Synopsis:
Secrets can’t stay buried forever—but maybe some should.
In bustling, multicultural 1831 New Orleans, Tobias Whitney, the sexton of St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, uncovers a journal sealed inside the tomb of Dominique You—war hero of the Battle of New Orleans, privateer, and half-brother of the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte. Convinced that the journal holds the key to Lafitte’s lost treasure, Tobias turns to his sharp-witted and outspoken wife, Mary Catherine, to translate its cryptic French passages.
Tobias and Mary Catherine discover secrets they could not have imagined—secrets that could change their lives forever. But is it really the truth? As the journal warns: Never trust a pirate!
Lafitte Lives blends meticulous historical research with a page-turning mystery, bringing the legend of Jean Lafitte to life while telling the redemptive story of Tobias's grief and Mary Catherine's quest to help him overcome it.
CHECK OUT THE LAFITTE LIVES BOOK TRAILER!
“Strange,
he often mused, that spending his days surrounded by the dead was the only way
he could cope with the living.”
Told
as a story within a story (that *SURPRISE* then adds another story), Lafitte
Lives allows the author’s meticulous research and marvelous imagination to
take flight and thoroughly entertain. The primary story is of main character
Tobias, who when we meet him, is numbed by his grief. It is here that readers
learn the tragedies of his life with his wife, Mary Catherine, who is a
spitfire of a woman and the most memorable of characters. The secondary story
is told via a journal, allegedly penned by Dominique You, the brother of Jean
Lafitte.
As
Dominique is wont to say, again and again: never trust a pirate. I would extend
that to say: never trust a pirate or someone who doth protest too loudly that he
is—or isn’t—one. Careful readers will find plenty of hints as to why we should (or shouldn't) believe Dominique, and it’s clear that *something* is afoot. But even if one figures
out the mystery of the journal, there’s a terrific twist at the end that is
sure to satisfy.
Lafitte
Lives is in no way a
traditional mystery, and the action of Lafitte Lives happens only as
Dominique summarizes events and Jean Lafitte’s adventures. At times, this gets
tedious and frustrating as the promises of “telling that tale later” fell short.
There are only the smallest elements of danger for the real-world characters,
though the specter of Yellow Jack (yellow fever) is always looming. But just
like Tobias anxiously awaits the translations of each chapter of the journal,
so do readers. And with Mary Catherine stringing Tobias and us all along, in
her very intentional way (and while berating those cheeky, saucy kids), we can’t
stop turning the pages.
Having very little knowledge of Jean Lafitte, early on, I skipped to the Afterword, hoping to learn a little of what is fact versus fiction. SCORE! What enriching contextual information is found there, and it solidifies that Sumich is an accomplished historian. Happily, she’s an equally skilled writer who uses a robust vocabulary and rich details to evoke feelings and moods. BONUS: the book is gloriously, cleanly edited, which makes reading go smoothly.
Ultimately, the stories within Lafitte Lives are ones of healing, though some characters’ wounds are more obvious than others’. I’m excited that there is a new series springing from this book (Old New Orleans Bookshop series), and it sounds like Mary Catherine (and Tobias and their bookstore, Chapter and Verse) will be taking a more prominent role. Watch for the first installment, The Swamp Ghost, in September, 2026. I am IN.
AUTHOR BIO:
Christi Keating Sumich holds a PhD in history from Tulane University and a master’s degree in English. Her research field is seventeenth-century disease and healing.
Christi’s writing combines her fascination with history with her love of the mystery genre. Her debut novel, Lafitte Lives (Level Best Books, March 2026), is a historical mystery centered on her ancestor, the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte. She is also the author of the Old New Orleans Bookshop Series, mysteries featuring characters from Lafitte Lives. The Swamp Ghost is the first book in the series (Level Best Books, September 2026).
Christi is also part of a writing team with her mother, Sharon Keating. They are the co-authors of Hauntingly Good Spirits: New Orleans Cocktails to Die For (Wellfleet Press, 2024) and The Brandy Milk Punch (Louisiana State University Press, 2025), part of the Iconic New Orleans Cocktail Series. Catch Up With Christi Sumich:
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