Things are not so easy in the Big Easy for Ricki James-Diaz.  She left Los Angeles to make a fresh start in New Orleans after the death of her internet sensation husband and after scandal broke out with her former employer.  Now she’s lying low, without air-conditioning, and hoping to open a vintage cookbook store at The Bon Vee Culinary House Museum.  But New Orleans isn’t a place to lay low, and pretty soon Ricki is up to her neck in a murder investigation in the first Vintage Cookbook Mystery, BAYOU BOOK THIEF.

Ricki James-Diaz has always been drawn to her birthplace in New Orleans.  She was abandoned as a baby and adopted by a nurse.  Her family later moved to California.  After her life became a disaster in Los Angeles, she decided to move back to New Orleans and propose opening a vintage cookbook store at The Bon Vee Museum.  The Bon Vee Museum is a beautiful Garden District House that once belonged to a legendary New Orleans restaurateur, Genevieve (Vee) Charbonnet.  It is now open to the public, where tour guides and docents educate the public on its history.      

Ricki’s proposal is accepted and she gets right to work curating items for the gift and book store.  The store opens as a success, but she is dismayed when she catches a tour guide, Franklin Finbloch, trying to steal a book.  Franklin is fired and not soon after, he arrives at the shop stuffed in a trunk, stabbed in the neck with a depression-era can opener.  Who wanted to kill the cantankerous tour guide?

As Ricki starts investigating, she comes across a cast of quirky and suspicious characters including a swindling Bon Vee relative, a greedy tour guide, a questionable Yogi, sneaky landlords, a sketchy publisher, and a dishonest HVAC technician.  There’s an array of possible suspects, but when Ricki learns of a Foodie Romance/Mystery Series with a secretive author and a publishing scam, she’s starting to get closer to the truth.   If only she could get closer to some working air-conditioning!  Can Ricki solve the mystery before someone turns the lights out on her dream vintage cookbook store forever?

BAYOU BOOK THIEF is the first in a new series and it’s a great start.  New Orleans is colorfully depicted and filled with interesting and fun characters.  The ambiance is stellar and the camaraderie between characters is transparent.  Even the unlikeable characters are likeable.  The mystery is clever and the clues evolve nicely, leading readers on a chase with Ricki to find the suspect.  There are several smaller secondary mysteries playing out as well and everyone at Bon Vee has secrets in their pasts, which readers will be eager to explore in future books.  Ricki is a great protagonist as she is warm, welcoming, smart, and plucky.  She’s not afraid of being trapped on a roof in a storm.  Overall, this mystery is filled with fun people, good food, and a great whodunit.  An interesting cliff-hangar at the end will keep us invested until next time.  Vintage Cookbook recipes included!  Enjoy!

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