Jambalaya, the peacock, is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about French Quarter Fright Night, the latest novel in the Vintage Cookbook mystery series.

Welcome, Jambalaya. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too. Hi, Jambalaya the peacock here, brother to Gumbo. We live at Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, the setting for the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series, which was inspired by our author’s own hobby of collecting cookbooks. In the series, Ricki James-Diaz leaves Los Angeles to start a new life in New Orleans after her showboating actor husband perishes doing a stupid internet stunt. Ricki gets to turn her avocation – collecting vintage cookbooks – into a vocation by launching Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware Shop at an historic culinary house museum once owned by Genevieve “Vee” Charbonnet, a legendary local restauranteur. When murder bedevils the site, Ricki will also find herself in the unexpected role of amateur sleuth, putting to use the observational skills she’s developed ferreting out hidden resale treasures.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too? Oh, believe me, my bro and I get a say. Do you know anything about peacocks? If not, please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a bird of wealth and fame. Kidding! But we have attitude for days. It’s like, we know we’re gorgeous so we can get away with murder. Well, not real murder. We leave that to other characters.

How did you evolve as the main character? We’re not main characters but we are regulars. Once our author started writing us, she had so much fun she couldn’t stop. She also trusts our opinions about people. If we don’t like someone, we’ll chase and screech at them incessantly. Ricki takes this as a sign that whoever we’re heckling deserves it.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them? I really love chasing Theo Charbonnet around, hee hee hee. We drive him nuts! He’s gotten a little better but for a long time, he deserved what he got.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story? We’re actually very frustrated. Suddenly there’s kitten at Bon Vee and everyone’s like, “Ooooh, he’s so cute!” And we’re like, “Dude, he’s a full-on monster. Trust us on this.” But noooo. Kittens rule, right? Cue eye roll emoji!

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book? There’s nothing more fun than Halloween in New Orleans! We don’t have to wear costumes, of course. I mean, have you seen our feathers? Mic drop! But French Quarter Fright Night is loaded with haunted houses and spooky parades and awesome outfits. Even a murder can’t stop the fun. Or can it????

Thank you for answering my questions, Jambalaya, and good luck to you and your author, Ellen Byron, with French Quarter Fright Night, the latest book in the Vintage Cookbook mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Jambalaya and his author, Ellen Byron by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub, and Instagram pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

 Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org 

About Ellen Byron: Ellen is a USA Today bestselling author, Anthony nominee, and recipient of multiple Agatha and Lefty awards for her Cajun Country Mysteries, Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, and Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico). Her new series, The Golden Motel Mysteries, recently debuted. She is also an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning writer of TV hits like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents, but considers her most impressive achievement working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart.