Books Along the Teche is the Perfect Weekend Festival

Shadows on the Teche

Books and literary festivals are right up my alley: I love them!  I love book bazaars, book festivals, book fairs, the whole thing.  And it's a good thing I do since I have a side hustle as a writer.

So, when I came across this announcement about the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival in April, well, my heart skipped.  How perfect is this event?!  It will be in New Iberia in the spring and it doesn't get any better than that, except wait!  It does!  The festival is named for local son James Lee Burke.  I've been a fan of his Dave Robicheaux character for years.  In fact, that's one of the things that drew me to Michael Henry's books; his Willie Mitchell character reminded me a lot of Dave Robicheaux.

Nearly every event at Books Along the Teche looks enticing.  On Friday, April 6, the festival starts at 9 a.m. with a food tasting and everyone knows Louisiana food is fantastic.  In the afternoon there is lunch and then a tour of Iberia parish featuring Dave Robicheaux's "haunts and jaunts."

Louisiana author Ernest Gaines will be the featured guest this year and on Saturday afternoon he will lead a reading and then host a question and answer session.  Gaines is the author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, among many other works.  The film adaptation of Miss Jane Pittman will be featured in a free screening Friday afternoon.  Now, how cool would it be to meet Ernest Gaines!

What would also be at the top of my list is the Jazz it Up opening reception Friday night featuring a cochon de lait and a jazz band but best of all it will be held at Shadows on the Teche, the plantation home Weeks Hall who was a friend of Lyle Saxon and a fascinating character!  This plantation is on my bucket list.  Lyle took Cammie Henry there to see it a couple of times and to meet Weeks Hall.

This festival is filled with events that would keep me running and spinning all weekend!  There is an Academic Symposium, panel discussions, an author's fair, a 5k run (I would skip that one), and even Bouree Lessons!

If I were dreaming up the perfect festival, this would be it.

If you are able to go, I would highly recommend it!  I'd love to go but the package ticket price is $190 and is out of my reach at the moment since this is the year that everything in my house is broken.  (So far this year, since January 1, we've had to replace the blower in the furnace, the washing machine, a living room window, sections of plumbing in the kitchen, had to do some electrical work in the kitchen, replace the battery in one car, and the list goes on and on, right down to phone chargers.)  Given all those expenses, spending money on festival tickets and a hotel seem rather out of my league right now.

New Iberia is beautiful all of the time but especially so in the spring.  This could not be a more perfect weekend trip.

If you go, send pictures!






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Michael Henry Visits Natchitoches for a Book Signing

Look!  It's me and Willie Mitchell Michael Henry!

Author Michael Henry came to Natchitoches yesterday to sign books at the Kaiffe-Frederick General Mercantile , the oldest (and coolest) store in the state of Louisiana.

Steve and I made a special trip to see Mr. Henry and to pick up some books.  I'm a big fan of his Willie Mitchell series and with his new book, Finding Ishmael, there is a new character to love and follow.

Mr. Henry insists he is not Willie Mitchell, of course, and he isn't, but he is indeed a gifted and engaging writer.  If you haven't given him a try yet, what are you waiting for?  The movie?

On the Reading Table

If you're looking for a great legal thriller please be advised that Michael Henry's latest book in the Willie Mitchell Banks series, The Election,  is now available in both paperback and a Kindle version.

In this sixth installment of the series, D.A. Willie Mitchell banks is running, rather reluctantly, for re-election.  During a political event, a young boy goes missing which draws Willie Mitchell into one of his more challenging cases yet.  He must now prosecute a capital murder case with no body, unless the child is found.

I love this novel because it focuses on Willie Mitchell and less on the secret-squirrel activities of his son Jake.  That's not to say I don't like the story lines with Jake, I do; but I have a secret crush on Willie Mitchell.  He's quirky, he's funny, he's purely southern, and he's an honorable man.  He's flawed, but he's human.

Author Michael Henry is gifted at writing dialogue.  I think dialogue is sometimes difficult to write without sounding stilted or forced.  With Henry's novels, you feel like you're sitting in the same room with his characters eavesdropping on a conversation.  While the plot of the missing child is

serious, there are still plenty of jokes and light moments that kept me laughing.

We meet a couple of new characters in this book and while I'm usually averse to change, I liked Cheryl Diamond very much; she comes to Sunshine for the trial after having a psychic vision about the missing boy.  Only Michael Henry can make a beautiful blond psychic in a Lincoln Town Car a sympathetic character!

The town of Sunshine, Mississippi is as southern as they come and Henry seems to have no limit to his ability to pull quirky characters out of the tiny Mississippi Delta town.

Summer reading season is coming up; order all of the Willie Mitchell Banks series to keep you entertained!  You'll fall in love with them.  If you like John Grisham novels, or Michael Connelly, you'll love Michael Henry.

I've Capitulated

Don't tell Bride of Rove, but I've actually read two entire books on my eReader now.  (I use the Kindle app on my Android tablet).

BoR and I have been having this book debate for a couple of years now and I swore I'd never read electronic books.  I also swore (once upon a time) that I'd never have a cellphone, and well, that didn't last.

A while back I got this Android tablet and I use it to read some periodicals and surf websites and news through the Pulse reader.  But books?  Nah.

Until last week.  Micheal Henry contacted me about reading his latest manuscript Atmosphere of Violence; it's book number 5 for Michael and his son/co-writer William and they were looking for some feedback.  (You can order it now through Amazon; it's only $2.99!  You can't lose!)  The problem?  The book was still in manuscript form.  They sent the document through email and I downloaded it into the Kindle app.  

And I read it.

What really helped was the fact that the book is fabulous and I couldn't put it down.  

