Mardi Gras Books

Exact copy of the book. Unfortunately, the pages are a little more complicated to color that I had hoped. Perhaps for 8-9 year olds, not 5-6 yr olds as I was hoping.

This book was quite fun as Gaston appears on every "spread". Finding Gaston was a great addition to the BASIC story. if you know nothing about Mardi Gras- this is NOT the book for you. The pictures are fun to view but do not present crisp clear images easily recognizable. Nor does the narrative do much to further explain this wonderfuly historic tradition. Nonetheless, I used this as an aid to explaining Mardi gras to a group of 1st graders. It was a hit. As a supplement used in conjunction with other items it was great!

I used this book as my read aloud in a lesson plan on Mardi Gras. It is a great book. The illustrations are in purple, green, and gold and are just beautiful! Also, Gaston the alligator keeps the students' interest during the reading. Gaston is found on almost every page. In addition, there are many Mardi Gras traditions used in text. Examples are gumbo, fais-do-do, beads,parades, Boeuf Gras and King Cake. It was a great book to use for an anticipatory set of my lesson plan. I was able to transition into my teaching activities very smoothly after this interactive read aloud.
I plan on using this book in the years to come. I enjoyed reading it and the children enjoyed listening and learning from it!

I bought this book for a recent preschool Mardi Gras party. I found the book informative & easy to understand. Even the youngest of my listeners (Age 3)were able to enjoy the story, as I supplemented it with visuals (beads, doubloons, masks). My only complaint would be the illustrations. I found the pictures to be more like an artist's view of the Mardi Gras scene, rather than easy to decipher, kid friendly pictures.

This colouring book version of James Rice's Mardi Gras classic, "Gaston Goes to Mardi Gras," is fun for the whole family. It can be used as a way to explain some of your family's traditions, or to prepare children for a family trip. The pictures can be coloured, cut out and used for party decorations. The story reminds me of my childhood, and the Carnivals of days gone by. Rice presents a short, but comprehensive overview of Carnival, and the major krewes, balls, and parades. I highly recomend this book.

This book is great for those of us who like stories with a twist, stories about Mardi Gras, or just plain good reading. Overall, I think it is a great collection of short stories that, for the most part, are entertaining to read.

Here's one of the main problems that I have with the book. If it's a collection of stories about New Orleans Mardi Gras, why do most of the stories appear to be written by British authors? If you look, you'll see some traits of UK vocabulary and spelling, such as using "realise" when a US author would have spelled it "realize". That doesn't give these authors as much credibility to me, but, who really cares?

I think the last story of the book was DEFINITELY the best. If you've ever been to New Orleans and done one of the Haunted History tours, you'll surely recognize the characters in this story. Wonderful!!

Mardi Gras Madness is a collection of eleven stories by as many authors, the topics ranging from the light-hearted to the macabre. All of the stories are set primarily in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Definitely recommended for those who enjoy dark tales of murder and the supernatural. The stories will send delightful chills of terror down your spine, and make you want to sleep with the lights on.

This book would make a good purchase for those with a-- twisted-- sense of humor. All eleven are short stories, but there are elements in many of them that will have you going back to read it again.

One of my personal favorites out of this book was "The Invisible Woman's Clever Disguise", one of the more light-hearted pieces about a middle-aged woman from Portland who discovers she's become invisible, and decides to have a bit of fun. She goes to New Orleans for her first Mardi Gras, where she gets an surprise invitation from a new and rather unorthodox krewe.

Two more of my favorites are "Farewell to the Flesh", a decidely darker tale about a vampire who gets involved with a group of cultists; and "Down in Darkest Dixie Where the Dead Don't Dance", another dark story about the spirits of New Orleans and the ones that return to do their evil work, year after year.

I highly recommend this book, all of the stories are absolutely wonderful!

