Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop owner, Ricki James-Diaz is still searching for her relatives in this third installment of A Vintage Cookbook cozy series by Ellen Byron. The Bon Vee mansion is preparing for a huge haunted house celebration and unfortunately, one of Ricki’s long-lost relatives is found murdered in a ‘tomb’ Mordant set up for Halloween. Curiously, the victim's employer is a man Ricki blames for her husband’s death years before. This man, Blaine Taggert, just showed up out-of-the blue and purchased the mansion next door to Bon Vee!

Aided by the wonderful, eclectic cast of supporting characters from the previous two stories, protagonist, Ricki follows the spooky path of twists and turns the author has skillfully prepared for reader’s enjoyment. The pacing is swift with lots of action and some humor. The ending offers a satisfying conclusion to several threads of the storyline. Recipes included!

I honestly read and reviewed an unedited arc provided by NetGalley and Severn House Publishing. All opinions are my own.

This is the 3rd book in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series by Ellen Byron. Ms. Byron, once again, captures New Orleans with both her setting and her characters. Ricki James Diaz operates the Vintage Cookbook Shop inside the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, located in one of the grand old houses of New Orleans’ Garden District. When the mysterious new next door neighbors start a legal harassment campaign of the museum, everyone’s concerned about what will happen next. With Halloween rapidly approaching, the Bon Vee’s Haunted House fundraiser weekends are anticipated to be a big moneymaker. But the discovery of a dead body during the preview night isn’t part of the plans. The story also delves into Ricki’s search for her past and occupies a good bit of the story. This was the first I’d read in this series and, while it can be read as a stand-alone, I think reading the first two books would make it easier to understand Ricki’s backstory and family history.

This is the third installment of The Vintage Cookbook Mysteries.

All of the characters are so well done and they are all hilarious, in their own ways.

It's Halloween in New Orleans and the Bon Vee Culinary Museum is in full spooky mood. Having received permission to hold a haunted house, they are gearing up for a huge crowd. Until the new neighbors next door start a campaign to shut them down.
3, 2024
Full of good stuff, I adore this series.

NetGalley/ Severn September 03, 2024

French Quarter Fright Night was the perfect spooky season cozy mystery! I have not read the previous books in the series but that didn’t stop me from loving this one!

Having lived in New Orleans for 3 years, this was such a fun read!
Ricki James-Diaz is working at a beautiful garden district historical home-turned-museum, The Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. Ricki and her co-workers are anxiously preparing for spooky season as Halloween soon approaches. They have so many fun tours planned for their patrons. All is going smoothly until new neighbors move into the home next door and file complaints for noise and various other things. Much to Ricki's dismay, this new neighbor is none other than movie star Blaine Taggart and his staff. Ricki has a bitter past with Blaine after he filmed the incident that led to her husband's death. But Ricki's dislike of Blaine is the least of Bon Vee's concerns when a body is found amidst their haunted house decor.
This cozy mystery brought the New Orleans spirit to life! This was the 3rd in a series but I had not read the first 2 and it did not take away from the plot. I do want to go back and read the others as I would love more back story on the characters. Ricki is fun, youthful, and intelligent. The story was light, easy to follow, and enjoyable. Overall 4.5 stars! A little "lull" period in the beginning, it was off to a slower start. I did not mind it as the New Orleans details were fun for me but these details may be a bit of a slow-burn for other readers.
Thanks to NetGalley, Severn House, and Ellen Byron for an ARC and the chance to give my honest feedback!

It’s almost Halloween in New Orleans and the Bon Vee is decked out and ready for fun. However, their nasty new neighbors are trying to put a damper on things. Who are they and why do they have an ax to grind? Of course, the discovery of a corpse on the grounds is no laugh riot either. This is a solid entry in the series hallmarked with Byron’s trademark humor and twisty plot elements. Delving more into the secondary mystery….who are Ricki’s birth parents….proves enlightening. A highly recommended read.

Here we go again, another murder, this one hitting a bit close to home when an old acquaintance moves next door to Ricki and his personal assistant is murdered, another surprise when her familial ancestry is discovered. Of course, some of the Bon Vee staff become suspects, but there’s more with the introduction of an eclectic cast of secondary characters who supply us with better motives and a chance to watch Ricki and her friends seek out clues to unearth the killer.

