Louisiana cozy mysteries for summer reading

Looking for some cozy mysteries to enjoy this summer? Here are two with local ties by award-winning authors to choose from.

Pamela Kopfler of South Louisiana writes a series with Kensington Publishing that deals with a Louisiana bed and breakfast complete with spirits, the dead kind. “Downright Dead,” the second book in the series, came out last fall and the third, “Hog Wild Dead,” will be out in the summer of 2020. Start at the beginning with “Better Dead.” Here’s the book's description:

“Burl Davis checked out of this life a little earlier than expected—before Holly could serve him with divorce papers over his extramarital flings. Unfortunately, it was not before he nearly bankrupted her beloved BnB, Holly Grove, a converted plantation that has been in her family for generations. Holly would never wish anyone dead, but three months later she's feeling a lot more relief than grief. Until Burl's ghost appears as an unwelcome guest. Before his spirit can move on, her not-so-dearly departed needs Holly’s human help to bust up the drug smuggling ring he was involved with. She has reservations, to say the least, but agrees to assist him if he’ll make a show of haunting the BnB to draw in visitors. But when Holly’s former love, Jack McCann, mysteriously resurfaces in town and checks in, she has to wonder if her BnB is big enough for the ghost of her husband and the very real physical presence of her old flame . . .”

 

Sandra Bretting hails from Southern California and now calls Houston home but sets her Missy DuBois mysteries, published by Penguin, in Louisiana. The fourth book in the series, “Death Comes to Dogwood Manor,” was published last summer, but start at the beginning with “Murder at Morningside.” Here’s the book’s description:

“Hat designer Missy DuBois opened her shop, Crowning Glory, along Louisiana's Great River Road to cater to the sophisticated Southern bride. But bless her heart, who knew creating stylish wedding veils would lead to murder? Hired to craft a veil for a socialite getting married at Morningside Plantation means Missy can bask in the height of antebellum atmosphere. But when the bride is found dead in a women's bathroom, Missy the milliner finds herself entangled in one unfashionable murder. With the list of suspects thicker than the sweltering Louisiana heat, including a gaggle of bridesmaids shedding nary a tear and a family with no shortage of enemies, it seems anyone at the mansion may have done away with the bride-to-be. While Missy has Southern charm to spare, she's going to need more than manners and a manicure to put a hat pin on this murderous affair . . .”

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in the Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series is FREE to download as an ebook.

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Flashback Friday: New Orleans' Claudette Carrida Jeffrey

In 2015, we spotlighted "The Color of Life," the second book in the Claire Soublet Series by Claudette Carrida Jeffrey, a native of New Orleans who now lives in Northern California. She is also the author of the novel, "A Brown Paper Bag and A Fine Tooth Comb." 

Here’s the book description:

Claire Soublet's great-aunt Sera is a dressmaker in New Orleans's French Quarter in the early 1900s. With her blue eyes and blond hair, no one knows she's a woman of color. Even though Claire lives with her for years before her death, she does not learn they are related or how her great-aunt lived until she receives her memoir.

Jeffrey was born and raised in New Orleans’s Seventh Ward, attending Corpus Christi Elementary School and J.S. Clark High School. Her grandfather, Louis Smith, was one of the Autocrat Club founders. Her great-aunt, Mary V. Rilley, a teacher, was influential in Claudette’s young life. After high school, Claudette moved to New York City where she married and started a family. In southern California, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern California and a Teaching Credential from California State University at Northridge. She’s retired and lives in northern California.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Make plans for September's Word Crawl

On Sept. 14, 2019, downtown Lafayette will once again be overrun with poets and various artists from central and south Louisiana. Word Crawl brings together a diverse group of literature lovers and creative enthusiasts, winding down Jefferson Avenue and into the many venues, from cafes to museums to bars.  

Word Crawl invites poets, fiction and nonfiction writers, spoken word artists, playwrights, storytellers and songwriters to participate, perform and help in fundraising efforts for the crawl’s beneficiary, the literary Festival of Words in November which brings established authors for public readings and writing workshops in community centers and public school classrooms. Word Crawl helps raise funds to ensure the continued expansion and success of these programs. Last year’s fundraiser rallied in more than 50 artists!

Word Crawl includes different portions: Daytime hours welcome all ages; evening hours may include adult material, and there is even a portion for Francophone writers.  

The Word Crawl fundraiser takes place from noon to midnight Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019.  

