Fans of this series will be thrilled with this latest offering. I strongly suggest you read the series in order.

Louisiana B&B owner Maggie Crozat kicks up her heels at a country music festival--but she'll have one foot in the grave if she can't bring the killer of a diva's hanger-on to heel.

Grab your tickets for Cajun Country Live!, the pickers' and crooners' answer to the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, plans to be in the cheering section when her friend Gaynell Bourgeois takes the stage with her band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls.

The festival's headliner, native daughter Tammy Barker, rocketed to stardom on a TV singing competition. She has the voice of an angel...and the personality of a devilish diva. But Maggie learns that this tiny terror carries a grudge against Gaynell. She's already sabotaged the Gator Girls' JazzFest audition. When a member of Tammy's entourage is murdered at the festival, Tammy makes sure Gaynell is number one on the suspect list.

Gaynell has plenty of company on that list--including every one of Tammy's musicians. Posing as a groupie, Maggie infiltrates Tammy's band and will have to hit all the right notes to clear her friend's name

My thoughts:
Rating:4.5
After reading this one I now want to read books 1-4 in the series , because who wouldn't want to read a cozy mystery that has food, fun ,murder and a festival and at the very end recip recipes to fix, the characters are fun and I loved the down to home feeling the story gives and has , as well as the sassings of the main character Maggie ,plus I loved how she loved her fiance 's son. Can't wait to read more of this series .With that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion.

Well now I need some pralines!!! Plantations, a festival, girl fights, and music. What's not to like? Gran and her death cleaning was a diversion. Since I help people downsize I totally get the need to clean out and throw out. The music bands were an motley crew and the end was a major twist. I thought this was a good story.

Magnolia Marie "Maggie" Crozat and her family prepare their Cajun bed and breakfast to accommodate a hometown singer-turned country star and her West coast based band. Their manager, Pony, barks orders to everyone; he's the one who discovered Tammy in their small town of Pelican, Louisiana. But not everyone is happy for Tammy's homecoming. Gaynell, one of Maggie's closest friends and who is also a talented singer, remembers Tammy mercilessly bullying her in high school. When Pony is killed due to electrocution by faulty wiring, Maggie immediately wonders if this is really an accident or if more sinister forces are at work

I've read the prior four books in the series. It's good to have some background of the characters but can easily be read as a standalone. With Gaynell as the prime suspect, there are a still a lot of characters to keep track of. Maggie's grandmother begins to sort her belongings in a morbid way for my taste and finds more than she bargained for. There's also the continuing engagement of Maggie and Detective Bo Durand. Given that they are not in their 20's, it's a bit too long of an engagement for me but hopefully there will be a wedding in a future book. Overall, a good read

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for a digital ARC. My review is voluntary.

Now that Maggie Crozat and Bo Durand are officially engaged, everyone in Pelican wants to know when they will set the date. Maggie and her family are too busy with festival season to think about planning a wedding.
When Grandmere decides Pelican needs a festival to precede the New Orlean's Jazz & Heritage Festival, she ropes Maggie into helping her organize Cajun Country Live! The featured artist is none other than hometown-girl-makes good Tammy Barker. Before the festival even begins, one of Tammy's entourage is murdered.

Time to visit the big jazz festival in Ellen Byron’s latest installment of her Cajun Country Mystery Series. Not only are their delicious pralines but the winner of a television singing show and her entourage will be appearing. She’s a hometown girl who is feeling her stardom. This mystery is a delightful escape to all things Cajun with sexy cops, tipsy grandmothers and an interesting homicide investigation.

I have to admit – I just love the Cajun Country Mystery series and the fifth entry, Fatal Cajun Festival, did not disappoint! Maggie is gearing up and turning out pralines like hot cakes for the upcoming Cajun Country Live music festival. I’m glad to see that Ellen Byron is developing and adding complexity to her great collection of eclectic characters. There are some new introductions, including the hometown girl (Tammy) who hit it big on a reality singing show and her entourage, including her off-putting manager Pony.

