home of her heart. She always dreamed of moving back one day. Ironically, difficult events – her husband’s death; a job loss – have finally offered the chance for a reset of her life and the move of her dreams.

How did Ricki meet Zellah, who told Ricki about the Bon Vee’s management wanting a culinary themed gift shop? The backstory is super simple. Ricki popped into Zellah’s family’s shop, the Peli Deli and the two gals hit it off. Ricki mentioned how her plan was to open a shop where she’d sell vintage cookbooks and kitchenware and Zellah told her she knew the perfect location for it. Zellah connected her with Lyla, the executive director of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, who loved the idea. This brings us to the book’s opening, where Ricki has to pitch the idea to Eugenia Felice, president of the nonprofit’s board and niece of the late restauranteur and Bon Vee homeowner, Genevieve “Vee” Charbonnet.

Why does Ricki collect vintage cookbooks when she doesn’t cook? She’s inspired by me! Despite the fact all my books have recipes, I’m not a cook. But I love old cookbooks and began collecting them. They tell us so much about the culinary habits of the past. I find them fascinating.

Tell readers a bit about Bon Vee’s history. Who was the original French wine merchant who started Charbonnet and how did Genevieve (Aunt Vee) reclaim it? Jean-Louis Charbonnet came to New Orleans in the mid-1800s and had great success importing wine from France. He built Bon Vee, the grandest mansion in New Orleans’ Garden District, in 1867. But in 1873 – this is real – there was a national depression. He lost everything, including his home, and returned to France. He always planned to return to New Orleans but died in France. In fact in WINED AND DIED IN NEW ORLEANS, the second Vintage Cookbook, we learn he left a valuable stash of Madeira wine hidden in the house.

What is a gris gris bag? Why would Bon Vee’s executive director, Lyla, believe in such things? A gris gris bag is a small Voodoo-inspired bag that continues charms and herbs for luck, love, fortune. They’re very much part of the New Orleans culture, which is why Lyla embraces them.

You have lived in both cities. How long does it take to transition from the dry desert air of L. A. to New Orleans’ humidity? I grew up in New York, which has its own brutal humidity. For some reason, though, my tolerance of it is high. But my husband and daughter struggle with the transition. My husband grew up in St. Louis and thought he escaped the humidity when he moved to Los Angeles. He had no idea he’d marry someone besotted with New Orleans!

Mardi Gras is a big deal in New Orleans. Do families compete against each other to garner crowns and scepters? Mardi Gras courts are chosen by the individual krewes that sponsor the balls and parades. They keep their selection processes close to the vest. If there’s any campaigning, it’s done very discreetly. Krewe court queens and maids are mostly chosen from that year’s debutantes. Court kings are generally pillars of the community.

Bon Vee has two peacocks, Gumbo and Jambalaya, who stroll the grounds. Are they smart? Do they chase people? They certainly think they’re smart! They have major attitude and woe to anyone they decide they don’t like because they will chase them incessantly. You do not want to get on their bad side.

Ricki’s nickname is short for Miracle. Why did her adoptive mother name her that? Ricki was a preemie and Josepha, her adoptive mother who was her nurse in the hospital NICU unit, considered Ricki’s survival a miracle, hence the name.

Was Charity Hospital real? Absolutely. It was a public hospital that suffered severe damage from Hurricane Katrina. It’s been derelict ever since, with redevelopment plans constantly falling through. Hopefully the latest plan, which will feature Tulane University – my alma mater, #RollWave! – as the main tenant will come to fruition.

Cookie works at Bon Vee as an educational coordinator. At age thirty-one, why did she “retire” from being a children’s librarian? She became burned out. Although she’s doing some of the same stuff at Bon Vee because encouraging kids’ love of reading will always be incredibly important to her, she has the freedom to come up with non-book ideas like cooking and arts classes for kids.

Australians don’t tip? They didn’t when I was there in the late 1980s! And the annoyed tour guide who brings this up in my book would have dated 1980s references. Basically, when I toured Australia and New Zealand with an improv comedy group, we were told that the people we’d normally tip – waitstaff, tour guides, etc. - got decent salaries so it wasn’t necessary. But we Americans couldn’t break ourselves of the habit, so the waitstaffs and tour guides loved us, lol.

When Ricki’s air conditioning breaks, she buys a “swamp cooler.” What is that? How does it work? They’re also known as “evaporative coolers” and they cool the air “through the evaporation of water.” Don’t ask me to get more technical than this! I had a hard enough time understanding how it worked for the book!