If you would like to share your own stories, poems and other creative efforts, you can pick up a packet by contacting Patrice Melnick at 337-254-9695 or by emailing festivalwords@gmail.com; Marie Touchet aziesbusiness@gmail.com. You can also download a packet at festivalofwords.org

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Harjo appointed first Native American poet laureate

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today announced the appointment of Joy Harjo as the nation’s 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2019-2020. Harjo will take up her duties in the fall, opening the Library’s annual literary season on Sept. 19 with a reading of her work in the Coolidge Auditorium.

Harjo is the first Native American poet to serve in the position – she is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. She succeeds Tracy K. Smith, who served two terms as laureate.

“Joy Harjo has championed the art of poetry – ‘soul talk’ as she calls it – for over four decades,” Hayden said in a press release. “To her, poems are ‘carriers of dreams, knowledge and wisdom,’ and through them she tells an American story of tradition and loss, reckoning and myth-making. Her work powerfully connects us to the earth and the spiritual world with direct, inventive lyricism that helps us reimagine who we are.”

Harjo currently lives in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the nation’s first Poet Laureate from Oklahoma.  

“What a tremendous honor it is to be named the U.S. Poet Laureate,” Harjo said. “I share this honor with ancestors and teachers who inspired in me a love of poetry, who taught that words are powerful and can make change when understanding appears impossible, and how time and timelessness can live together within a poem. I count among these ancestors and teachers my Muscogee Creek people, the librarians who opened so many doors for all of us, and the original poets of the indigenous tribal nations of these lands, who were joined by diverse peoples from nations all over the world to make this country and this country’s poetry.”

Harjo joins a long line of distinguished poets who have served in the position, including Juan Felipe Herrera, Charles Wright, Natasha Trethewey, Philip Levine, W.S. Merwin, Kay Ryan, Charles Simic, Donald Hall, Ted Kooser, Louise Glück, Billy Collins, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass and Rita Dove.

Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 9, 1951, and is the author of eight books of poetry – including “Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings” (W. W. Norton, 2015); “The Woman Who Fell From the Sky” (W. W. Norton, 1994), which received the Oklahoma Book Arts Award; and “In Mad Love and War” (Wesleyan University Press, 1990), which received an American Book Award and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award. Her next book of poems, “An American Sunrise,” will be published by W. W. Norton in fall 2019. Harjo has also written a memoir, “Crazy Brave” (W. W. Norton, 2012), which won the 2013 PEN Center USA literary prize for creative nonfiction, as well as a children’s book, “The Good Luck Cat” (Harcourt, Brace 2000) and a young adult book, “For a Girl Becoming” (University of Arizona Press, 2009). 

As a performer, Harjo has appeared on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and in venues across the U.S. and internationally. In addition to her poetry, Harjo is a musician. She plays saxophone with her band, the Arrow Dynamics Band, and previously with Poetic Justice, and has released four award-winning CDs of original music. In 2009, she won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. 

Harjo’s many literary awards include the PEN Open Book Award, the American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award, the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book. Harjo has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Witter Bynner Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her collection “How We Become Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001” (W. W. Norton, 2002) was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its Big Read program. Her recent honors include the Jackson Prize from Poets & Writers (2019), the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation (2017) and the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets (2015). In 2019, she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Harjo has taught at UCLA and was until recently a professor and chair of excellence at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has returned to her hometown where she holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship. 

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Juleps in June to honor Calhoun, McCormick

One Book One New Orleans (OBONO) will host Juleps in June from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, June 28, at the home of Honorary Chair Leah N. Engelhardt.

"This year, One Book One New Orleans is taking a deeper look at how the arts can contribute to social justice," wrote OBONO Executive Director Dr. Megan Holt in a press release.  "Our Juleps in June honorees, photographers and activists Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick, embody this mission."

Both born in the Ninth Ward, Calhoun and McCormick have documented the soul of New Orleans and a vanishing Louisiana: the last of the sugar cane workers, the dockworkers, the sweet potato harvesters, and the displacement of African Americans after Katrina. They photograph the traditions of black church services and religious rituals; community rites and celebrations such as parades and jazz funerals; and the cruel conditions of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Calhoun and McCormick will be signing their new book, “Louisiana Medley,” at Juleps in June, an event aimed at raising awareness and resources for members of the community who lack access to books. Ticket sales benefit OBONO's literacy outreach efforts and its annual festival, Words and Music.

Guests will enjoy desserts from the Cupcake Collection, empanadas from Empanola, a Jazz Trio from the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and more. Guests will be automatically entered for door prizes, and there will also be a prize for the best hat. Of course, the mint juleps will be flowing.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.