Wined and Died in New Orleans is the second Vintage Cookbook cozy mystery by Ellen Byron. Released 7th Feb 2023 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 288 pages and is available in mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a delightfully light and humorous cozy set in and around a fictitious stately home in New Orleans and the shops and tourist attractions associated with it. Protagonist and amateur sleuth Ricki James-Diaz runs a vintage cookbook and kitschy kitchen supply store in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum and is a recent transplant to Louisiana from California.
Some of the characterizations and plot developments are admittedly a bit over the top and there are some twists which require a healthy suspension of disbelief, but all in all, it's a pretty good example of why the shopfront cozy subgenre is so popular. Ricki's internal Zen monologue ("breathe, I choose to feel calm" etc) was slightly intrusive at some points, but overall it added whimsy and a little humor to the read.
The eclectic mix of eccentric characters left an open field for most of the book for "whodunit" and why. The denouement and resolution are self contained in this volume and it works well as a standalone. With 2 books extant in the series, it would be a nice choice for a mini-weekend binge read or buddy read.
Four stars. The author is prolific and competent.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
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