Mardi Gras [French 'Fat Tuesday']
- Shrove Tuesday, celebrated as a holiday with carnivals, masquerade balls, and parades of costumed merrymakers
- a carnival period coming to a climax on this day
- THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY

"The festival of Mardi Gras is a tradition dating back more than 200 years. Its roots can be traced back to the Latin 'carnivale', which means - roughly - 'farewell to flesh'. The premise was simple: a time of great feasting prior to the time of fasting that traditionally begins with Ash Wednesday."
- Davis' introduction

Many of the contributors have taken the 'farewell to flesh' theme and run with undead characters of one sort and another: vampires, ghosts (even the Haunted New Orleans tour), zombies (of course, in the land of voodoo), and wierder entities. Others (sometimes in the same story) have taken the theme of sacrifice, when the king/queen of a festival feted in high style shouldn't make long range-plans.

And, of course, there are the krewes - the societies (ranging from brand-new to very old) that run various Mardi Gras masked balls as well as the parades punctuating the festival. In a city with over fifty such organizations, surely a few may be more than they seem. While the most ancient krewes are traditionally closed organizations - if you have to ask about joining, don't expect to - the younger krewes may be freer with invitations to strangers...

Bischoff, David: "May Oysters Have Legs" Tony Viti considers himself a sophisticated hitman - he's been all over the country, even to New Orleans. Unfortunately, he's unfamiliar with the more creative uses of Dixieland jazz funerals, and didn't know that his target's into voodoo...

Braunbeck, Gary A.: "Down in Darkest Dixie Where the Dead Don't Dance" Pete Russell's calling as a homicide cop broke his heart, bringing him to a suicide's deathbed this Mardi Gras. But death brings him one final case, as a fellow ghost's killers hunt yet again. Russell's hideous flashbacks will haunt readers even as they enjoy his exchanges with the Goth chick whose murder he seeks to avenge ("I'm tired of being hassled by the Man!").

Crowther, Peter: "Songs of Leaving" New Orleans' last festival, as Earth awaits the asteroid 'Fat Tuesday'. But the city has taken to heart the old Cajun adage, "Come the end of the world, we *better* be dancin'...", facing the end with both style and dignity. [The F/SF elements weren't necessary to make this a good story.]

Davis, R.: "Fat Tuesday" Narrator Martin Grant, a freelance writer, enjoys covering the underside of public events; hearing of the 'Vampire John' serial killings this Mardi Gras, how can the man who uncovered the 'werewolf' Times Square Murders resist? But catching the perpetrator seems unlikely: a scant physical description - tall and strong, judging by some of the victims, no hair or fibers left at the scene...

de Lint, Charles: "Masking Indian" (collected in de Lint's TAPPING THE DREAM TREE) Braided format, alternating 1st-person POV of Marley Butler and 3rd-person Wendy and Jilly of the Newford stories. Marley's POV recalls her youth as a runaway "looking for her black roots among the Black Indian tribes that rule the Mardi Gras". Wendy and Jilly find her haunted by memories (?) of her old mentor's ritual costume.

Helfers, John: "Farewell to the Flesh" Seth, like Indiana Jones, recovers stolen artifacts and art objects under exotic circumstances; when we first encounter him, he's preventing a human sacrifice by a Cthulhu-mythos-type cult (Lovecraft's de Marignys, although from New Orleans, aren't mentioned). But Seth loves Mardi Gras for unusual reasons. "After all, there are enough fake vampires roaming around, what's one more, even if I am real?"

Holder, Nancy: "Skeleton Crewe" emphasizes fasting as well as feasting. The anorexic protagonist is out of hospital only after running out of insurance, but for Lent, she's giving up her brinksmanship of spurning flesh for spirit - only to encounter the strangest krewe parade of all.

