Mardi Gras Murder

USA Today–bestselling author Southern charm meets the dark mystery of the bayou as a hundred-year flood, a malicious murder, and a most unusual Mardi Gras converge at the Crozat Plantation B&B It’s Mardi Gras season on the bayou, which means parades, pageantry, and gumbo galore. But when a flood upends life in the tiny town of Pelican, Louisiana—and deposits a body of a stranger behind the Crozat Plantation B&B—the celebration takes a decidedly dark turn. The citizens of Pelican are ready to, “Laissez les bon temps rouler”—but there’s beaucoup bad blood on hand this Mardi Gras. Maggie Crozat is determined to give the stranger a name and find out why he was murdered. The post-flood recovery has delayed the opening of a controversial exhibit about the little-known Louisiana Orphan Train. And when a judge for the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen pageant is shot, Maggie’s convinced the murder is connected to the body on the bayou. Does someone covet the pageant queen crown enough to kill for it? Could the deaths be related to the Orphan Train, which delivered its last charges to Louisiana in 1929? The leads are thin on this Fat Tuesday—and until the killer is unmasked, no one in Pelican is safe. A simmering gumbo of a humorous whodunit, Mardi Gras Murder is the fourth piquant installment in USA Today–bestselling author Ellen Byron’s award-winning Cajun Country mysteries.

From USA Today bestselling author Leslie Langtry comes the next laugh-out-loud Merry Wrath Mystery! Let the good times roll! It’s Spring Break, and ex-CIA agent Merry Wrath decides to take her precocious scout troop to a small town in Louisiana for Mardi Gras. Who Dat, LA is Who's There, Iowa’s sister city, so naturally the whole town turns out to greet them with carriage rides, a swamp tour, and a cake party. Unfortunately for them, someone isn’t happy they’re in town… Bring the big guns—we’ll have some fun on the bayou! Strange stories of a local half-gator/half-man, a weird ritual at a voodoo queen’s grave, and a tea room filled with taxidermy make Who Dat seem like it’s another planet, but Merry’s gut tells her there’s something unnervingly familiar about this town. Southern hospitality gives way to suspicion when two people are murdered and Merry was the last to see them alive. Is the killer really a vampire, like the police believe? What is their Bed and Breakfast host hiding in the locked third floor? How is Merry going to explain to the girls that they can’t name the pelican that follows them around Deep Throat? Merry doesn’t have any answers, but when someone close to her is arrested, and a dangerous threat is revealed, she has to find the killer quickly, before Fat Tuesday becomes Fatal Tuesday! Merry Wrath Mysteries: Merit Badge Murder – book #1 Mint Cookie Murder – book #2 Scout Camp Mystery – short story in the "Killer Beach Reads" collection Marshmallow S'More Murder – book #3 Movie Night Murder – book #4 Mud Run Murder – book #5 Fishing Badge Murder – short story in the "Pushing Up Daisies" collection Motto for Murder – book #6 Map Skills Murder – book #7 Mean Girl Murder – book #8 Marriage Vow Murder – book #9 Mystery Night Murder – book #10 Meerkats and Murder– book #11 Make Believe Murder – book #12 Maltese Vulture Murder – book #13 Musket Ball Murder – book #14 Macho Man Murder – book #15 Mad Money Murder – book #16 Mind-Bending Murder – book #17 Mascots Are Murder – book #18 Mosquito Bite Murder – book #19 Manga and Murder – book #20 Mayor for Murder – book #21 Mardi Gras Murder – book #22 What critics are saying about Leslie Langtry's books: "I laughed so hard I cried on multiple occasions! Girl Scouts, the CIA, and the Yakuza... what could possibly go wrong?" ~ Fresh Fiction "Darkly funny and wildly over the top, this mystery answers the burning question, 'Do assassin skills and Girl Scout merit badges mix…?'" ~ RT BOOKreviews "Mixing a deadly sense of humor and plenty of sexy sizzle, Leslie Langtry creates a brilliantly original, laughter-rich mix of contemporary romance and suspense." ~ Chicago Tribune "Langtry gets the fun started from page one." ~ Publisher's Weekly

Reverie turns deadly when a secret society of New Orleans elites is infiltrated by a killer in this classic 1930s mystery. For years New Orleans has been enthralled by the secret society dedicated to Dis, Greek god of Inferno, whose membership of fifty is closely guarded from the press and whose rites burlesque the proud tradition of the city’s Mardi Gras festival. Lovely Cynthia Fontenay gives Dis a ball each year, with all members in attendance behind satanic masks and sinister robes of black and scarlet. When murder strikes this charmed circle, a shadow is cast over the city. Homicide detective Captain Murphy once again enlists the help of Wade, a New Orleans journalist, to confront an investigation of fifty suspects. As their smoldering motives become front page news, the Crescent City awaits the finale of this chilling carnival of a case.

