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Curious, intrigued, simply smitten. That describes how my interest grew for the real-life town of Natchez, Mississippi as I read the fictional books set there. Natchez is the setting for many of the mystery novels by Greg Iles: “The Quiet Game”, “Turning Angel”,, “Devil’s Punchbowl”, the Natchez Burning Trilogy, and so on. Natchez is the current and childhood home of the author. So, as you would guess, this road trip landed us in Natchez for a couple days.

Natchez sits on the banks of the Mississippi River, connected to Vidalia, Louisiana by the Natchez–Vidalia Bridge. This bridge is a twin cantilever bridge carrying U.S. Route 84, and 425 across the Mississippi River between Vidalia and Natchez. It is the tallest bridge in Mississippi and makes for great photography.

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Lucky us, we found a tour guide, Downtown Karla Brown, that gave tours based on some of the spots around town that were in the Greg Iles books. Quirky? Yes, but there we were.

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We explored the sprawling town set on the river, walked the Vidalia riverwalk, ate at restaurants Under-the-Hill, and watched the wide-ranging barges float peacefully by. Life is good.

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While out touring with Downtown Karla, we came across this young alligator sunning in someone’s yard on Cemetery Road.

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That’s a wrap from Natchez,

Betty and Brian