Setting:  Pelican, LA

Characters:  Magnolia Marie Crozat, artist, daughter of Ninette and Tug, who are B & B owners. Bo Durand, a Pelican PD detective and Maggie’s boyfriend. Assorted family members, friends, coworkers, and suspects!

Plot:  The holidays are nearing in the small Louisiana town of Pelican. Maggie is hard at work helping her parents and grandmother operate the Crozat Bed & Breakfast while also working as a guide at another area plantation. She fears that her career as an artist is slipping away while she focuses on being a good and supportive daughter. Maggie is also focused on her blossoming romance with Bo, but the issues that have taken precedence as A Cajun Christmas Killing begins are Maggie’s father’s health and the health and future of the family business. Once she learns the truth of the trouble the B & B may be in, Maggie and Bo swing into action, seeking out a mystery Internet troll who is writing negative and damaging reviews about their business and trying to get to the heart of the matter of a ruthless financier intent on acquiring the Crozat estate. But when that financier ends up dead, Maggie and Bo find that they are both on the suspect list, along with Maggie’s entire family. The stakes have never been higher for the Southern sleuth.

Pacing:  Steady

Predictability:  Low

Wild Card:  This book was a treat – a story that finally got me out of a reading slump! I’ve enjoyed the series from the beginning – the family dynamics, the clever plots, and the vivid imagery make for a compelling series for sure. I love all of the detail about Pelican, Louisiana; the rich descriptions of the area, the food, and, in this story, the holiday traditions really set the scene for readers and drew me deeper into the story and the series. I can’t wait to see what Maggie and Bo get up to next!

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Enter to Win!

Prize: Hardcover Copy of A Cajun Christmas Killing, by Ellen Byron + swag (U.S. Only)

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Go Inside the Author’s Studio with Ellen Byron!

1. What is your favorite word?  Dessert. Or pizza. It’s a tie.
2. What is your least favorite word?  Curated.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?  Fabulous writing and emotionally gripping stories – my own or someone else’s!
4. What turns you off?  Lies and hypocrisy. Both make me insane with anger.
5. What is your favorite curse word?  M—r-f—r.
6. What sound or noise do you love?  My husband or daughter’s laughter.
7. What sound or noise do you hate?  Leaf blowers and chainsaws.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?  Ballerina. I still regret never going en pointe. And always will.
9. What profession would you not like to do?  Roofer.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?  “Oops, false alarm. Back to Earth you go!”

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About the Book
Maggie Crozat is back home in bayou country during the most magical time of the year. In Pelican, Louisiana, Christmastime is a season of giant bonfires on the levee, zydeco carols, and pots of gumbo. Except, this year, the Grinch has come to stay at the family-run Crozat Plantation B&B. When he floods travel websites with vicious reviews, Maggie thinks she’s identified him as rival businessman Donald Baxter. That is, until he’s found stabbed to death at Maggie’s workplace. And Maggie and her loved ones become top suspects.

The Crozats quickly establish alibis, but Maggie’s boyfriend, Detective Bo Durand, remains under suspicion. With Bo sidelined during the investigation, Maggie finds herself forced to work with an unlikely ally: longtime family enemy Rufus Durand. Her sleuthing uncovers more suspects than drummers drumming, and lands her in the crosshairs of the murderer.

The sleigh bells are jingling, and the clock is ticking for Maggie and Rufus, who must catch the killer or it will be the opposite of a Joyeux Noel in A Cajun Christmas Killing, the recipe-stuffed third installment of USA Today bestselling author Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country mysteries.

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About the Author
BODY ON THE BAYOU, the second book in Ellen’s Cajun Country Mystery Series, recently won the Left Coast Crime Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, and is nominated for an Agatha Award in the category of Best Contemporary Novel. Ellen’s debut novel in the series, PLANTATION SHUDDERS, was nominated for Agatha, Lefty, and Daphne awards, and made the USA Today Bestseller list. Book three, A CAJUN CHRISTMAS KILLING, launches October 10th.

Ellen’s TV credits include Wings, Still Standing, and Just Shoot Me, as well as network and cable pilots. As a journalist, she’s written over 200 magazine articles for national publications. She recently served on the Editorial Board for the UCLA Writers Program’s books, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room. Her plays, published by Dramatists Play Service, include the popular Graceland and Asleep on the Wind.

A graduate of Tulane University, Ellen lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband, daughter, and the family’s spoiled rescue dogs, which they describe as a “corgi-jack-huahua” and a “cherrier.” A native New Yorker, Ellen still misses her hometown… and still drives like a New York cabbie.

Website  |  Goodreads  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

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