** Newly Revised ** Like bananas, Sheriff Cas Larkin’s troubles are ripening in bunches. A fully dressed woman is found drowned in the lake. He has a citizen no one can find, but hasn’t been reported as missing and all of her known acquaintances are standing in the way of Cas’s investigation. Then Judge Carpenter’s fiancée lands in jail, accused of a bloody murder way down yonder in New Orleans! Now Cas must pick up the pace and connect the dots... before he goes bananas himself. THE MARYVALE COZY MYSTERY SERIES, in order The Devil in Maryvale The Nelson Scandal Recipe for Trouble The Mardi Gras Murder

A Mobile, Alabama, police detective investigates when a body is found along a Mardi Gras parade route in this mystery thriller. Detective William Boyett is called out on Mardi Gras evening in Mobile, Alabama, to investigate the discovery of a young woman’s body wrapped in a carpet in a vacant lot a few blocks from the parade route. Over the next two months, Boyett works hard to solve the case, but he’s frustrated by miscalculations and downright incompetence by other members of the law enforcement community. His investigation goes nowhere, and when he’s promoted and transferred back into patrol, the unsolved homicide falls into the cold case status. A decade later, Boyett is assigned to a newly formed cold case squad. He soon picks up two cases he feels he can solve, one of which is the 2006 Mobile Mardi Gras murder he left behind. Now, with skilled, trusted colleagues at his side, he picks up the trail, determined to find the murderer, never expecting the horrific truth he will uncover. A seat-of-your pants mystery thriller written by a thirty-year criminal investigator that you will believe is true. Doug Lamplugh brings his experiences with the criminal justice system, as well as his experience with multi-state, multi-jurisdictional investigations to life in this novel. The details of how a criminal investigation can change rapidly will astound you.

Maggie Slone, fast-talking newspaper reporter, covered a special assignment in Gaston Villiere’s renowned café Le Coq d’Or on Mardi Gras night. Along with a good meal, she got an earful of a melodramatic conversation at a nearby table. At the table were two couples. One pair, a blond young man and a green-eyed glamour girl, have a row and break-up the party. The next day, Maggie is assigned to cover a suicide—the blond young man of the night before. Odd circumstances shroud his death and, even as the reporter tries to fit the puzzle together, the green-eyed Nita is found garroted in a patio in the French Quarter, just behind the home of the Pacellis, a poor Italian family. Maggie’s attempts to solve the murder carry her into strange situations, including a powwow with a group of people which includes one man who seems determined to imprison her. When little Tina Pacelli is kidnapped, Maggie gets down to brass tacks and walks smack into trouble, and more murder. The riotous color of the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the fast-paced excitement of the newspaper office, and Maggie’s talent for trouble are all come together in this thrilling novel. Events move with lightning speed, striking into the heart of a man where hate born of hurt has smoldered for years—finally breaking out in a flame of murder.

"Murder and Mardi Gras together! Ain't we got fun?"For years New Orleans has been enthralled by the secret society dedicated to Dis, Greek god of Inferno, whose membership of fifty is closely guarded from the press, and whose rites burlesque the proud tradition of the city's Mardi Gras festival. Lovely Cynthia Fontenay gives Dis a ball each year, and no member of the order has ever been seen without satanic mask and sinister robes of black and scarlet-this is well known, but despite many efforts, the secret of its roster has never been penetrated.When murder strikes with vicious efficiency in this charmed circle, its visit casts a shadow over the city. Captain Murphy, of the Homicide Squad, and Wade, New Orleans journalist, confront a case of fifty suspects, smouldering motives which overnight become front page news, and incredible circumstances which make for the most famous of many unusual crimes on the Police Calendar.The Mardi Gras Murders was first published in 1932. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.