When a body of a former tour guide turns up in a trunk of books, why does Ricki decide to investigate? She feels she’s somehow responsible. First, she booted the man from her store when she caught him shoplifting books. Then his body shows up in a trunk of donated books. She can’t help but feel she’s a link to his murder and since Bon Vee has only recently opened and is struggling to stay afloat, she’s motivated to do whatever she can to solve the crime so the scandal doesn’t destroy the place, along with her shop. Since the NOPD is overwhelmed – which is very real - Ricki doesn’t trust they’ll make the murder a top priority, so she takes it upon herself to move the investigation along.

Detective Nina Rodriguez wants Ricki to call her by her first name rather than “ma’am.” And yet, she isn’t always friendly. Is she a frenemy to Ricki? I think you could say that about the early stages of their relationship. But Nina develops a grudging respect for Ricki, although she does get a perverse pleasure from pushing Ricki’s buttons simply because she finds it amusing to watch her spin out. I can’t see Nina and Ricki becoming besties, but I can see Nina getting incorporated into the Bon Vee group, if a bit warily, at least on her part.

Is gator sausage a real thing? Have you eaten gator? If so, what does it taste like? Reptile??? I can’t go there. It is a real thing! I’ve only eaten gator once and it was by accident. My husband got a fried seafood platter and it included gator. I snagged something off his plate that tasted like tough chicken but it wasn’t – it was gator!

Who was Leah Chase? Were many of the most famous chefs in NOLA women? Leah Chase was called the Queen of Creole Cuisine. Her restaurant Dooky Chase, named after her musician husband, was also a center for the civil rights movement. New Orleans generated three legendary women restauranteurs: Ruth Fertel of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse; Ella Brennan, who inspired Genevieve Charbonnet in my Vintage Cookbook series; and Leah Chase. Leah was the only one of the three who was also a chef.

Is a banh mi the same thing as a po’boy? No. A banh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich. Because of the similarity in climates between Louisiana and Vietnam, many Vietnamese immigrated to the state after the war in their country. Current Vietnamese chefs and restauranteurs sometimes put a Cajun or Creole spin on their banh mi, like making them with crawfish. A po’boy is more like a hero or submarine sandwich, but the most true-to-form only use French bread from the local Leidenheimer Baking Company.

What is the connection between Ricki and her landlady Kitty? Kitty is friends with Ricki’s adoptive mother Josepha. They were both nurses. Kitty still is –she’s a hospice nurse. Josepha retired.

Why are NOLA word pronunciations so weird? I honestly don’t know but I love it. It’s part of the city’s unique quirky charm.

What are all these “second lines?” They began as the line of people who followed behind a brass band, the “first line,” in parades organized by the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs (SAPCs) found in New Orleans’ Black communities - usually for funerals. Over the decades, the second line has become a thing of its own. Even out-of-towners can hire people to organize them for events. There was one at Bouchercon 2016 when it took place in New Orleans. People often carry decorated umbrellas and wave white handkerchiefs. My theory about the umbrellas is that they began as a way to ward of the hot NOLA sun, but I did actually read that the handkerchiefs originated at funerals as a way to wave away bad spirits or the angel of death.

What does Creole bread pudding soufflé taste like? Delicious!! It’s much lighter than your usual bread pudding. The top is mixed with meringue. The waiter taps the souffle to break it open and pours warm whiskey cream into it.

Why does Ricki suffer from catastrophic thinking? Because I did for years – and still do, to some extent – and gave the trait to Ricki. Sorry, Ricki!

Is there still a streetcar named Desire? Sadly, no. It was discontinued in 1948.

What does the term “food porn” mean? It’s slang for social media images of food. You know, like when people post pictures of their amazing meals.

Will Ricki ever learn to like football? If she’s anything like me, no!

What’s next for Ricki? In Wined and Died in New Orleans, it’s hurricane season in New Orleans, which makes Ricki very nervous. Meanwhile, repairs on the property unearth crates of very old, very valuable French wine, buried by the home’s builder, Jean-Louis Charbonnet. Ricki’s thrilled when her post about the discovery of the wine goes viral. She’s less thrilled when the post brings distant Charbonnet family members out of the woodwork, all clamoring for a cut of the wine’s sale. When a Charbonnet ends up dead, Ricki has to help solve a murder, untangle family secrets, and grow her business, all while living under the threat of a hurricane that could wipe out everything from her home to Bon Vee.

