French Quarter Fright Night

Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, Book 3

By: Ellen Byron

Narrated by: Amy Melissa Bentley

The third in the fabulous cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling author Ellen Byron.

Welcome to the Bon Veeevil Festival of Fear! Prepare for the spookiest night of your life . . .

It's Halloween in New Orleans, and the staff of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum is setting up a fantastic haunted house tour for their visitors. But when flashy movie star Blaine Taggart and his entourage move into the mansion next door, gift shop proprietor Ricki James-Diaz gets a fright of her own.

While Ricki is excited about the potential business the tours will bring to her vintage cookbook shop, she's less thrilled by former friend Blaine's arrival in town. Then Bon Vee's prop tomb becomes a real tomb for Blaine's nasty assistant, and suddenly everyone at Bon Vee is a murder suspect. There isn't a ghost of a chance one of them committed the crime, but with NOPD busy tackling the mischief and mayhem generated by the spooky holiday, it falls on Ricki and her friends to catch the killer.

As the Big Easy gears up for the Big Scary, it seems everyone has skeletons in their closets. Can Ricki reveal the shadowy killer before someone else becomes part of the Halloween horror show?

©2024 Ellen Byron (P)2024 Tantor

My favorite book in the series!!

Halloween is likely my favorite holiday since it's lowkey with really only decorating and handing out candy. I love decorating for Halloween. I especially like finding spooky books to read or listen to or at least Halloween themed. This is all about Halloween-themed with a suspicious death in the mix.
I like the characters, setting and premise. I especially like Ricki James-Diaz, the main character. Through the series, she's picked herself up, dusted herself off and made a go of her vintage shop filled with old cookbooks and nifty kitchen gadgets and ware. She's learning about her mysterious family tree, working on her skittishness with relationships.
I love how I want to reach inside the book and hug some characters and smack others upside the cranium. Not all authors can do that, but Ellen Byron has a talent for making me feel that vicarious awareness.
This is my favorite book in one of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors.
I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.

the amateur sleuthing mixed with a little romance

I love the way the author builds to the conclusion and how you can just imagine the characters and their personalities! I do get annoyed that each book starts with a complete recap, but only because I just want all the new details lol. Great series, by a great author!

couldn't put it down

I loved it! This is an addictive series and can't wait for more! Highly recommend

Lack of vintage kitchenware

I disliked that there wasn’t much antique kitchenware mentioned at all. I love when there’s description of the vintage stuff it makes it so much more interesting and fun.

Compelling mystery

Excellent plot, characters, twists, and New Orleans lore.
Any book by Ellen Byron is a great read. Loved the Cajun country mysteries, as well as this series.

Loved it!

I have read all of her books and I so enjoyed this third book in the series!

Welcome Back

Halloween in New Orleans! It was great to be back at Bon Vee with Ricki and the gang. The personalities are entertaining. The energy is off the charts, and the relationships are solid. Even Nina is coming around. I find Ricki's continuing search for her biological family both interesting and touching, and I was delighted to discover her new ally in the search. I mustn't forget the other mystery, the murder one. It was my favorite kind. It took place early on in the story; the victim is not very likeable; there was certainly no shortage of suspects, and it kept me guessing.

Ms. Byron also incorporates her knowledge of Hollywood that provides both insight and authenticity to this story. Hollywood? You'll just have to read to find out the relevance.

Enjoy!

Southern Mystery Series

This was my first experience with this series. I chose this title because I love southern mysteries & New Orleans at Halloween sounded like fun. I enjoyed getting to know Ricki. She seemed very genuine to me. And the story was complex yet easy to follow along. I am committed to reading/listening to more of this series.