Ellen Byron (born in New York)^[1] is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer.

As a novelist, she has written the Cajun Country Mystery series and Vintage Cookbook Mystery series, as well as the Catering Hall Mystery series under the pseudonym Maria DiRico. She has won two Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel^[2] and multiple Best Humorous Mystery Lefty Awards. Bayou Book Thief, her first Vintage Cookbook Mystery, is nominated for an Anthony Award.

As a screenwriter, she has written for Wings, Just Shoot Me!, and The Fairly OddParents.

Biography

Byron was born in the borough of Queens, New York City.

She attended Tulane University.^[3] Her experiences in Louisiana inspired her Cajun Country Mystery series.

Byron has written over 200 articles national publications. She relocated from New York to Los Angeles to pursue a television career that spanned twenty-five years. She lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband, daughter, and rescue dog.

Awards and honors

Publications

Cajun Country Mystery series

• Plantation Shudders (2015)
• Body on the Bayou (2016)
• A Cajun Christmas Killing (2017)
• Mardi Gras Murder (2018)
• Fatal Cajun Festival (2019)
• Murder in the Bayou Boneyard (2020)
• Cajun Kiss of Death (2021)

Catering Hall Mystery series (as Maria DiRico)

• Here Comes the Body (2020)
• Long Island Iced Tina (2021)
• It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder (2021)
• Four Parties and a Funeral (2023)

Plays

• Graceland and Asleep on the Wind (1998)
• Election Year and So When You Get Married.... Two Short Plays. (1998)

Vintage Cookbook Mystery series

• Bayou Book Thief (2022)
• Wined and Died in New Orleans (2023)

Television