Maggie’s good friend Gaynell, who packs her own serious set of pipes, is less than happy to see her high school tormentor Tammy returning to town and once again stealing the limelight (and a song or two). Not Pony makes a rather indecent proposal to Gaynell, he’s electrocuted on stage. Freak accident or well-planned murder?

While I’m not loving all of the plot points (the fake break-up was just awkward and didn’t move the plot forward), it was a solid entry in the series. I loved GranMere’s side story. Overall, I enjoyed Fatal Cajun Festival and I’m excited for the next book in the series!

This is book # 5 in the Cajun Country Mystery series and it's a good one. It can be read as a stand alone but most of the characters are from previous books. Maggie and her family are major sponsors of the Cajun Festival hoping to bring more tourist to their small Louisiana town. The headliner, Tammy, has reserved the entire B&B and turns out this local lady who made it big in the music industry has a few enemies left in town. Now Maggie's friend , Local band sensation Gaynell and the Gator Girls is the main suspect in the murder of Tammy's manager. Love the folklore about the area. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

2.5 stars. I can't make myself be more generous than that. The writing was simplistic, Maggie's inability to talk with her grandmother about 'death cleaning' plain dumb (as was the pretend break-up) and Maggie exhibited some first-rate too stupid to live behaviour. Oy.

The town of Pelican is hosting the Cajun Country Live! festival and local girl that made it big Tammy Barker is back in town to perform at the festival, and to be a pain in the backside of Gaynell, a girl Tammy bullied in highschool. Tammy sets Gaynell - an aspiring musician herself - up with her manager Pony, but Pony tells Gaynell she won't make it in the music business because she doesn't have sex appeal. Things come to real blows when Tammy finishes her set at the festival with a song Gaynell wrote and had wanted to use for her own set. Gaynell leaves making threats to Pony.

Shortly after, Pony is killed by electrocution.

Gaynell is the main suspect, because making threats gives you motive. Because Gaynell is her friend and she can't believe the girl would do such a thing, Maggie Crozat steps in to investigate. She even goes as far as to go on a pretend break-up with her fiancé so she can get closer to the musicians in Tammy's support band. Why out-of-town musicians would be interested in small town gossip about a couple's break up is beyond me.

Strangely enough, they are into the local gossip and let Maggie hang out with them to mend her broken heart. Ugh.

There's a large cast of characters. Probably too large to get a connection to any of them. Mainly, I didn't get a connection to Maggie, the sleuth, who is a woman of strong, but shallow emotions. It was an enjoyable story, though. And I probably won't pass if I come across any of the other books in the series.

This is the fifth Cajun Country Mystery and centers around a local music festival that was Maggie's grandmother's idea. The headliner is to be Tammy Barker who is a local girl who made good on one of those singing shows. She is a mean girl who has some sort of grudge against Maggie's friend Gaynell who is also a musician and who leads Gaynell and the Gator Girls.

Tammy and her entourage including her manager Pony Pickner, her assistant Sara and the members of her band. Tammy, Pony, Sara and a couple of Tammy's local cousins are staying at the B & B Maggie's parents run. They are causing her mother a lot of trouble because each one is on a different weird diet.

When Pony is electrocuted with Tammy's special microphone, Maggie has to go undercover with the band to find out who killed him. This is especially urgent because Tammy is throwing all sorts of suspicion Gaynell's way. Maggie and her fiance Bo pretend to break-up their new engagement so that Maggie's new career as a groupie seems less suspicious.

Many old favorite characters from earlier books in the series have roles in this one. And recipes also play an important role. Maggie makes bunches and bunches of pralines of various flavors to sell at the festival and the recipe for them is included.

This was a fun story with a lot of suspense and a nice romance between Maggie and Bo.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

A great addition to this series about life in Cajun country-Pelican, Louisiana. Maggie's world is interesting and is a great setting for a cozy who-dun-it mystery. I look forward to the next book in this series.

