It’s been a while since I read one of Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country mysteries, so I’m happy that Murder in the Bayou Boneyard had a list of characters. She’s such a skillful writer, though, that once I started it was easy to identify and remember characters. She gives them all distinct personalities, which is not easy in a book with such a large cast.

It’s October in Pelican, Louisiana. The bed-and-breakfasts are suffering because a man grabbed up a lot of local property to rent on an app he calls “Rent My Digs.” Maggie Crozat comes up with a scheme, and joins forces with four other bed-and-breakfasts to present Pelican’s Spooky Past weekends. Each B&B will offer special events, and there will be a mystery play staged in the Dupois cemetery. Crozat Plantation B&B will open a spa. And, Maggie invites a distant Canadian cousin she never met to be the massage therapist.

When Susannah MacDowell, her husband, Doug, and the two twenty-some-year-old twins show up, they are obnoxious, demanding guests. To her regret, Maggie put them in her art studio. But, when Susannah plays psychic and undercuts the local voodoo priestess, Maggie fires her. It’s only then that Susanah plays her trump card. She owns property in Pelican, property that adjoins Crozat Plantation. And, the property line is right where Maggie’s art studio is.

It seems Maggie’s ideas for the weekends aren’t working out at all. One guest reports seeing a rougarou in the woods. It’s a Cajun werewolf, a combination of a werewolf and vampire. As others start to see it, they cancel reservations. Then, a costumed rougarou staggers into the mystery play, and dies in front of guests and the cast. The cemetery lies in two jurisdictions, not just Pelican where Maggie’s fiance is a deputy. The neighboring town and a police officer with a chip on his shoulder claim jurisdiction. And, Maggie tops the list of suspects.

Mystery and humor collide in Byron’s latest book. There are wedding plans, as Maggie’s grandmother becomes a bridezilla with her talk of their New Year’s Eve double wedding. Family, legend and lore, along with food and humor take center stage in the enjoyable story.

Ellen Byron’s website is https://www.ellenbyron.com/

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard by Ellen Byron. Crooked Lane Books, 2020. ISBN 9781643854601 (hardcover), 304p.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .pdf to review for a journal.