Murder in New Orleans: A Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Caper

Jaden’s entertaining eighth cozy featuring Mallory Beck (after 2021’s Murder in the Secret Cold Case) takes Mallory from her home in Honeysuckle Grove to nearby New Orleans for a food tour after she won a food magazine’s recipe competition. She’s joined by her spunky 16-year-old niece and BFF, Amber, and her cat, Hunch, who she suspects has “a bigger brain” than she does, after plans for a cat-sitter fall through. The difficult logistics of keeping Hunch hale and hearty get even more tricky when Amber’s misinterpretation of their hotel’s pet policy leads to some humorous complications. That all recedes in significance when one of the food tourists is found dead in an alley, apparently strangled by Amber’s Mardi Gras bead necklace. Beck and Hunch sift through a variety of suspects in an effort to exonerate Amber and catch the real killer. The fast pace and the light tone are perfectly matched, and an enticing New Orleans recipe rounds out the volume. Fans of mysteries featuring crime-solving animal sidekicks will have fun. (Self-published)