Just in time for Christmas, award-winning author Ellen Byron visits with A Cajun Christmas Killing.

Ellen is a native New Yorker, transplanted to LA, who writes about Louisiana, a part of the country dear to her heart.

And writing mysteries isn't all that Ellen is up to. She writes for television as well, and has a blog post up today at Chicks on the Case, about working with Martha Stewart.

You can find out more about today's guest, Ellen Byron, and all her books on her website EllenByron.com. You can also find her on Twitter @ellenbyronla and on Facebook.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

* Ellen's newsletter sign-up

* Louisiana links on Ellen's site

* Ellen's post at Chicks on the Case about what it's like working for Martha Stewart (!)

Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher.

You can also click here to watch the interview on YouTube.

Transcription of Interview with Ellen Byron

Alexandra: Hi, mystery readers, I'm Alexandra Amor, this is It's A Mystery podcast and I'm here today with Ellen Byron. Hi, Ellen.

Ellen: Hi.

Alexandra: How are you today?

Ellen: I'm great. Thank you.

Alexandra: Good. Good. You're not in a turkey coma yet?

Ellen: No. No. Actually, I'm starting to really kind of go like, "Okay, I've had enough turkey." But, you know, I'm still kind of...still into it.

Alexandra: Excellent. And you were telling me about pastalaya just a minute ago which is jumbalaya, but with pasta.

Ellen: But made with pasta.

Alexandra: Nice.

Ellen: It's actually, I cheated and used a Zatarain's mix. But I'm very proud of myself because I created, I'll call it, cauliflower-alaya because I made jumbalaya and instead of using rice or pasta I used riced cauliflower and that actually came out great. So I actually gotta put a recipe together for that.

Alexandra: Oh, nice. Okay. And I'm going to ask you about your recipes that are in your books in just a second. So let me introduce you to our listeners.

Ellen Byron writes the "Cajun Country Mystery Series" and, obviously, she's interested in Cajun food. In a starred review Publisher's Weekly called her new book "A Cajun Christmas Killing" superb.

"Body on the Bayou" won the Lefty Award for best humorous mystery and was nominated for a Best Contemporary Novel Agatha Award. "Plantation Shutters" which is the first book in the ser...