The Reading Life

This week on The Reading Life: New Orleans business journalist Kathy Finn, the author of a new biography, Tom Benson: A Billionaire's Journey. We'll also hear from Cowboy Mouth drummer Fred LeBlanc, whose new children's book is Fred - The New Orleans Drummer Boy.

This week on The Reading Life: Yvonne Perret, author of Simon of New Orleans, tells tales about chef-turned-artist Simon Hardeveld and his cheery creations. Beloved hildren's musician/author Johnette Downing talks about her new book, Petit Pierre and the Floating Marsh, in partnership with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Audubon Nature Institute.

This week on The Reading Life: Michael Tisserand, author of Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, a biography of the New Orleans native who was the creator of Krazy Kat.

This week on The Reading Life: John Kemp, author of the gorgeous book, "Expressions of Place: The Contemporary Louisiana Landscape ," and poet Andrea Panzeca, whose new collection is "Rusted Bells and Daisy Baskets."

This week on The Reading Life: John DeSantis, author, and James Loiselle, photographer, talk about The Thibodaux Massacre, Racial Violence and the 1887 Sugar Cane Strike. A nd novelist Chris Tusa, talks about his post-Katrina tale, City of Falling Stars.

This week on The Reading Life: Peggy Scott Laborde, author of "The Fairgrounds Through the Lens: Photographs and Memories of Horse Racing in New Orleans ," has some great racetrack tales, followed by Dan Bright and Justin Nobel, author of the compelling chronicle, "The Story of Dan Bright: Crime, Corruption and Injustice in the Crescent City."

This week on The Reading Life: Philip Gould and Herman Fuselier, photographer and writer of Ghosts of Good Times: Louisiana Dance Halls Past and Present. We'll also hear from bestselling novelist Maria Semple , whose new book is Today Will Be Different, and Nick Mainieri, whose debut novel is T he Infinite. **Lagniappe Audio**

This week on The Reading Life: Nicholson Baker, whose new book is Substitute: Going to School with a Thousand Kids , and Hortensia Calvo, the director of the Latin American Library at Tulane University.

This week on The Reading Life: The Louisiana Book Festival takes place Saturday, October 29 , from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the State Capitol Grounds in Baton Rouge. We feature two of the Festival guests who have new books: Robert Hicks, whose new novel is "The Orphan Mother ," which continues the story of characters in "Queen of the South ," and Matthew Griffin, whose marvelous debut novel is "Hide."

This week The Reading Life is all about crime fiction. Susan talks with two bestselling authors: Tana French chronicles the adventures of the Dublin Murder Squad; her new book is The Trespasser. James Lee Burke, creator of Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux, writes about his native Houston in The Jealous Kind.