Fiber & Brimstone

Laura Childs' scrapbooking mystery series is set in New Orleans, the Big Easy.  Although many of these books have a Mardi Gras tie-in, the eighth offering in this series, Fiber & Brimstone (#43), has a Halloween theme instead.  Voo-doo and vampires are bread-and-butter for the New Orleans tourist industry and business is brisk at both Carmela Bertrand's scrapbooking shop and her best friend Ava's voo-doo store.  Carmela has been commissioned by the Art Institute to construct a giant-headed puppet for the annual Monsters and Mayhem parade.  After a hard evening's work on the puppet Carmela and Ava stumble across the body of a prominent venture capitalist.  Carmela's homicide detective boyfriend, Edgar Babcock, tries to discourage them from poking into the murder investigation.  But how can they resist when people keep feeding them tidbits of relevant information?  The victim has been running a Ponzi scheme so there are any number of disgruntled investors on the suspect list, not to mention a separated spouse and a current girlfriend. 

Before long, Carmela and Ava find another body at the Ballet Dracula (I remember attending the premiere of this ballet's performance in Boston a number of years ago.  It's every bit as exciting as described in this book!) post performance cast party.  Are the murders connected?  Soon Carmela and Ava find themselves being stalked in the bayou.  Are they the next victims?  Or will Ava's new suitor turn out to be Mr. Right?Since everyone's in costume for the hectic Halloween social whirl, who's to know who's really behind that mask?  You'll just have to read Fiber & Brimstone to find out.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about this series is the colorful setting in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and the detailed and delicious descriptions of the food and drink.  Having just visited New Orleans myself, it was fun to picture many of the locales used in the story.  Trust me, Laura Childs does not exaggerate the quality of the food available here.  And she's also not kidding about the amount of powdered sugar topping the beignets at the Cafe du Monde!  It really does make a foodie salivate...  But Ms. Childs does offer a remedy for that!  One of the extra fun things about all of Ms. Childs' mystery series is that she includes recipes for many of the dishes mentioned in that book at the back.  I can't wait to try the Shrimp Bake from Fiber & Brimstone.  If you're a scrapbooking fan, she gives plenty of ideas in the story and a group of tips in the appendix as well.  Rollez les bons temps!