Lindskold, Jane: "Sacrifice" 'The festival has been explained as a farewell to the eating of meat before the long Lenten fast. It is curious, however, that the places where Carnival has survived most powerfully - even though Lent now requires no more than a token sacrifice - is where living water is most powerful...Farewell to the flesh. Farewell to the body of the girl who will give herself to the water so the water god will not take the city.' The story focuses on Mirabelle, one of the debutantes at the once-in-a-lifetime Bride's Ball from among whom the river's queen will be chosen. [Apart from Mirabelle's courage at facing the unknown, a number of fascinating 'echoes' are sketched in between the Ball and the unconscious tributes paid by the revellers of the surrounding city: the parades, the krewes, the crowned monarchs.]

Rogers, Bruce Holland: Sensation-seeking Andy happily accepts the title "King Corpus" offered by a 'most ancient' krewe with a one-float parade. They offer all the pleasures of the flesh - but at what price?

Scarborough, Elizabeth Ann: "The Invisible Woman's Clever Disguise" for the Krewe of Melusine's ball was chosen at the last minute; having been invisible for years, she never expected even junk mail, let alone a mysterious invitation slipped under her door. [The prologue of how people gradually began to look through her as she didn't make time to see others, is *very* clever, without taking the same tack as Silverberg's "To See the Invisible Man".]

West, Michelle: The krewe summoning Susan to Mardi Gras requires only "Faces Made of Clay" for admission to the ball: the ceramic mask accompanying the invitation. Susan's concern is with another mortal clay altogether: the memory of her family, 15 years lost, at whose graves the invitation was delivered.

A previous reviewer talks of the Comus crewe being driven from the streets by "government interference." He couldn't be referring to the decision not to allow the continuance of racially segregated crewe activities on New Orlean streets by any chance? Or could he? Language is a funny thing. This book is a dedication to the "golden age" when Mardi Gras was all white, and all was right with the "white" world. It is not a very liberating experience, but I guess as long as the vestiges of the "old generation" remain the nostalgia for the good old days will persist. After all, there are those who think we would have been better off had Strom Thurmond been president....

Henri Schindler is a devotee of New Orleans Carnival. He served as the last float designer for the Mistick Krewe of Comus, the orginator of thematic New Orleans Carnival parades, until the Mistick Krewe was driven from the streets in 1992 by government interference. Rather than focus on this end, Mr. Schindler writes evocatively of the glory days of carnival, the "last butterfly of winter". It is at once stylish, historical, and moving- a must have for every carnival afficiendo. You come away not seeing just a drunken debacle, but an appreciation for a local celebration, rich in traditions, social history and the artists who helped create it. Complete with extraordinary photo-plates.

Schindler's magnum opus, Mardi Gras New Orleans, is the perfect guide as we embark on the 150th anniversary of the New Orleans Carnival celebration--a must read for any serious or curious observer of the New Orleans scene. The focus is the history of the celebration, going back to its origins in ancient Greece and Rome, and the Druid Festival of the Sun with its own "boeuf gras" long before the Christian Lenten observance decreed a "farewell to meat" (carne vale). With glorious photography by former Carnival Queen Tina Freeman, and archival photographs, Schindler paints a fascinating verbal picture of the post-classical European roots of the modern celebration, and the effects of the Venetian and Bourbon French rulers on the ancient feast. Focusing on the colonial, Creole and ultimately American development of Carnival, Schindler leads the reader to the pivotal moment in that history, the formation of the Mystick Krewe of Comus--the event that brought order out of the chaos of the early celebration and gave the New Orleans carnival its present form. Drawing on the words of early governors of the city, nineteenth century print media, celebrities of the time and noted authors such as Grace King and Eudora Welty, he weaves an unforgettable portrait of New Orleans during the period from its colonial days through the early twentieth century, tracing the birth of the organizations that followed the Mystick Krewe, and outlining some of the traditions unique to each. Whether depicting the rise of the Rex Organization, the mystery of the life of artist and float designer Carlotta Bonnecaze or sharing the literate satire of carpetbagger rule provided by the 1873 Comus and Momus parades, Schindler never disappoints. Not only does he reflect on the history of the old-line carnival, but Schindler also offers a rare insight into the fascinating development of the African-Creole carnival, and the contributions of both former slaves and free people of color to the celebration. Schindler records the contributions of the African-American benevolent societies, and of the Mardi Gras Indians with their unique oral history, music and elaborate costumes. Schindler was able to draw upon the resources of some of the most active devotees of the New Orleans Carnival in drawing back the curtain on the "real" Carnival and in framing this impressive and highly readable classic history. Readers seeking more detailed information and even more glorious color plates of the artistic side of the celebration will be pleased by Schindler's Treasures of the Golden Age series, including gorgeous tomes devoted, respectively, to Invitations, Float Design, Costumes and Jewelry.

