Mardi Gras: parades, costumes, jazz, gumbo, beignets, booze...murder??? Most of us won't be catching beads at this storied festival, but if you're looking for a dose of the Big Easy, perhaps no other genre captures the distinctive NOLA culture like mysteries.  Cops, private investigators or everyday folks get drawn into the New Orleans underbelly in search of answers, but whether they can emerge unscathed is another question. 

Don't see your favorite New Orleans mystery here? Share it in the comments below.

Moth by James Sallis

Lew Griffin, now fifty years old, has abandoned his former career as a New Orleans private investigator for the safety of teaching. But his old life draws him back. One of the very few lights from Lew Griffin's dark and violent past has flickered out. His one-time lover, LaVerne Adams, is dead and her daughter, Alouette, has vanished into a seamy, dead-end world of users and abusers, leaving behind a critically fragile premature infant daughter. Griffin is determined to keep his distance from the dangers of the New Orleans night. But his inescapable obligation to an old friend keeps bringing him back like a moth to a flame.

The Devil Close Behind by Janet Dawson

Private investigator Jeri Howard is on vacation in New Orleans when a friend asks a favor: her sister Laurette has disappeared with a boyfriend, and Jeri’s trip turns into a case. Slade, a mercurial musician, tends to strike out when thwarted, sometimes leading to deadly consequences. Jeri’s investigation takes her from French Quarter clubs to workaday NOLA, then back to California, into jeopardy—and an explosive conclusion.

Murder in July by Barbara Hambly

When British spymaster Sir John Oldmixton offers Benjamin January a hundred dollars to find the murderer of an Englishman whose body has been found floating in the New Basin Canal, Benjamin turns him down immediately. As a free man of colour in New Orleans in the sweltering July of 1839, he knows this is not something he should get mixed up in. But when clues to the dead man’s identity link the death to another murder, in another July in January’s past, he is reluctantly drawn into the investigation. 

The Devil's Muse by Bill Loehfelm

Now that her work with the FBI is over, Maureen Coughlin should have a quieter life. Until Mardi Gras. New Orleans's biggest and most infamous party may be fun for the revelers but it's hell for the NOPD, who try to keep the peace on streets jam-packed with drunken paradegoers and the thousands of tourists pouring into the city to join the action. Maureen's night starts with a man in pink zebra-print tights-- and nothing else-- runs past and throws himself onto the hood of a moving car. It only gets worse when she hears gunshots over the noise of the crowd. It's going to be one very long night…

That Old Black Magic by Mary Jane Clark

Aspiring actress and wedding-cake decorator Piper Donovan has barely arrived in New Orleans to perfect her pastry skills at the renowned French Quarter bakery, Boulangerie Bertrand, when a ghastly murder rocks the magical city. Intrigued by the case, Piper can't help but look for the "Hoodoo Killer" among the faces around her. Could it be the handsome guide eager to give her special private tours? Or the inscrutable jazz musician who plays on historic Royal Street? What about the ratings-starved radio talk-show host? Or even the amiable owner of the local Gris-Gris Bar?

Mumbo Gumbo Murder by Laura Childs

 It's Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the giant puppets from the Beastmaster Puppet Theatre are parading through the French Quarter. As the parade proceeds, Carmela Bertrand and her best friend, Ava, follow behind. Suddenly, they hear a terrible crash from Devon Dowling's antiques shop. They rush inside to find Devon collapsed with blood streaming down the side of his face. Has he been shot? Stabbed? 911 is hastily called, and the police and EMTs show up. After the police examine Devon's body, they tell Carmela and Ava that their friend was murdered with an icepick. Carmela and Ava are determined to catch the murderer, but the list of suspects is long. How long do they have before they find themselves on the killer's list?

Sin in the Big Easy by Elizabeth McCourt

Booze, lies, and family drama will not deter young lawyer Abby Callahan from navigating the sordid underbelly of The Big Easy to find out why girls keep showing up dead in Louis Armstrong Park.

 

Casting Bones by Don Bruns

When a New Orleans judge is brutally murdered, former Detroit cop Quentin Archer is handed the case. But it's only when he encounters a beautiful young voodoo practitioner that he starts to make headway in the investigation—and enters the world of darkness and mysticism which underpins the carefree atmosphere of the Big Easy.

The Chef by James Patterson

Police detective by day, celebrity food truck chef by night, now Caleb Rooney has a new title: Most Wanted. In the Carnival days leading up Mardi Gras, Detective Caleb Rooney comes under investigation for a murder he is accused of committing in the line of duty--as a Major Crimes detective for the New Orleans Police Department. Has his sideline at the Killer Chef food truck given him a taste for murder? While fighting the charges against him, Rooney makes a pair of unthinkable discoveries. His beloved city is under threat of attack. And these would-be terrorists may be local.

The Dead Play On by Heather Graham

A-List: A Jake Longly Thriller by D.P. Lyle

PI Jake Longly and Nicole Jamison head to New Orleans at the behest of Nicole's uncle, movie producer Charles Balfour, when his megastar, A-list actor Kirk Ford, awakens in his hotel bed with the body of Kristi Guidry, a local college coed. Ford, in the Big Easy for a location shoot, remembers little of the evening and nothing of the murder. And, to make matters worse, Kristi is the niece of a local mafioso-type who will do whatever is necessary to avenge her death. The clock is ticking as Jake and Nicole struggle to decipher who's lying, who's telling the truth, and exactly who schemed to murder Kristi Guidry. Nothing is easy in The Big Easy.

Never Die Alone by Lisa Jackson

Dectectives Bentz and Montoya are seeking a serial killer. His victims are always twins. He strikes on the cusp their twenty-first birthday, their ritualistic murders planned in exquisite detail, down to the moment when they breathe their last together.

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