Between storms, damp and general age, many fine old homes are dilapidated; Maggie's family has to cut back on maintenance but the guests get priority. Some of the guests can try their patience, but hospitality seems to be bred in the bone with these good folks. All the stranger then, that a husband and wife should die in the family's care one evening. To lose one guest would seem like carelessness to me, but to lose two definitely draws police scrutiny.

I love the warm, friendly - and sultry atmosphere of the tale, which drips charm and Spanish moss from the first page. Everyone here is used to the peculiarities of the nearest town Pelican and the Cajun country, but to us tourists it's a delight. The local police department hasn't had this much excitement for a hundred years, so naturally they pull out all the stops to establish if a murder was involved. The other guests are a mixed bunch, and the hosts feel obliged to refund the cost of their stay. If they decide to stay. Would you?

Character fun includes that Maggie has a job as tour guide in a historic building, wearing period costume of a hoop skirt and a banana curled wig. While her grandmere is prone to quoting from urbandictionary.com and boasting about her Facebook stats. A féte in town brings even more tourists to muddy the swampy waters and Maggie has to provide the family recipe crawfish dish. All in a day's work for this amateur sleuth, who needs to clear her family's name and restore the viability of their business. Can she do it?

There's a couple of recipes at the end of the book; a crawfish dish that can be made with shrimp, and a bourbon and pecan bread pudding. I'm definitely queuing up for a taste of Ellen Byron's next book in this mystery series as PLANTATION SHUDDERS gets us off to an impressive and entertaining start.

Book Summary