No Spark of Malice: The Murder of Martin Begnaud

By William Arceneaux

Book Overview

On April 22, 1896, Martin Begnaud was brutally murdered in his general store in Scott Station, Louisiana. He was bound, gagged, blindfolded, stabbed more than fifty times, and robbed of over $5,000. Ten months later, after one of the most extensive manhunts in nineteenth-century Louisiana, public shock and outrage reemerged when two teenage brothers from France, Ernest and Alexis Blanc, were arrested for the crime. William Arceneaux sets the story of Begnaud's murder, the Blanc brothers' trial, and the media circus surrounding it all against the backdrop of Acadian history -- from the 1604 establishment of a French colony in the Canadian maritime provinces to the eventual creation of a New Acadiain South Louisiana. By intertwining a suspenseful account of this heinous crime with an exploration of the citizens it affected, No Spark of Malice provides insight into a fascinating people, place, and era.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807130257
• ISBN13: 9780807130254
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

COMPLETELY COMPELLING

You don't have to be from Louisiana to find this book completely compelling. Any fan of non-fiction, history or true crime will be unable to put it down. Arceneaux presents a fascinating story of murder and justice in a most captivating way. The author's attention to detail is amazing - scholarly but never intimidating. I was captivated by the twists and turns the story took along with Arceneaux's insightful positioning of the events and their import. This book will leave a lasting impression on you. Read it...

NO SPARK OF MALICE

GREAT READING ON THE HISTORY OF THE ACADIANS AS WELL AS THE SCOTT-LAFAYETTE, LA AREA. THE MURDER HELPS KEEP A THREAD OF INTEREST GOING IN THE FAMILIES OF THIS AREA.

More Spark than Malice

A well woven tapestry of the history and sociology of the Acadians of Louisiana, the South in post reconstruction years, and the genealogy of the authors family all neatly tied together in the telling of the tale of a murder which at the time was an international sensation even though it took place in the back waters of Louisiana. William Arceneaux is a smooth talker in person and has proved himself a skillful writer and clever story teller. There is one vignette on euthanasia that you may not want to read because it will haunt you when you wake up in a dark room at 3 o'clock in the morning. This an entertaining, even educational, well conceived and organized book.

A great read

This is the story of a crime in the last century in a rural part of Louisiana. But it is also much more. It includes a fine series of chapters explaining the history of the Acadian people (Begnaud was an Acadian in a whistle stop) and of all the major players and of Louisiana history. In a short set of chapters the author gives us both the history and the interest. By the end I was sorry to see it finish - but I learned a lot about both the "crime of the century" and also the context of the events. It was hard to put down - even when I came to the end. Arceneaux did a thorough history but also took care to make it a fascinating book.