This book covers a lot of ground. It seems to speak of New Orleans in various stages of existence. The Author writes of a fairly recent Town with prophetic shades of impending doom. Then intertwines tales of early American development but not limited to Spaniards and the British. It touches upon the creation of the Melungeon peoples of the Tennessee Valley going back to the Prehistoric Native American peoples of the region. Much existential speculation and various sections of somewhat tawdry "Pulp Fiction". The retelling of a love story three different ways. And a message of hope and redemption. Like I said, A lot in one book.

This is a really good book. It is not overly long and it tells several good stories. If you like New Orleans and History and Romance you will like this book. Also some mystery in it. Glad I bought this book. Wish I could buy it all over again.

This is my second Julie Smith Skip Langdon mystery. While the first book I read was a bit fluffy, this Edgar award-winning book really packs a punch. New Orleans Mourning starts out with a bang when Mardi Gras King of Rex is murdered during a Mardi Gras parade. Policewoman, Skip Langdon, witnesses the whole thing and is quickly included in this homicide investigation. The King is Chauncey St. Amant, who has more than his fair share of enemies, including most members of his own family.

In the process of investigating the murder, Langdon discovers that there are a whole bunch of skeletons in the St. Amand closet. In fact, the St. Amand's have all the high drama and dysfunction of a Tennessee William's play. And the closer Skip gets to solving the murder, the more someone tries to scare her off the case. This fabulous mystery has a great ending and will leave you shaking your head.

Although the mystery itself is quite good, my favorite parts of New Orleans Mourning were the descriptions of New Orleans. Smith goes into great detail about the history of the city, the evolution of Mardi Gras, the development of jazz, etc. New Orleans is unlike any other city in the US and is one of my favorite places to visit. It was also helpful to read the first Skip Langdon to get much needed background on how and why Langdon becomes a police officer.

This review is for the Ivy Book first Ballantine Books edition, February 1991. Julie Smith has published at least 19 mystery novels in four series. NEW ORLEANS MOURNING was the first novel in the Skip Langdon series. The Mystery Writers of America gave it the Edgar Award for best novel in 1991. There are now at least nine titles in the Skip Langdon series.

Skip Langdon is a young, tall, white lady from a prominent New Orleans family. Her father, Don Langdon, is a doctor, who no longer talks to Skip. Her mother, Elizabeth, talks too much so Skip tends to avoid her. Whenever Skip calls her yuppie brother Conrad, he knows she wants something because why else would she call him. But you don't need close family ties if you have Jimmy Dee Scoggin, Skip's fifty year old, five-foot square hopelessly gay criminal lawyer landlord who hands her a joint whenever he waltzes through her door.

Skip is a policeman with only two years on the New Orleans force. It's Mardi Gras and the king of Rex, Chauncey St. Amant is on parade. He looks up to wave at someone dressed in a Dolly Parton costume with balloons in her bodice and a two-gun holster. Dolly shoots Chauncey St. Amant. Skip knew the St. Amant family since her rubber pants days; she grew up with this uptown crowd, so she is temporarily assigned to the homicide division to help in solving Chauncey's murder.

Julie Smith uses an above average number of names in her stories. There are at least 117 named characters (including one dog) in NEW ORLEANS MOURNING versus fifty or less in most novels. You might get dizzy with the rush of characters in the first ten pages, but by page 17 things will start to settle down.

