Ricki sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we can get to know her better.

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What is your full name?
Miracle James-Diaz

How old are you?
Twenty-eight.

What is your profession?
I’m the proprietor of Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum in New Orleans’ Garden District.

Do you have a significant other?
Not yet, but I have my eye on the guy who lives across the street from me in NOLA’s Irish Channel neighborhood! And I discovered he volunteers at Bon Vee because the late restauranteur Genevieve Charbonnet – the museum was her house – gave him his first break as a chef in her restaurant.

What is their name and profession?
His name is Virgil Morel and he’s now a judge on a reality show called “America’s Next Top Southern Chef.”

Do you have any siblings?
I don’t know. I was abandoned when I was born at Charity Hospital and adopted by my NICU nurse. Part of the reason I moved from Los Angeles to New Orleans was to see if I can find any link to my birth family.

Are your parents nearby?
No. They retired to my adoptive dad’s hometown, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Who is your best friend?
I have two. Zellah Batiste, who’s an amazing artist but also works at her family’s shop, the Peli Deli, and runs the café at Bon Vee. And Cookie Yanover, who’s in charge of educational programming at Bon Vee. I didn’t think I’d like Cookie because she is a character and sometimes I can’t believe what comes out of her mouth. But she’s grown on me, lol.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
Two rescue dogs: Thor, who’s a chihuahua mix, and Princess, who’s a big German Shepherd.

What town do you live in?
The Big Easy, chere!

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I rent a shotgun house. It’s called a double because it’s attached to one just like it. My landlady, Kitty Kat Rousseau, was a nurse with my mom at Charity. Now she works as a hospice nurse, which balances by belonging to one of NOLA’s famous marching dance troops, the ABBA Dabba Do’s. They’re a mashup of ABBA and the Flintstones.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
My living room. The house came furnished with a Mardi Gras theme because it used to be a holiday rental. There are pictures of Mardi Gras floats so big it feels like they could run you down!

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
Growing up in Los Angeles, I always tried eating healthy. But boy, that ship sailed right down the Mississippi when I moved to NOLA. My favorite meal is jambalaya, and my favorite dessert is Miss Kitty’s homemade pralines. YUM!!

Do you have any hobbies?
I turned my hobby, collecting vintage cookbooks, into my vocation, and I’m really proud of that.

What music do you listen to?
All kinds, but now that I’m in Louisiana, I’ve fallen in love with Cajun and Zydeco.

What is your favorite color?
It used to be teal blue, but now that I’m in Mardi Gras Territory, I find I’m favoring purple.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
I’m living in it!

Are you a morning or night person?
Morning. After working all day at my shop, plus hunting down treasures for it in my spare time, I’m pooped by nighttime.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
There’s a bar up the street from me called the Bayou Backyard. It’s an indoor-outdoor bar and it’s got everything: games, dancing, drinks, delicious food. I love hanging out there. It’s especially fun when there’s a storm because I can sit in the inside part and watch the rain as it pounds on the BB’s tin roof. It doesn’t hurt that my crush Virgil is a part owner of the place!

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
“From L.A. to LA: A Very Vintage Journey.”

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m an amateur and I like working with my friends but I also have developed a wary working relationship with NOPD detective Nina Rodriguez. She scares the bejesus out of me – but she’s also funny and cool.

What is a typical day in your life like?
I wake up and take care of my furbabies. After breakfast – which has been mostly leftover Cajun food lately; cold po’boys are delicious! – I check the Internet to see if I’ve won any of the cookbooks or kitchenware I bid on. Then I bike or drive to Bon Vee, depending on the weather. I spend the day running my shop, taking occasional breaks to hit local thrift stores looking for treasures I can buy and sell. After work, I either go hang out with my friends or head home for more online shopping. If the weather’s nice, I’ll take a detour and bike through Audubon Park, which I love.

Of course, what I just described is a day without a murder. If someone’s been killed and someone I care about accused of their murder, I go full-on amateur sleuth and don’t stop until they’re in the clear – even if it means annoying the he** out of Detective Rodriguez!

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Wined and Died in New Orleans, A Vintage Cookbook Mystery Book #2
Genre: Cozy
Release: February 2023
Format: Print, Digital, and Audio
Purchase Link

The second in a fantastic new cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning author Ellen Byron.

It’s hurricane season in New Orleans and vintage cookbook fan Ricki James-Diaz is trying to shelve her weather-related fears and focus on her business, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the magnificent Bon Vee Culinary House Museum.

Repairs on the property unearth crates of very old, very valuable French wine, buried by the home’s builder, Jean-Louis Charbonnet. Ricki, who’s been struggling to attract more customers to Miss Vee’s, is thrilled when her post about the discovery of this long-buried treasure goes viral. She’s less thrilled when the post brings distant Charbonnet family members out of the woodwork, all clamoring for a cut of the wine’s sale.

When a dead body turns up in Bon Vee’s cheery fall decorations, the NOPD zeroes in on Eugenia Charbonnet Felice as the prime suspect, figuring that as head of the Charbonnet family, she has the most to gain. Ricki is determined to uncover the real culprit, but she can’t help noticing that Eugenia is acting strangely. Ricki wonders what kind of secret her mentor has bottled up, and fears what might happen if she uncorks it.

In the second Vintage Cookbook Mystery, Ricki has to help solve a murder, untangle family secrets, and grow her business, all while living under the threat of a hurricane that could wipe out everything from her home to Bon Vee.

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About the author
Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won two Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Bayou Book Thief is the first book in her new Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. She also writes the Catering Hall Mystery series under the name Maria DiRico.

Ellen is an award-winning playwright, and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents. She has written over two hundred articles for national magazines but considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. She serves on the national board for Mystery Writers of America, and will be the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster. Visit her at ellenbyron.com.

All comments are welcomed.