I’m thrilled to welcome Michael Rigg, my Mardi Gras parade whisperer and fellow NOLA chronicler, to Chicks today. He’s been on quite a ride as he anticipates the release of his second Jonathan Gray, M.D. mystery – which is great, BTW!

Thanks for the opportunity to update “the Chicks and Krewe” since my last visit on November 5, 2025. What a six-months it’s been!

In February—after ten days in New Orleans celebrating Mardi Gras—I attended my first Left Coast Conference. Along with an opportunity to tour San Francisco via cable car (always an enjoyable activity for a chubby introvert), I co-hosted an Author-Reader Connection (ARC) with Ellen Byron called “A New Orleans Nightcap.” It was subtitled “Cozies and Coroners,” but could have been “Booze and Krewes,” as we treated our four reader-guests to a free round of New Orleans-themed adult beverages and tales of our adventures during Mardi Gras. Also at LCC, Ellen and I teamed up for the Author Roundtable. We followed a practice I recall Ellen and Leslie Karst using at Bouchercon in NOLA. Ellen presented my novel and I presented hers. What a great idea. To top off a fantastic conference, I co-sponsored a banquet table with Lefty Nominee and fellow Level Best Books author, Elizabeth Crowens. Tons of fun all around.

And then there was Malice Domestic and an Agatha nomination as Best First Novel for Voices of the Elysian Fields, which has the Coroner of Orleans Parish as protagonist. As I noted during our nominees’ panel at Malice, it was “Four Cozies and a Coroner.” I’ll let you figure out which side of that equation came out on top. Regardless of the result, it was an honor to be in the company of such great authors (and wonderful people).

Finally, six-months to the day after my last visit, May 5, 2026 was the release date for my second novel, Shadows of Frenchmen. (Cinco de Mayo is now my favorite holiday.) Also set in New Orleans, Shadows of Frenchmen is a bit darker than Voices of the Elysian Fields. (Think “The Zodiac Killer Comes to Carnival.”) But it also has a “cozy” ending with justice triumphant—along with food, cats, and the spirit of Mardi Gras along the way. Here’s a link to the Amazon product page:  Shadows of Frenchmen: A Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery – Kindle edition by Rigg, Michael . Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Thanks, again, for another day in the Sun as a “Guest Chick.” And, as always, laissez le bon temps rouler.

BIO: Agatha-nominated author Michael Rigg—a lawyer for more than four decades—writes mysteries and thrillers set in two very different locations: Virginia Beach (where he lives) and New Orleans (which he visits as often as possible “for research,” including participation in three Mardi Gras Krewes). He is a retired Navy Judge Advocate and a retired civilian government attorney, formerly working for the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel. He is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and both the Sisters in Crime national organization and its Southeastern Virginia Chapter—Mystery by the Sea.

SYNOPSIS: On a frosty Sunday morning in February, Dr. Jonathan Gray, Coroner of Orleans Parish, faces a gruesome sight. A dead man splayed against the circular steel and cut-glass blocks of the city’s AIDS memorial in Washington Square Park has strange symbols carved into his forehead and chest. A coded note—a cipher—has been placed under one hand. The body mutilation and note are hallmarks of a serial killer dubbed by the news media as the “Mardi Gras Sweeper,” because he strikes during Carnival season and leaves coded manifestos taunting police and giving hints about his next victim.

Hoping to avoid a panic during the city’s most profitable season, Mayor Max Jamerson asks Gray to investigate the murder “on the sly,” without formal assistance from the New Orleans Police Department. Time is of the essence as Gray races to figure out the cipher and track down the Sweeper in order to prevent additional killings—and save Mardi Gras.