Julie Smith seamlessly weaves the sound, sight, smell and feel of New Orleans into this story. It's more than a mystery story; it's a tour of The Big Easy.

Though Julie Smith does give an invaluable lesson in the minutae of New Orleans social structure, perhaps she should have written a guide book rather than this mess.

Skip Langdon, as our intrepid protagonist is almost likable. One is intrigued by her stature, her outsider status both professionally and personally and her personal history. However, Smith's creation seems to make so many mistakes and have such poor judgement that at times her low esteem seems justified. Her constant jealousies are distracting and in the end prove to be extraneous.

The multiple points of view add nothing to the plot nor the mood, and when the POV is not Skip's the story's momentum comes to a standstill. The story is full of sidelines and subplots which are then dropped and never brought to conclusion.

The final nail in the coffin for me was the two dimensional, not to mention offensively stereotypical depiction of homosexuals.

I'm trully surprised this book won any awards let alone the Edgar.

Can't give it too many cudos...

But why, oh why is a book like this not considered a literary masterpiece? Some of the [junk] that is put forth by the
NY Times, the New Yorker, Oprah's Book Club, ad nauseum, is considered "top drawer," and yet we rarely hear about a brilliant detective novelist like Julie Smith being taken seriously by the "literary lights." I mean, it's very nice that she won an Edgar, but why not a Pulitzer? Her descriptions of New Orleans social strata are written with obviously great scholarship and at the same time are totally absorbing. I will say that New Orleans owes her a debt for the tourist trade a book like this will bring in. I can't wait to get back to that gorgeous city and scope out some of the "kultcha."

I am a reader of highbrow, lowbrow and no-brow, and I read three, four books a week or more. I'm also a writer. If I can turn out a book that comes close to being this entertaining, I will die happy.

Congratulations, Julie. You have written a great work. Now I can't wait to read the others in the Skip Langdon series. To begin with, she's a fabulous invention...nothing conventional about Skip. I imagine every woman who weighs more than the Vogue ideal will adore her. I must say, I thought another good title would have been..."Is Everyone In New Orleans a Drag Queen?" but I guess that would be considered too long. Anyway, for the film, I'd choose Ru Paul to play Skip, and the transvestite (sorry, forget her name) from "Midnite in the Garden of Good and Evil" to play Marcelle and Henry (different outfits, of course). After all, they'd have to be octaroon, or macaroon, or whatever.

Anyway, I've gotta go order "The Axeman's Jazz." I just love a twelve-step theme. Let's have more of it, Julie. Probably half the people who like to read about degenerate booze hounds and sniveling enablers are in recovery programs.

Skip Langdon can never be called your every-day cop/heroine. She is a 6-ft. mass of insecurities. She is oh-so-aware of her parent's compulsive social climbing, yet is branded "the debutante" by her fellow cops. She attended all the best schools and parties, but never felt like the "in-group." She has dropped out, dropped in, and is now trying to make a success in the New Orleans Police Department, living in the Quarter, unsure of herself with a totally non-supportive family who look down on her "blue collar" job.

Yet Skip is a likeable, bright gal who knows New Orleans like an oyster knows his shell. She is on parade patrol at the height of Mardi Gras and is an eyewitness when the King of the Carnival, upper-crust businessman Chauncey St. Amant is shot while waving to the crowd from his float. In full view of the crowd, a person costumed as Dolly Parton has shot him from a balcony on the parade route. Pandemonium!

Rookie cop Skip is quickly assigned to the homicide team on the case because she "knows" these top-drawer people. (This seemed a little flimsy to me, but what do I know about the New Orleans Police Department?) Enter the St. Amant family, worthy of Tennessee Williams. Fragile, alcoholic wife, Bitty has a tenuous hold on reality; gay son Henry who adores his mother and loathes the late Chauncey; beautiful, perfectly mannered, but oh-so-wild daughter Marcelle; and loyal family friend Tolliver, who might be in love with Bitty, but then again might be gay. This tattered, aristocratic family takes over the book. Nothing is quite as it seems, and many twists and turns take place before the conclusion. Then we have another fillip of a twist that smartly reminds us of just what New Orleans is all about.