As a gifted writer, the author knows who to verbalize scenes with visually descriptive narrative and engaging dialogue that keeps you enthralled in all aspects in the telling of this tale. I love how the team worked together to uncover clues that the author has sprinkled throughout this wickedly solid mystery. There were a few surprises along the way that enhanced my reading pleasure. This was a fun book to read, and I enjoyed all the cleverly written scenes where pivotal characters shined and had a role in the killer’s identity. The side story of Ricki searching for family members is a bonus. Again, a wonderful read in this delightfully entertaining series.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of FRENCH QUARTER FRIGHT NIGHT (Book 3 of the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series) by Ellen Byron in exchange for an honest review. Ricki James Diaz and the staff of the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum are always looking for ways to finance the museum. Inspired by Halloween, Ricki suggests hosting an old fashioned haunted house complete with scary vignettes, peeled grapes, and cold spaghetti noodles. Everyone agrees and gets excited for staging and promoting the Bon Veeevil Festival of Fear. During the dress rehearsal, the staff gets a fright of their own. A new neighbor, who had been making trouble for everyone in the neighborhood, makes a surprise appearance in one of their sets---as a very real corpse. Once again, the Bon Vee staff become suspects and persons of interest in a suspicious death. Now the Bon Vee staff must work together to clear their collective names, and things are made more difficult by the persistent appearances by action movie star Blaine Taggart, who was the best friend and enabler for Ricki’s now-deceased husband.

I enjoyed this book and the prior two in the series. I recommend this book to fans of cozy murder mysteries set in cities with their own personalities, searches for roots, homecomings, and finding family.

#FrenchQuarterFrightNight #NetGalley

Halloween is my favorite season, and when I learned the third book in Ellen Byron's Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, French Quarter Fright Night, would focus on a murder taking place during a Halloween event, I was super psyched. And wow, did it deliver! The cast is well developed, brimming with over-the-top personalities, a macabre sense of humor, an elegant matriarch whom Ricki recently discovers is an unknown family relation, and a lovely tour of the Garden District in New Orleans. In this installment, Ricki's deceased husband's best friend, a famous actor, appears in town, and his assistant wrecks havoc on the neighborhood. It prompts a mini-war between the museum and its new neighbor, and someone is found murdered during the Halloween shenanigans. Lots of hidden truths swim to the surface, including new DNA connections for Ricki herself. How does it all fit together?

What a gorgeous setting and clever set of characters where numerous side stories seamlessly weave their way through the plot without being distractions. Ricki's quest to discover how she's related to the museum's owner creates small ripples that eventually flood the dramatic climax of the story, leaving us closer to the truth but not in its entirety. On another level, the discovery of the murderer's identity and conclusion of the mystery offers Ricki some closure on her own husband's death, prompting her to accept the path for moving forward. And on top of it all... we get an intoxicating tour of New Orleans with delicious scents, sounds, and visuals. Who wouldn't love diving into this series? Highly recommended!

When Blaine, her ex's best friend, buys a mansion next door to Bon Vee and his assistant is found dead in Bon Vee's shed Ricki and her friends set out to investigate her death. The mystery deepens when she finds out that the assistant used her as a reference to get the position and that she's a cousin of sorts.
There was a bit too much going on and it felt like the book was more about Ricki's finding her roots vs solving the mystery. I started disliking Zellah quite a bit with her constant "white people" references. Don't think it's needed and it was quite off-putting. Not my favorite book in the series but I will continue reading to see where the journey takes Ricki.

Halloween is on the horizon, and New Orleans is gearing up like crazy, as it does for all holidays. In Ellen Byron's third Vintage Cookbook Mystery, French Quarter Fright Night, Ricki James-Diaz, proprietor of the vintage cookbook and housewares shop in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, is looking forward to participating in the festivities, along with her friends and coworkers. But trouble looms when popular movie star Blaine Taggart moves into the mansion next door, and one of his staff is soon found dead in a haunted house tomb that is part of the upcoming Festival of Fear. Ricki immediately feels involved because she blames Blaine in part for the death of her ex-husband. And she learns that the murder victim, who was a stranger to her. used her as a reference to get the job with Blaine.

What ensues is a typical cozy mystery plot, written by a seasoned writer: a fun and fascinating plethora of characters--some of whom are murder suspects--,a delightfully entertaining Big Easy setting heightened by Halloween season merrymaking; the reappearance of Ricki's errant boyfriend, and Ricki's quest to find family members she has never met. I appreciated the opportunity to spend time with familiar characters and meet new ones, and although the reveal of the murderer could have been better grounded, I found this book easy to read and ultimately satisfying.

My thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Halloween in New Orleans. While setting up a haunted house at the museum, Ricki and her assorted friends must deal with the shenanigans from the movie star who moves in next door along with his assorted hangers-on. When there is a murder at the Hollywood house, Ricki and friends investigate, while also continuing to search for Ricki's family. The plot is rather loose and seems designed to further Ricki's family tree, and the characters (old and new) are one-dimensional (except Detective Nina). Thanks to NetGalley and Severn for the ARC.

Cozy mystery
Halloween setting, which is my favorite Setting to read Along with being in New Orleans
I love it. Good mystery solving book To find out who the killer is