Wined and Died in New Orleans (A Vintage Cookbook) by Ellen Byron

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Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Wined and Died in New Orleans (A Vintage Cookbook) by Ellen Byron. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

Wined and Died in New Orleans (A Vintage Cookbook)

by Ellen Byron

Wined and Died in New Orleans (A Vintage Cookbook)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Louisiana
Berkley (February 7, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages

The second in a fantastic new cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning author Ellen Byron.

It’s hurricane season in New Orleans and vintage cookbook fan Ricki James-Diaz is trying to shelve her weather-related fears and focus on her business, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the magnificent Bon Vee Culinary House Museum.

Repairs on the property unearth crates of very old, very valuable French wine, buried by the home’s builder, Jean-Louis Charbonnet. Ricki, who’s been struggling to attract more customers to Miss Vee’s, is thrilled when her post about the discovery of this long-buried treasure goes viral. She’s less thrilled when the post brings distant Charbonnet family members out of the woodwork, all clamoring for a cut of the wine’s sale.

When a dead body turns up in Bon Vee’s cheery fall decorations, the NOPD zeroes in on Eugenia Charbonnet Felice as the prime suspect, figuring that as head of the Charbonnet family, she has the most to gain. Ricki is determined to uncover the real culprit, but she can’t help noticing that Eugenia is acting strangely. Ricki wonders what kind of secret her mentor has bottled up, and fears what might happen if she uncorks it.

In the second Vintage Cookbook Mystery, Ricki has to help solve a murder, untangle family secrets, and grow her business, all while living under the threat of a hurricane that could wipe out everything from her home to Bon Vee.

My review of Wined and Died in New Orleans

Oh my goodness! I love this series so so much! Yes, Wined and Died in New Orleans is only the second book in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series, but with characters like this and an author like Ellen Byron, you know the rest will be just as wonderful. You can jump in here if you haven’t read the first book, Bayou Book Thief, but I highly recommend that you do read it! It’s amazing and you get to meet all of the characters for the first time! So much fun!

In Wined and Died in New Orleans, we’re back at Ricki James-Diaz’s shop Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. I honestly can say that I am not a fan of cooking…anymore. I think that by the time you get to be my age and you’ve cooked more meals than you can count, you get a little tired of it. I know that there are exceptions, but I also know I’m not alone in this!! However, I would totally shop in Ricki’s shop. Just because I don’t want to cook doesn’t mean that I won’t. If the mood or recipe strikes, I’m all in. If you’ve seen “vintage” (I have a hard time thinking the 70s era in which I was born…right on the cusp of the decade) 1960s/70s cookbooks that were part of a series by a popular publisher, you will recall that they have a LOT of weird jello salads and other nasty looking salads, so I’d totally skip those! But give me a cookbook from the 40s/50s and I’ll bake you a meal Mrs. Cleaver or Donna Reed would be proud to serve. Yes, this got a little long….but you can tell, I adore Ricki’s shop!

I don’t just love Ricki’s shop though! I love the whole New Orleans setting. Even though I’ve never been, I can travel there through this series. Like Ricki, I’d be totally freaked out by the bad storms worrying about hurricanes. I do live in Ohio, but we hardly ever get bad storms anymore! It is nice listening to moderate storms if I’m safe inside and the tornado siren doesn’t go off. It’s kind of cozy. But Ricki’s a Cali girl, and this is her first New Orleans storm season. She gets a bit hysterical, and the other characters tell her it’s just a little rain. Yeah. The setting is awesome.

And the characters…they are hilarious and quirky and marvelous. They jump off the page and drag you right into their world. I love these new friends who have taken Ricki right into their little circle. The crazy side characters add just the right amount of flavor. I adore the latest character who has joined the cast. Her name is Olivia. She’s Gen Z. She’s hooked to her phone and social media all..the..time. She’s Ricki’s unpaid intern. I just love her, and I think you all will too.

Of course, the mystery is very well-plotted and believable, has lots of red herrings, and has the Bon Vee crew investigating. And Ricki’s detective “friend” doesn’t even complain too much about Ricki’s nosiness. She’s another character that I love and can’t wait to see how her story develops. Oh! And, Ricki’s crush will most likely become one of your book crushes (if you’re into the whole fictional boyfriend thing).

Basically, I’m telling you to READ THIS BOOK! It’s got the best characters, a setting that’s to die for (literally in this case…), and a mystery that will keep you guessing. And it’s written by an author who makes her books come alive! You’ll be flipping the pages of Wined and Dined in New Orleans and staying up until 3 AM (I may or may not be speaking from experience) just to finish this exciting and spectacular book!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

About Ellen Byron

Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Bayou Book Thief will be the first book in her new Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. She also writes the Catering Hall Mystery series under the name Maria DiRico.

Ellen is an award-winning playwright, and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents. She has written over two hundred articles for national magazines but considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. An alum of New Orleans’ Tulane University, she blogs with Chicks on the Case, is a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America and will be the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster. Please visit her at https://www.ellenbyron.com/

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