by Ellen Byron
The ferry route was discontinued in 1983, after the opening of the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge (aka the Luling-Destrehan Bridge), about a mile north of the original ferry landings. A memorial to those lost in the disaster is on display at the East Bank Bridge Park in Destrehan.
If the donation of a vasectomy to a silent auction strikes you as strange, it’s based on reality. A local urologist donated one to our elementary school gala silent auction every year and you’ll be amused to know the donations engendered many a bidding war.
Toward the end of this book, Maggie starts work on an exhibition honoring the folk art of a formerly enslaved woman, Carrie Jones. The fictional Carrie Jones was inspired by the real-life legendary folk artist Clementine Hunter. Clementine, born in the 1880s, was not enslaved. She was an illiterate farm laborer who took up painting in her fifties, using paint and brushes left behind by an artist visiting her workplace, Melrose Plantation. Her paintings portray Black life in Louisiana’s Cane River Valley, where she lived and worked. Her most famous paintings are a set of murals installed at Melrose Plantation’s African House, a unique enigma of a building on the plantation’s grounds. I love Clementine’s bold, bright creations. They paint a moving portrait of twentieth-century Black laborers.
Sometimes the internet brings you wonderful new friends. Cases in point for me: Mark Bologna, host of the fantastic podcast Beyond Bourbon Street, and David J. Hubbell.
Mark’s podcast is an aural treat, filled with priceless insider insight into New Orleans’s unique culture. You can find him on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Links to episodes are also available through his website, Beyond Bourbon Street. And you can support Beyond Bourbon Street through his Patreon account.
David J. Hubbell is a font of knowledge about Cajun culture and cooking. David’s Cajun genealogy dates back to the 1720s and the founding of Louisiana’s “German Coast,” now known as the River Parishes. He describes himself as a happily married chemical engineer with two kids who also happens to be a traditional Cajun/Creole cook, genealogist, and Louisiana-centric gardener. (Even though he lives in Mobile, Alabama, which he likes to point out was the original capital of French Louisiana before New Orleans.) David’s YouTube channel, under “David J. Hubbell: Exploring and Preserving River Parish Food, Culture, and History,” features an array of Cajun/Creole cooking videos, including a subgroup titled “River Road Recipes: Lost and Found.” His sideline as a culinary detective has enabled him to track down and share rare recipes that have been “lost” for generations.
David’s commitment to honoring Louisiana’s legendary cuisine extends to his work with the nonprofit organization Mirliton.org, which is dedicated to preserving and propagating the rare Louisiana heirloom strains of this unique squash. David, known as “The Mirliton Man of Mobile” (the original Mirliton Man is Dr. Lance Hill, who founded the nonprofit), even participated in a video where he and famed Cajun chef John Folse demonstrate how to cook this rare and wonderful vegetable. David also sells some of his delicious wares through his Facebook page, Hubbell’s Hearth.
I don’t think anyone likes good-byes. So I won’t say good-bye to my beloved Cajun Country Mystery series. Instead I’ll say à bientôt—“See you soon.” Who knows? Perhaps the plot of a future book or short story will hinge on the battle over an heirloom strain of mirlitons.
Also available by Ellen Byron
CAJUN COUNTRY MYSTERIES
Murder in the Bayou Boneyard
Fatal Cajun Festival
Mardi Gras Murder
A Cajun Christmas Killing
Body on the Bayou
Plantation Shudders
CATERING HALL MYSTERIES (writing as Maria DiRico)
Long Island Ice Tina
Here Comes the Body
Author Biography
Agatha Award winner and USA Today bestselling author Ellen Byron is a television writer, playwright, and freelance journalist. Her TV credits include Wings, Still Standing, and Just Shoot Me, and her written work has appeared in Glamour, Redbook, and Seventeen, among others. She lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband, their daughter, and the family's very spoiled rescue dog. A native New Yorker, Ellen still misses her hometown and still drives like a New York Cabbie
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reaction to the recipes contained in this book.
Copyright © 2021 by Ellen Byron
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-64385-738-1
ISBN (ePub): 978-1-64385-739-8
Cover design by Stephen Gardner
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
34 West 27th St., 10th Floor
New York, NY 10001
First Edition: August 2021
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