Author: Ashley McLellan

Ghosts and Girls

Haunted Legacy: City of the Undead From “Interview with a Vampire” to tales of voodoo, above-ground cemeteries, haunted alleys and taverns, New Orleans remains a city linked with ghost stories and mysteries. In “City of the Undead,” author Robin Ann…

Cool Reads

Small Town Mystery Call the Canaries Home Tragedy strikes 4-year-old Savannah, and her older sisters Rayanne and Sue Ellen, when her twin mysteriously disappears from their family home. Their Louisiana small town is rocked by the event, and the family…

Drinks, History and Lots of Heart

Lift the Spirits Iconic New Orleans Cocktails Cocktail lovers, artists and libertines, historians and history makers have long been obsessed with The Green Fairy, the colorful name for the licorice-flavored liquor absinthe. Its powerful mind-altering punch has been felt from…

Mixing It Up

Seeds of love The Weeds: A Novel New Orleans writer Katy Simpson Smith takes readers on a journey across the ages in her latest novel, "The Weeds." The book follows two women, one in 1854 Europe and the other in…

Culture Club

LINKED IN BOUDIN: A GUIDE TO LOUISIANA’S EXTRAORDINARY LINK “Boudin: A Guide to Louisiana’s Extraordinary Link” is at once a culinary history of that special sausage, a love letter to those that make it, and a collection of historic and…

Season’s Readings

CULINARY Easy Does It From flips to shrubs, spritzes to smashes, toddies and teas and more, if you’re zero-proof curious, or can’t or don’t want to drink alcohol for any reason, “Craft: The Eat Fit Guide to Zero Proof Cocktails,”…

Spooky Season

Looking for Trouble Dark and Shallow Lies How can a teenager just disappear in a town full of psychics? That’s the mystery that 17-year-old Grey tries to unravel in “Dark and Shallow Lies.” La Cachette, Louisiana is known to be…

Summer Reading List

Fantastic Journey The Ballad of Perilous Graves Music, mystery, magic and suspense, “The Ballad of Perilous Graves” by Alex Jennings casts a spell that will keep readers turning the page until the very end. Main characters Perilous “Perry” Graves, his…

Beach Reads

Coming of Age The Crocodile Bride “The Crocodile Bride” follows 11-year-old Sunshine Turner as she navigates the difficulties of growing up and the secrets of her family’s past in the tiny town of Fingertip, Louisiana. With the world around her…

Literary Louisiana: Literary Ladies

Nature Made Louisiana Herb Journal: Healing on Home Ground Clinical herbalist Corinne Martin invites readers to venture outside and explore all of the healing treasures that Louisiana flora has to offer. “Louisiana Herb Journal: Healing on Home Ground,” details wild…

New Year, New Reviews

From the Heart I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home New Orleans writer Jami Attenberg is a New York Times best-selling author, penning seven books of fiction and essays published in The New York Times Magazine,…

The Gift of Books

For Saints Fans Be in that Number Author Sheldon Mickles has gathered the greatest Saints players, from #9 Drew Brees to #26 Deuce McAllister, and everyone in between and beyond, in one big, limited-edition book. With stats, stories, historic photos…

Literary Louisiana: Inspiring Tales

Fiction Ramadan Ramsey: A Novel by Louis Edwards Ramadan Ramsey is born in New Orleans, the product of a magical love affair between his mother, a native New Orleanian, and his father, a Syrian immigrant. Ramsey has never known his…

Literary Louisiana: Summer Study

Dive In Cocktail Dive Bar: Real Drinks, Fake History & Questionable Advice from New Orleans’ Twelve Mile Limit by T. Cole Newton T. Cole Newton, owner of the classic New Orleans watering hole Twelve Mile Limit, presents this more-than-just-another-cocktail book.…

Literary Louisiana: Fresh Crop

History Lesson A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia New York Times best-selling author and National Book Award finalist Rita Williams-Garcia’s latest book, “A Sitting in St. James,” challenges teen and adult readers alike to consider the multiple lives…

Literary Louisiana: Spring into Reading

Southern Science Backyard Science & Discovery Workbook: South by Erika Zambello After the long months of quarantine, plus the cold winter weather, spring is finally here and kids of all ages will be excited to return to some outdoor fun.…

Celebrate the Culture

Snapshots in Time New Orleans Portrayed  Photographs by David G. Spielman What makes a good photograph? Is it the right lighting? A perfect composition, person or place? Or is it capturing both in an instant? New Orleans photographer DAvid G.…

The Gift of Reading

For the historian and art Aficionado: New Orleans in Golden Age Postcards by Matthew Griffis Travel to New Orleans’ storied past through photos and artwork of vintage turn-of-the-20th-century postcards. In “New Orleans in Golden Age Postcards,” author Matthew Griffis has…

Local Legends

Mysterious Fantasy The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh A mysterious machine that promises to predict your life’s ambitions may seem too good to be true. And perhaps it is. But in the small Louisiana town of Deerfield, residents are…

Literary Louisiana: Summer Reading List

JACKPOT DREAMS Louisiana Lucky: A Novel by Julie Pennell In “Louisiana Lucky: A Novel,” author Julie Pennell brings us the story of three sisters growing up with modest means in a small town. They fantasize about what it would be…

Literary Louisiana: Off the Shelf

MAGICAL TALE The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata This book is a hard-to-describe tale of twists, turns and mysterious manuscripts. It starts in 1929 New Orleans, where a young woman writes a popular science fiction tale, falls…

Literary Louisiana: Louisiana Spirit

FOOD Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou by Melissa Martin Chef Melissa Martin is passionate about two things: food and helping to preserve and protect the fragile wetlands and fisheries of her native Louisiana, as well as…

Great Louisiana Chef: Playing With His Food

While Spoonbill Watering Hole & Restaurant partner and chef Jeremy Conner isn’t originally from Louisiana, his deep southern roots (he was born in Opelika, Alabama) and passion for flavors are right at home in Lafayette. It is those qualities and…

Literary Louisiana: Deck the Bookshelf

FOR THE FAN OF ARCHITECTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY New Orleans: An Intimate Journey Through a City with Soul by Geoffrey H. Baker, photography by Timothy Dunford Take a photographic tour of New Orleans and explore its storied past with this architectural…

Great Louisiana Chef: Flavorful Fusion

Cajun Asian in Bossier City is the kind of place where magic culinary mash-ups happen. Think Cajun meets Vietnamese meets American and a hint of classic French cuisine. Under the leadership of Chef Ryan Dunning, along with the management of…

Literary Louisiana: Essential fall cookbooks

South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations Sean Brock James Beard award-winning chef Sean Brock is back with his second cookbook (his first, “Heritage,” won a James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook in 2015.) In “South: Essential Recipes and New…

Literary Louisiana: Beach Books

Southern Lady Code: Essays by Helen Ellis While writer Helen Ellis hails from Alabama, her newest book, “Southern Lady Code,” and its humorous tales, advice and nonsense, will ring true with Louisiana ladies from the tip of the boot to…

Catfish is King at Spahr’s

The ruler of the universe is located on Highway 90 about 30 miles southwest of New Orleans. Spahr’s Seafood Restaurant and Lounge, “where catfish is king,” is the seat of aquatic culinary power in Des Allemands, a town declared to…