This is an engrossing story with a few too many side stories that however interesting, divert us from the main event. Ms. Smith has an excellent ear for dialogue and a good sense of the ridiculous; some of the incidents and confrontations are hilarious. I would call this a novel with a mystery thrown in. I would like to see a "straight" novel from Ms. Smith; I think it would be a success. "New Orleans Mourning" is a fun and instructive read.

I've used quite a few guidebooks, but have to say this is the worst I've ever come across. I was given this book as a gift before moving to New Orleans, and was hoping to get a good idea about the city before arriving. Had I looked at the book myself, I would never have purchased it.

The prose is confusing and overwhelming, the maps are difficult to find and sparse (the book offers an entire section of walking tours without highlighting a single route on a map). Additionally, the authors seem to constantly be telling the reader how they're different from other guidebooks, touting themselves as easier to use. The comparisons get old, and lend the unofficial guide a sense of amateurishness.

Extremely disappointed in this book, threw it away upon my arrival for something easier/more useful, with actual maps, and pictures.

The authors of this book blend refreshing frankness, exceptional research and tons of information into an indispensible guide for the Crescent City and a lot of the area around it. It is the book you want if you only want one; the only thing some other guides have on it is map quality. It will help you with the top-to-bottom planning of your trip, as well as greatly assist you once there.

My wife and I had never gone anywhere near New Orleans. The Unauthorized guide pulled no punches and gave amusing and thorough advice on subjects we hadn't even considered. It is very useful and we heartily reccommend it to everyone.

Great tips from a New Orleans native. What you read about in the book matches what you find on the streets once you're there--something that can't always be said about travel guides.

I used this book during my week trip to New Orleans. The best parts about this book are the "best of" lists (e.g. best brunch, best creole restaurant) and the extensive descriptions for hotels, restaurants and bars. However, I found this book a bit text heavy (no photos) and the maps were a bit difficult to understand than Lonely Planet's guide to New Orleans.

This is one of the least interesting books I've read in a very long time. No drama, no plot other than perhaps a middle-aged lawyer reliving his own disaffection w/ his comfortable family & wife & falling for a beautiful young woman. The history of New Orleans as related by the author is quite good, but as a book, a novel, give me a break. Perhaps this might fall into a category of "reimagined autobiography". A novel it isn't, that's for sure. The story line is trite, the writing brittle and boring. This book has about as much suspense, drama and engaging scenes as a walk down a midwestern street on a football Saturday. There ain't nothin' happenin' there. Please don't waste your time.

Jim is a 30 year old attorney in New Orleans who is having an affair with a beautiful 22 year old court reporter living in the French Quarter and named Aime. Jim leaves his wife and son and moves in with his mistress. A conservative attorney, Jim tires to accommodate and accept Aime's totally uninhibited free spirit driven lifestyle. All this against the detailed background of Mardi Gras of the 1970s. An engaging and highly entertaining work of period fiction, Return To Mardi Gras is Richard Sherman's debut novel and marks him as a significant literary talent to be looked for in the future!

I enjoyed Return to Mardi Gras. I think it does a very good job of telling everything about Mardi Gras. It not only tells about Mardi Gras in the French Quarter, which is what everyone sees on television. It also tells how it is celebrated in the neighborhood by the local people, which is very family oriented. It also does a good job of describing the quaint French Quarter scenery, as well as telling the history of New Orleans.

I live in New Orleans, and whenever people from out of town ask me what Mardi Gras is like, I give them a copy of Return to Mardi Gras, since it describes Mardi Gras far better than I can, and they see a true picture of Mardi Gras.

It is an interesting story about the romance between a conservative attorney and his young uninhibited mistress who lives in the French Quarter, when he moves in with her. It is amusing how they try to work out their different lifestyles, against the backdrop of the French Quarter and Mardi Gras.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to find out what Mardi Gras is really like.

