Did I mention I like Cajun cooking? Here are some more mysteries set in New Orleans in the Pre-Katrina era, for this particular book in their series.
In Crime Brûlée - Nancy Fairbanks features an amateur detective named Carolyn Blue who is the wife of a academic and who in this book is trying to get a foodie writing career off of the ground. She is in New Orleans for a science conference that her husband is attending. She has wonderful dinners and lunches but a somewhat horrible experience in the city - muggings, being threatened, having to view a dead body, etc. If she wasn't trying to track down her best friend who suddenly disappeared after an fight with her husband in front of their group of fellow alums, I think she would have (I know I would have) gone home! She tries to balance her sleuthing with seeking out food experiences and being a good faculty wife at the conference. This is the first of this series and I would be definitely be interested in reading more!
The book, Roux the Day : a gourmet detective mystery by Peter King is a great way to experience his series. The gourmet detective - whose name is never mentioned - since the stories are in the first person, has an unusual career. He looks for rare foods, lost recipes, or food subsitutions for a recipe - he is a all around foodie. He is asked to come to New Orleans to determine if a book up for auction is a famous local restaurant family's chefs' book. The chef's book has the family's famous recipes from their now shuttered restaurant. And he soon finds out that there are many others who want this lost cookbook. And they will kill to get it. He, too, rounds out his visit with dining at New Olreans' finest restaurants. This is a well written, lively book, and I would be curious to see what "case" this detective has next!
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