Title:	Mardi Gras Murder: A Cajun Country Mystery
	Author:	Ellen Byron
	Published:	October 9, 2018, Crooked Lane Books
	No. of Pages:	304
	Cover Price:	$26.99 Hardcover, $9.99 Kindle

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Mardi Gras Murder is the fourth installment of bestselling author Ellen Byron's Cajun Country Mystery Series. Magnolia Marie (Maggie) Crozat and her family are preparing for Mardi Gras at their Crozat Plantation B&B in the tiny town of Pelican, Louisiana. Unfortunately preparations are put on hold with the discovery of a body; the man is unknown to the residents, and they are having trouble identifying him. Maggie has been asked to judge the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen contest due to her grand-mere's recent pneumonia, and she gets involved in solving the murder and helping her boyfriend, Bo Durand, who is a detective at the tiny police department, when one of the judges is murdered.

Typical small-town characters; everybody is related to everybody and everybody knows everybody. There is no shortage of characters in this novel, and even though the story flows well, it is sometimes hard to follow because it is easy to get the different characters mixed up. Also, because there are so many characters, they seem less well-developed and don't quite seem like real people.

Although this culinary mystery is light and fun, it illustrates how small-town life can be shallow and petty. Residents of this town are so wrapped up in themselves and looking good to others, and the fact that they come from old elite Cajun families, they miss the big picture. On the other hand, the book is humorous and shows another side of humanity; it serves to warn us about what is and is not important. Although the book is fiction, there is good information about Mardi Gras and the traditions surrounding the holiday.

A big upside to this novel is that there are great Cajun recipes included. It?s worth reading just for Ninette's gumbo recipe which is excellent. Readers who like cozy mysteries without sex, profanity, or violence will enjoy this book, and it's suitable for all ages.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.