I thought Return to Mardi Gras was a very good book. I was in New Orleans and went into a book store in the French Quarter and asked if there was a good novel about New Orleans, and they recommended this one. They said it had the history of New Orleans and told everything about Mardi Gras. I started reading it on the airplane going home to Chicago and I wish I had read it before I went to New Orleans or while I was there. It would have made the trip more fun. It not only tells the history of New Orleans but also discusses several things in the French Quarter--restaurants, bars, old historic buildings, traditional New Orleans dishes and drinks, and many other things. I finished reading it after I was home and it made me miss New Orleans. I enjoyed the story too about someone who lives with his girl friend in the French Quarter and during Mardi Gras sees some of Mardi Gras with her and also takes his young son to see Mardi Gras Parades and other Mardi Gras things, and has to decide between them. I won't give away the ending.

I thoroughly enjoyed Return to Mardi Gras. A friend read it and passed it along to me and I thought it was very good and passed it to another friend. What I really liked about the novel is that it puts you in touch with New Orleans and New Orleans history. It is set in the French Quarter and the writing is so vivid you feel like you are walking throught the French Quarter. There are several chapters about New Orleans history which is fascinating, as well as the history of the Cajuns and Mardi Gras. 200 pages of the novel are set at Mardi Gras and it tells everything about Mardi Gras; the parties, parades and balls and made me want to go to Mardi Gras. The story is about a conservative attorney who moves in with a girl who lives in the French Quarter and is a free spirit, and about how they try to reconcile their differences. I enjoyed her character development and she is quite an unforgettable character. The ending was a surprise and I stayed up late to see how it came out. I would recommend the novel to anyone who is interested in New Orleans or Mardi Gras.

Years ago the Chicago Trib did an article on this place and I clipped it and hung it on my frig. I made several of the dishes and was intriged enough to visit NOLA.

After visiting NOLA I had to visit this place. Wonderful.

The book is GREAT. And the recipes are very easy to follow. Also you don't have to have HARD TO FIND spices..

This cookbook is not for those familiar with Louisiana cooking. Instead of complex layering of flavors, this Chicago cookbook opts for hot in everything. You won't find delicacy in the recipes, you will find lots of cayenne.

Evidently, Bannos is not that familiar with true Louisiana cuisine, and the food at his restaurants confirms this.

Now, being from New Orleans, I have the disadvantage of expecting what Bannos calls "jambalaya" to taste like what I know as "jambalaya". As such, instead of judging his dish on its own merits, I am comparing it to the traditional dishes.

Check out Paul Prudhomme if you want authentic Cajun and Creole.

After discovering a mutual love for cajun food, some Chicago natives recommended checking out Heaven On Seven whenever we got to Chicago - and we did. I had the Shrimp Voodoo, and remember loving it! The same friends later gifted us a signed version of this cookbook. We've tried a number of the recipes - even when often faced with daunting lists of hard to find ingredients like nectars. Almost anything we've tried is far too sweet and tastes nothing like the food we experienced at the resturant. Overall - this is a disappointment.

This is a very good cookbook. I own, or have read, most of the New Orleans cookbooks. This is one of the best, with creative thoughts on how to make some of the dishes lighter and more attractive. Great taste.

The Heaven On Seven Cookbook is a must have for any lover of Cajun/Creole cooking. Jimmy Bannos puts together a very interesting list of recipes matching traditional New Orleans fare with elements from other parts of the U. S. and the world. The recipes themselves are not too complex (but are somewhat time intensive), and the ingredient lists are very lengthy at times. Bannos is big on spices, so tamer palettes may need to modify some recipes. All in all a great cookbook though, and a good addition to any kitchen library.

This book is full of love and friendship. And it shows that it is better to be true to secrets and promises. I love the way she wrote in the fantasy part and the ending was told with out actually breaking her promise and where she was able to keep the secret... I will read what ever else she writes.

