Gen. Russel Honore, who was in charge of the massive search-and-rescue mission in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, is proposing a plan to use the U.S. military as first responders when hurricanes of Category 3 or higher make landfall in the U.S. and its territories. He outlines this plan in a new book titled “Don’t Get Stuck on Stupid,” recently published by Acadian House Publishing of Lafayette.
Since Louisiana books make great gifts and help local authors, be sure and check out Acadian House’s large list of Louisiana books.
Mysteries
Looking for some Louisiana-based mysteries?
New York Times best-selling author Erica Spindler, who lives in the New Orleans area, sets her latest thriller in Harmony, Louisiana, where police detective Miranda Rader steps into a horrifying homicide scene in “The Other Girl.” As the case progresses, her boss discovers Miranda’s prints at the scene of the crime, although Miranda never took off her gloves. Worst is an old news clipping of when Miranda escaped her own sexual assault 15 years before. Back then, no one believed the teenager, even when she insisted there was another girl left behind. Is Miranda being set up? And just who is involved in keeping her from finding out the truth? And, like the book suggests, who was that other girl 15 years before that Miranda had to leave behind when she fled the scene. It’s a complex thriller that will leave you guessing until the end.
Ellen Byron, who lives in Los Angeles but left part of her heart in Louisiana after attending Tulane, continues her cozy mystery series that’s set in Plantation Country along the Mississippi River in “A Cajun Christmas Killing.” The mystery features Maggie Crozat who’s helping her family run the Crozat Plantation B&B in the small town of Pelican, Louisiana. Naturally, there’s a murder and Maggie and her loved ones are suspects during the height of the holidays. When her boyfriend Detective Bo Durand also comes under suspicion, Maggie has to take sleuthing into her own hands. This edition of the series includes recipes and some Louisiana holiday traditions, such as bonfires on the levee.
Twelve cozy mystery authors, including Colleen Mooney of New Orleans, make up the Christmas anthology “The 12 Slays of Christmas,” with all of the book’s proceeds benefitting animal rescue groups. The anthology costs $4.99 and “The 12 Slays of Christmas Recipe Book” cost $12, both available at online bookstores. For information, visit www.12slaysofChristmas.com.
Roger Johns, a former corporate lawyer and retired college professor, released his debut novel this past summer titled “Dark River Rising,” by Minotaur Books. The story involves Wallace Hartman, a female police detective in Baton Rouge, who’s smart and fearless. When the lives of those she cares about are put in jeopardy by the cleverest, most violent criminal she’s pursued, she is unstoppable. For more information, visit https://rogerjohnsbooks.com.
New Orleans
Next year marks the New Orleans Tricentennial and why not celebrate the city’s 300th anniversary with several new books. 
Michael Murphy’s “All Dat New Orleans: Eating, Drinking, Listening to Music, Exploring and Celebrating in the Crescent City,” is the perfect guide to everything Big Easy. There’s history, lists of everything from hotels to cemeteries, discussions of ghosts and vampires, a guide to drinking — you name it. Sidebar profiles, called Lumins (short for luminaries) add to the book’s allure, providing profiles of some of the city’s most colorful personalities. Even though Murphy’s book contains just about everything you need to know to enjoy New Orleans, he insists it’s about the experience, one visitors must create themselves. “But the best way to ‘do’ New Orleans is not to fill up your suitcase with consumer knickknacks and doodads,” he writes in the book’s introduction, “but to fill up your mind and your soul with one-of-a-kind experiences.”
New Orleans residents will love perusing Edward J. Branley’s “Krauss: The New Orleans Value Store,” a Canal Street landmark for almost 100 years. The book comes chock-full of vintage photos, history, products sold, the famous lunch counter and personal remininces, among so much more. The store closed in the 1990s but Branley’s book helps the store beloved by so many live on. Branley is also the author of “Maison Blanche Department Store” and four other books on New Orleans by The History Press.
Multi-published and award-winning author Jack Sullivan examines the music of New Orleans since the 1990s, with interviews and archival material of luminaries such as Jon Batiste, Marla Dixon and Kermit Ruffins in “New Orleans Remix.” The book attempts to expand beyond jazz with the city’s funk, brass band and Mardi Gras Indians traditions and other musical genres. “New Orleans Remix” includes 40 illustrations.
Three other New Orleans books that will make great holiday gifts are “Snippets of New Orleans,” a whimsical book that explains the City the Care Forgot in vibrant illustration by Emma Flick, and “The Louisiana Urban Gardener: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Vegetables and Herbs” by Kathryn K. Fontenot. New Orleans historian John Magill tackles one of the city’s landmark thoroughfares, following the curve of the Mississippi River from Canal Street to Carrollton Avenue, in “The Incomparable Magazine Street,” published by River Road Press of New Orleans. The book is accented by photographs from Margot Landen.
Book events the week of Dec. 10-17
The 20th anniversary of Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans, sponsored annually by the Faulkner Society, concludes today. For more information, visit www.wordsandmusic.org.
Cassie Pruyn discusses and signs “Bayou St. John: A Brief History” at 2 p.m. today at Octavia Books of New Orleans. The book about the city’s beloved waterway contains history from Native Americans to the current Bayou Boogaloo festival.
Adam Gussow signs “Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Garden District Book Shop of New Orleans.
Humberto Fontova signs “Crazy on the Bayou” Five Seasons of Louisiana Hunting, Fishing, and Feasting” at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Jack Sullivan signs “New Orleans Remix” at 6 p.m. Thursday at Octavia Books of New Orleans.
Carol Stubbs and Nancy Rust will sign their cookbook “Louisiana Christmas” at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble Citiplace in Baton Rouge. The book features traditional recipes and statewide celebrations.
Chere Coen is the author of several Louisiana non-fiction books and the “Viola Valentine” Louisiana paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
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