Mardi Gras Murder, my new Cajun Country Mystery, revolves around the Cajun tradition,
Courir de Mardi Gras – Mardi Gras Run. The runs are down-home affairs, with
fantastic masks often made by the wearer or a local craftsperson, and costumes
that are also primarily made by hand. What I love are the fabrics Mardi Gras –
in Cajun Country, the term is often used as a proper noun – chose for their
outfits.
They range from sedate…
To exuberant.
Some are a little bit
country…
Some are a little bit rock
‘n roll…
No matter the pattern, all
the fabrics reflect the joyous nature of the Courirs. Yes, they can get crazy. And
being an animal lover, I don’t love the part of a courir where they chase a
chicken and then catch it for the communal gumbo that ends the festivities.
Some are men only, which pushes a button for me. But local women responded by
creating their own runs. There are family runs, too.
Still, I love the fact that
such a unique and specifically regional celebration not only exists but thrives
in today’s homogenized society. My friend Jan Gilbert, a renowned NOLA artist,
participated in a run and took these photos. Someday I hope to join a run
myself, well… laissez les bon temps rouler! Let the good times roll.
Mardi Gras Murder
A Cajun Country Mystery, Book 4
The resilient citizens of
Pelican aren’t about to let some hundred-year flood ruin their Mardi Gras
festivities, which include Courirs de
Mardi Gras – Mardi Gras Runs – a gumbo cook-off, and the Miss Pelican Mardi
Gras Gumbo Queen pageant contest.
But when a body of a stranger washes up in the bayou Crozat Plantation
B&B, and a pageant judge is shot, Maggie Crozat is convinced that the deaths
are connected. Does someone want the pageant queen crown bad enough to kill for
it? Or are the deaths somehow related to the Orphan Train, which delivered its
last charges to Cajun Country in 1929?
Buy Links
(Photos courtesy of Jan Gilbert and EPrimeMedia.com)
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