No Spark of Malice: The Murder of Martin Begnaud

by William Arceneaux

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 Acadia"in 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Carrie Grace Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This ranks right up there as one of my favorite books of all time. Recommended to me in college during a History of the Acadians and Cajuns class, I was then under the impression that it was a South Louisiana whodunnit. After finally taking it off my to-be-read list, I wouldn't say that exactly. It's pretty clear from the early on who exactly is responsible. But this book takes the reader deeply into the "who" of each player, big and small in this story. All the way back to the founding of Acadie/Nova Scotia, through Le Grand Derangement in 1755, resettlement, reconstruction, free silver, to nearly present day, through the unique lens of an Acadian man writing about his own history, his own people, and truly his own family.

I also owe my current place in life to how much I love this book. Having been in Lafayette (near the heart of this story) for about a year now, the names of streets, schools and civic leaders find their origins as people in this book. Though it's so much more, it's the story of the founding of this part of Louisiana. And even though this book is FULL of history (long chapters are devoted to tiny details you can tell the author spent ages tracking down in libraries throughout Louisiana and France), he makes you feel deeply for each character he introduces as he explains their motivations, failings and humanity.

I'd put this on any "required reading" list for people who want to understand Louisiana and it's history.

[Tomi Agostini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information on the history of Acadian people.

[Claire Broussard · Rating 5 out of 5]

You could finish this book in a weekend, great novel of a great story