Crescent City Christmas Chaos Reading Kit

Crescent City Christmas Chaos

Crescent City Christmas Chaos is part of the Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series by award-winning author Ellen Byron. The amateur sleuth is Ricki James-Diaz, a vintage cookbook collector and the proprietor of Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware, a shop in New Orleans’ Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. The museum is located in the spectacular former Garden District home of legendary restaurateur Genevieve “Vee” Charbonnet.

Although Crescent City Christmas Chaos is the fourth book in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series, it could be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone novel if you are looking for a fun holiday read.

Crescent City Christmas Chaos Reader Questions

Use these questions for a book club discussion or a chat with a friend after doing a buddy read. If you aren’t in a book club, you can still use these questions to reflect on the book after you read it.

• What three words would you use to describe Crescent City Christmas Chaos?

• Have you ever visited New Orleans? Would you like to?

• Do you have any vintage cookbooks?

• If you could open your own gift shop, what would it sell?

• Have you ever gone caroling? Do you have a favorite Christmas carol?

• Who was your favorite character in Crescent City Christmas Chaos?

• Did you have a favorite scene in Crescent City Christmas Chaos? What did you like about this scene?

• Were you able to solve the mystery in Crescent City Christmas Chaos?

• How does racism play into the actions Josepha took when she wanted to adopt Ricki? What are your thoughts on this?

• What did you think of the ending?

• Would you like to see Crescent City Christmas Chaos turned into a movie? Who would you cast to play Ricki?

• Do you have any predictions for future books in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series?

• Have you made the recipes in the back of the book yet? Do you plan to?

Fun Activities for a Crescent City Christmas Chaos Book Club Meeting

• Get together to discuss the book. Serve this delicious (and easy-to-make) Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, a vintage pie recipe from French Quarter Fright Night, Ellen Byron’s third Vintage Cookbook Mystery.

• Have a Réveillon Dinner (a traditional, lavish French and New Orleans holiday feast) made with the recipes that appear at the end of Crescent City Christmas Chaos.

• Have a vintage-themed potluck. Ask everyone to bring a dish made with their favorite vintage recipe. Encourage everyone to share the story behind their dish.

• Have a kitchenware swap. Ask everyone to bring a kitchen item they no longer use. Then do a swap. To make it extra fun, play a version of Greed (also known as White Elephant or Dirty Santa) where people “steal” each other’s items.

• Have a vintage recipe swap. Ask everyone to find a fun vintage recipe to share with the group. Compile the submitted recipes into a printed and bound recipe book or a shared digital document. You could also use free recipe-sharing apps like Cookpad or Pepper.

• Ask everyone to bring a vintage cookbook if they have one. Set them out on a table so everyone can look through them. Try to find the best recipe or the worst recipe!

• Get together for an afternoon of crafting. You could up decorate wooden recipe boxes using stencils, acrylic paint, wrapping paper, scrapbooking materials, contact paper, or other materials. You could also try weaving vintage potholders.

• Print off and pass out an Ellen Byron Book List featuring all of Ellen’s cozy mystery books.