You know those kooks who are always trying some ridiculous stunt to gain internet fame? Ricki James was married to one. Now she’s a twenty-eight-year-old widow, thanks to a how-many-marshmallows-can-you-put-into-your-mouth-at-once epic failure.

It’s not the only thing she has to live down. She worked as the curator for a billionaire, caring for and acquiring first editions. She had no idea the books were funded by a Ponzi scheme.

Born in New Orleans, it seemed like a good idea to return and get away from the notoriety. The Bon Vee Culinary House Museum is the perfect place to open a vintage cookbook shop with accompanying kitchen gadgets and tools. Tours of the museum are scheduled throughout the day and guides are happy to steer groups of visitors into the shop while they take a quick break.

In any shop there’s bound to be a shoplifter who is willing to take a risk. If it’s a tourist, it’ll be a one-time thing. When a cranky tattletale employee turns out to be a book thief, caught in the act, he’s fired. He promised to sue. Before that can happen, a box of donated books arrives—except the contents aren’t books. It’s the body of the book thief.

Determined to make sure her shop’s great start isn’t also it’s death march, Ricki does a little investigating on her own. After all, if you can track down a rare book, you can surely track down a few clues, right?

This is the first book in the new series. The epilogue promises an enticing twist. Hopefully, readers will find out more in book two, Wined and Died in New Orleans, available for preorder and shipping in February 2023. There’s a teaser chapter at the back of this book. Vintage Cookbook Mystery has been added to my list of favorite series.

Byron also writes the Cajun Country mysteries (7), the Catering Hall series under the pen name of Maria DiRico (3).

Ricki shares recipes from vintage cookbooks: French pancakes a la gelee (raspberry or current jelly suggested), Swedish salad (herring is involved), daisy canapes, gingerbread, coconut patties, and crawfish etouffee.

A fun, foodie, first in a new cozy mystery series! I liked the Southern atmosphere and the vintage kitchen angle.

Ricki James left Lost Angeles after her husband died in a freak accident. Now moved to New Orleans, she embraces the city she where she took her first breath, and has found a position in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum running their vintage kitchenware shop, sharing her profits with the museum. She's happy enough with this, but doesn't like the bickering between the tour guides. When one of the guides is fired after stealing, the staff is grateful, since he wasn't well-liked. But the next day, an unexpected arrival of books is delivered...along with his body in a trunk.

Ricki thinks the killer might be one of the employees, but she wisely keeps this to herself as she tries to figure out who killed the man. After searching for clues, she doesn't think she's getting much closer to the killer until something unexpected occurs...and Ricki might find herself fatally bookmarked...

This is the first book in the series, and I will say that the cover is beautiful. This is part of why I wanted to read the book, the second being that I absolutely love Ms. Byron's Pelican series. I suppose I was hoping this would be more like that series, but it is as far away from it as can be while still taking place in Louisiana. There are just too many characters to keep track of, and since I read this on my Kindle, it was too difficult to go back to the page listing characters and then back to where I was, so I finally just gave up.

While I give kudos for the writing, as Ms. Byron is a talented writer with a gift for description of the characters' surroundings, it was at the same time hard to care about any of the people since you didn't get a full description of them. I would have liked to have known more about Lyla and her family, meeting both Kaitlyn and Dan; and why Theo is the way he is about everything. What is the truth about Zellah and Mordant's relationship (if any). I realize that it is hard to connect everything in a first book, but if there had been less characters, it would have been easier. Oh, well.

At any rate, Ricki at first finds herself a fish out of water until she begins to make a few friends, and maybe a surprise one of the homicide detective herself, which I found both interesting and nice. I do like Eugenia, her intelligence and grace showing; but found it hard to involve myself with Ricki.

When we get toward the ending the killer is revealed, and the reason for the murder. Understandable, if you know the saying about why the man was murdered -- but I am not going to reveal that here. After all was discovered, there are a few chapters left in which we learn a little more about Ricki's new life, and a teaser chapter of the next book in the series. Recommended.

I was a bit nervous as I am every time I start a new series from a favorite cozy author, but I really enjoyed this one so didn't need to worry. I will say that the Main Character wasn't my favorite person in this book but she did grow on me by the end. I just thought she was bit of a snowflake at times and it drove me crazy. I mean she wouldn't shut up giving the police all kinds of reasons to think she did it.