The 5th book in a mystery series I was afraid I would be lost when I started reading but its very easy to catch up and this reads well as a stand alone book, I really enjoyed the mystery and characters and would recommend to any lover of cozy mysteries

Another delightful book about life in Cajun country-Pelican, Louisiana. It's all about a music festival and local musician Gaynell Borgeois, and her band The Gator Girls and former Pelican citizen, now Country Music star, Tammy Baker.

I was captivated to read the story about local girl (who was not very popular with Maggie and Gaynell back in high school) who comes back to show her hometown just how wonderful she thinks she is. Plenty of back-up band interaction and mystery that fueled murder, kidnapping and more, Author Ellen Byron does a great job of presenting a realistic image of the festival and musicians.

With a complex cast of characters, most carried over from the previous books in the series, the author has provided notes for readers to refresh their memories about who's who. A very helpful way to put the reader back with Maggie Crozat and Pelican, LA.

This book had plenty of mysteries and sleuthing to satisfy readers, and could be read as a stand-alone without any confusion. Of course I do recommend reading them in order for enjoyment and maximum satisfaction. Just don't miss the opportunity to read this entertaining book that will have you sweltering and craving pralines while you listen to Cajun music!

I was fortunate to have a copy of the book made available by Crooked Lane Books through Net Galley. The opinions expressed are completely my own.

Excellent addition to this series. Loved every minute of reading this book. Always looking forward to each new book in this series.

I received a free copy of FATAL CAJUN FESTIVAL (Book 5 of the Cajun Country Mysteries) by Ellen Byron in exchange for an honest review. Louisiana B&B owner Maggie Crozat is busy making pralines and selling them at the local Cajun Country Live! food and music festival while her parents are busy providing housing and figuring out how to prepare specialized food for hometown country music superstar Tammy Barker. When Tammy’s manager is murdered, Tammy uses the opportunity to exercise her longtime grudge against Maggie’s friend Gaynell Bourgeois. Tammy gleefully points the police investigation in Gaynell’s direction.

I liked this book; it was wonderfully entertaining. I recommend this book to fans of Ellen Byron, to fans of the series, and to fans of cozy mysteries with regional storylines. Being from Louisiana, I didn’t find any glaring errors (no basements or subways in this book), and I had a good laugh over some of the made-up names of towns and parishes. Be warned, there are delicious recipes hiding out at the end of the book.

#FatalCajunFestival #NetGalley

Fatal Cajun Festival is the fifth book in the Cajun Country Mystery cozy series. This was the first book I read by this author and the first book in this series. I was a little nervous starting with Book 5 but the book definitely stands alone. There is enough of a backstory to not be confused.

I recently traveled to New Orleans for the first time , and I can say the food and music are so spot on in this book. I loved reading about the Jazz Festival, well until the body showed up

I enjoy the fun characters and the well thought out mystery. I will definitely be going back to read the other books in this series.

Love, love, love this book and love, love, love this series. I love the stories about this family and how close they are. This was a great mystery and the ending was a complete surprise. Really fun read!

Fatal Cajun Festival is the 5th book in this series. I loved this story. This time there is a mustic festival that has been created my Maggie's gramdmere. Maggie's friend Gaynell and her band "The Gator Girls" are in the festival and the headliner, one Tammy Baker will be staying at the Crozat Plantation Bed and Breakfast.. Tammy Baker's manager is dead and Tammy accuses Gaynell as there were bad words between the manager and Gaynell. Maggie doesn't believe that Gaynell is guilty. Fun and fast paced story.

Ellen Byron's books just keep getting better. She completely pulls you into her cozy world and you don't want to leave.

I had the absolute honor of interviewing Ellen at Malice Domestic this year. My YouTube interview with her is going live August 9th - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaparovshFQ. I was so glad I got approved for this book because I was so curious about it after speaking with her. It did not disappoint!

4.5 stars rounded up