I read the whole book in about three or four days and even made the occasional note using the "note" function. Woah!  Progress!

I finished the book and I thought, "Well, now.  That was pretty cool.  And convenient."  Which is what BoR said to me all along.  So I was lounging around one day this week, went online, and downloaded Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews.  Light chick lit.  I hate chick lit, but I like her books (mostly because her first few books I read had a character that was an antique dealer).  

I downloaded Summer Rental...and read it.  

I'm on a roll now.  I'm already thinking, "What's next?!"

It'll never replace my dead-tree books; some I want to keep on the shelf, you know.  But I guess I'm now a Kindle reader.  Dammit.

Just don't tell BoR because she'll say "I  told you so."  

LSU, Alabama, Crawfish Cornbread and Books

The FMJRA will be delayed until Sunday; it's all about LSU v. Alabama around here today.

I did make the time to run down to Barnes & Noble today and meet William and Michael Henry, the new writers I've been telling you about.  What a nice couple of fellows!  The books are great; as I said before, J. Michael Kenny told me about them last summer.  Michael Henry was a longtime prosecutor in Natchitoches before he turned to writing.  His son, William, joined in and now they co-author these wonderful stories centering around Willie Mitchell Banks and his son Jake.  The first book was set in small town Mississippi but the last one was in New Orleans.  They all have that wonderful southern flavor as well as some pretty dastardly bad guys.  Michael promises me that book five will return to Mississippi and many of the characters we've grown to love will return.

I picked up the fourth book and had it signed before heading home to get ready for the big game.

I've got two batches of Crawfish Cornbread in the old Chambers range right now and then we're heading out to watch the football game with friends.

Of course I have set the DVR to record Newt and Cain tonight.  Professor Jacobson has a live blog thing going on over at his place tonight.  I'll check in periodically via mobile over there.  I'm a geek.

Time to pull the Crawfish Cornbread of out of the oven, pack it up and head out for the game.   Geaux Tigers!

Local Authors to Hold Book Signing

Recently I recommended a new author to my reading readers:  Michael Henry.

Both stories are tightly spun and are impossible to put down once you've started.  Willie Mitchell is described as "the last elected white politician in Yaloquena County"; he is as intriguing and believable a character as I've seen lately.  He's likable and smart, yet has faults like everyone else.  He jogs, he shops at the Jitney Mart with his iPod and a tumbler of vodka, he's happily reunited with the love of his life after "three bad years" of separation, and he's smart as a whip in the courtroom.

I've now read three of his four books and want to reiterate my recommendation - Mr. Henry, and his son who co-writes with him, are fine writers.

And now, Shreveporters, you'll have the chance to meet Michael and William Henry at Barnes & Noble on Youree Drive, Saturday, November 5.  Mr. Henry has written to let me know that they'll be there signing books at 1:00.

You have to read them in order; I'm a stickler for such things.  Start with Three Bad Years, then At Random, and on to The Ride Along and D.O.G.s. 

I've just finished The Ride Along and think it is just as good as the first two, although I will say I'm still more into the character of Willie Mitchell more so than his son Jake.  Maybe it's an age thing; maybe I relate to him more.  But, the addition of Jake and the Special Forces operative David Dunne (Jake's mentor) is a natural progression of the story line and I'm good with it.  Mr. Henry promises that the next novel will center around Willie Mitchell and his hometown of Sunshine and I'm excited about that!  Willie Mitchell is a well developed character with enough faults and flaws to seem like someone you might actually know.

I've enjoyed the southern flavor of the novels and I like the fact that Mr. Henry is a local author.  I promise you, if you like John Grisham, James Lee Burke and/or Michael Connelly, you won't be disappointed. 

Start your Christmas shopping early and pick up signed copies of all four of the Henry novels!  As for the rest of you, Amazon is a wonderful thing and helps support this blog.

SIGIS Recommends: Michael Henry

I've got a new author to share with you; well, new to me, anyway.

When Steve and I went to Natchitoches in June, J. Michael Kenny, owner of The Book Merchant, recommended a book by author Michael Henry.  J. Michael has never steered me wrong so I took his recommendation and purchased Three Bad Years.  I finally got a chance to read it in September (I'm a little backlogged in my reading stack) and liked it so much I went online and ordered the next book, At Random which I finished last night.  The book jumped to the top of my reading stack.

Think early Grisham mixed with James Lee Burke.  The first two Henry books are set in a little bitty town in Mississippi called Sunshine and center around protagonist, District Attorney Willie Mitchell Banks.

Both stories are tightly spun and are impossible to put down once you've started.  Willie Mitchell is described as "the last elected white politician in Yaloquena County"; he is as intriguing and believable a character as I've seen lately.  He's likable and smart, yet has faults like everyone else.  He jogs, he shops at the Jitney Mart with his iPod and a tumbler of vodka, he's happily reunited with the love of his life after "three bad years" of separation, and he's smart as a whip in the courtroom.

It looks like the next Henry books are co-written with his son and I'm curious to see how that changes things, or if it does.  Willie Mitchell's son, Jake, is going to come more into play in these next books which will be interesting.  I'm hoping Willie Mitchell is still a part of the plot, however, and that Mr. Henry doesn't abandon Willie Mitchell in favor of son Jake.  Jake hasn't won me over yet.  I like him, but I don't pull for him yet like I do for Willie Mitchell.  This will come in time.

At any rate, if you like John Grisham, or smart legal mystery/thrillers with likable characters and southern flavor, check out Michael Henry.  It won't be long before everyone discovers him and he's bumped Grisham and Connelly off the top of the charts.

Henry's website is here.   Facebook is here.  And Twitter.