I did love all the side characters as there was some real fun over the top characters, some great friends to the MC characters and a potiential love interest that isn't a cop! Though I am not sure about him yet...lol.

I really liked the setting, and even the vintage kitchen gadgets and cookbooks! It had a great mystery to boot!

I recommend it.

I loved Ellen Byron's Cajun Country Mystery series and was sad when it ended, but I am sad no more. Bayou Book Thief is the first book in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series set in New Orleans and it is a wonderful start to this series. Ricki James, recently widowed, leaves Los Angeles to start a new life in New Orleans where she was born and adopted by the NICU nurse who cared for her after Ricki's teen mother disappeared from the hospital. Ricki gets a job at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, where she operates the gift shop. She is about to turn her hobby of collecting vintage cookbooks and vintage kitchenwares into a vocation, Miss Vee's Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware. Then she discovers that a box of donated vintage cookbooks contains the body of a cantankerous Bon Vee employee who was fired after being exposed as a book thief. Will this shut down the museum? Is her new friend going to be arrested? Ricki uses her skills of tracking down historic manuscripts to do some sleuthing of her own.

I love Ricki's character (Miracle Fleur di Lis James-Diaz). She is a wonderful character, loyal, friendly, smart and tenacious, but also insecure and with an imagination that takes her down some interesting avenues. She is trying to make a new life for herself, in the town where she was born and has a good start on it. The various employees at Bon Vee Culinary House Museum were a fun group. There were some quirky ones, some straight laced and some scammers. I loved almost all of them. Often in cozy mysteries, the police are inept and bumbling, but that is not the case her, the detectives were on the case, investigating and were a great part of the story. There were a few storylines involving HVAC, sketchy landlords, a mystery author and a tiny bit of romance, that were all woven together to make a great story. So, who killed Franklin? There were so many suspects it made it hard to figure out. Ricki chased down a lot of red herrings and was on the right track, but I didn't guess the culprit at all. I really liked this story and definitely recommend it to cozy mystery lovers, those who enjoy culinary stories and those who want to to some armchair travel to New Orleans.

An excellent introduction to what I hope is a long series. Having read other series by this author, I thought I knew what to expect. I was pleasantly wrong. This book drew me in like no other has in a long time. I felt the scenes as if I were right there with the characters. There were some of the touches that I associate with this author but just when I "knew" where the story was going, it turned around and took me in another direction!! I was glad that my solution was off because it was not nearly as excellent as Ms. Byron's. I am ready for the next (and the next) book to see what I can discover in New Orleans with my new favorite cast of characters.

Bayou Book Thief Earns 5/5 Vintage Recipes…Clever & Entertaining Gem!

Ellen Byron has taken readers deep into The Big Easy in an exciting first book in her Vintage Cookbook Mystery. Thanks to an internet challenge gone wrong, Ricki James is a “too young to be” widow, and thanks to how her employer funded his first edition collection, she’s also unemployed. Fresh start is required, so she heads home to New Orleans to open a vintage cookbook and kitchen gadgets gift shop in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. Businesses, of course, are always on the look out for the occasional shoplifter, but what do you do when the shoplifter is an employee? Fire him! What do you do when the same book thief is found dead? Investigate! What do you do when it opens a can of worms? Watch your back!

Ellen Byron’s descriptive writing and strong narrative has made me a fan. Her entertaining style developed well a clever, complex mystery exploring several avenues with diverse characters (Refer to Cast of Characters info) and all wrapped up in vintage cookbooks and kitchen accessories. The Big Easy plays a prominent role with its heated climate, eclectic natives, and fascinating culture and places of interest. The lead character, Miracle Fleur di Lis James, “Ricki” for obvious reasons, has a complex background which explains some trust issues, yet she seems to still emerge with a strong, talented personality. Her co-workers are a bit of comic relief and the relationship that develops between Ricki and Detective Rodrigues offers a fascinating yin/yang dynamic.

Fascinating insights into vintage cookbooks are incorporated throughout the story, and at the end recipes are included: easy-to-follow, some multi-cultural, inspired by actual recipes from some of Byron’s own vintage cookbooks. Each recipe has a brief insight into the vintage cookbook from which her inspiration came for French Pancakes a la Gelee, Swedish Salad, Daisy Canapes, Old-Fashioned Gingerbread, Coconut Patties, and Crawfish Etouffee.

Disclosure: I received an ARC from Berkeley thru NetGalley. My review is voluntary with honest insights and comments.