I thought this book was interesting enough that it caught my interest. And that isn't easy. I usually like murder mysteries.
However;I feel this author did a great job. I would love to read her next book hopefully a continuation of this one but a bit more scary. This book has possibilities for explosive visual effects if turned into a movie or tv show. Keep up the good work. If she keeps writing I will keep reading.

I think this is a wonderful book for woman mostly. Men who read it won't feel the same way obviously. I have a comment about #1 fan's review... Why read and re-read a book if you hated it? I as a lot of people want a sequel to this fantastic written book...It is great for her first novel.

I read and re-read this book 3 times, sorry but I just didn't think it was a romance mystery, and the wordings were not where they should've been. I think this Author could use a course in writing class's again, well unless she is in the 6 th grade level then this is ok for a child to write.

This was great, I read it everywhere I went and I mean everywhere. I could not put the book down. It kept my attention. I do not read book much, so for me not to put this down has to be great. I would recommend this to anyone that likes romance and mystery.

MARDI GRAS MURDERS is a murder mystery that offers some modest entertainment and suspense. Set in Australia, and staring an aging unemployed opera queen, and his totally self-impressed friend, the mystery surrounds 2 seemingly unrelated, but somehow related, murders. Huh?...Yep...The plot line is liberally doused with opera trivia (so totally `50's and foo-foo ya' know?), some passable banter, and a political agenda which never is clearly, at least for this reader, defined. The outcome is totally predictable and hardly worth the effort. I was somewhat disappointed with this book, but not everything one reads is going to be stellar. If you have run out of things to read, this is an option, but do not place this book ahead of anything you find even marginally more interesting.

This is the first of Scott's books I've read, and I enjoyed it. Marc is asked to teach an adult education course after the original lecturer is killed in what might be a gay hate crime, and out of guilt and curiosity he does some brief investigation.

Then Paul becomes a minor media star, and Marc signs on as his personal assistant/minder. When another gay man is murdered, this dynamic duo undertake their investigations in earnest. I enjoyed the Australian background and found the two sleuths to be fun and believable.

Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)

In the third of the "Mark & Paul" mysteries to be released in the states by Alyson (All were previously released in Australia), Phillip Scott takes a decidedly political bent in having his characters involved in protesting proposed anti-gay laws while investigating what appears to be the work of a serial killer preying on gay men. Mark, a fifty-something retired teacher, is drafted the be the personal assistant to Paul, his flamboyant younger friend, who lucks into a position as a "lifestyle" commentator on a tabloid TV show. When one of the support people on the show, who had previously dated Paul, becomes a victim of the killer, he and Mark investigate the possible connections between the victims, which takes them from Sydney to a smaller town as well as to a meeting of the local S&M play group! Lots of dry comedy mixed in with a decent mystery plot, as is usual in Scott's entertaining books.

I love Marc and Paul! It's a few years since I read the three books in the Marc and Paul series, and even longer since I wrote them.
The world has changed since then: everything subtly altered after 9/11 and the casual, camp world that Marc and Paul inhabit seems to be no more, certainly not as it was. The climate of fear produced by terrorism and the hype surrounding it in some perverse way seems to have set back general acceptance and tolerance of us. I have no idea why; blame it on chaos theory! I seem to have been weirdly prescient in Mardi Gras Murders (originally published as Get Over It! in Australia in 2000)- I predicted a sharp swing to the right and the revival of "acceptable homophobia". Where I was wrong, though, was imagining a surge of grass-roots activism to counter it. There has been nothing of the kind. (Yet! It may come as circumstances worsen and rights disappear.) Instead we in the gay community, if you can still call it that, have gone about our trivial business, doing our best imitation of pre-WW2 Germany: "nothing's happening and if you don't look you won't see it."
These books are funny: I was pleasantly surprised at how much trouble I'd gone to in order to get laughs. Laughter is a pretty good political tool and still "the best medicine". I think you'd like Mardi Gras Murders. If only out of sound business practice, I give it 5 stars.