Focus on our environment is admirable
October 25, 2017
Hazel Guidry
October 25, 2017By John DeSantis
Senior Staff Writer
Chris Pena may live in Tennessee now, but that hasn’t kept him from keeping close to ties here in the Bayou State, where he is trapes around this whole week. For Chris it starts with giving a Bayou Lafourche Civil War tour and it ends – for now – with an appearance at a legendary gathering of Louisiana authors and folks who love to read them.
His first book inspired the former, and his most recent necessitated the latter. The combination of the two showcase Pena as an author capable of moving from the rigorous world of war history to the meticulous research and telling of a bizarre and complex criminal case from a later time in the same century.
“Scarred By War: Civil War in Southeast Louisiana” (Authorhouse 2004) – available through amazon.com and other booksellers – gives a fascinating glimpse at how the Civil War affected the lives of men, women and children in this region. But it’s not just about battles and generals. The book tells the story of how people in this part of the world lived, died and suffered during the war years.
A former professor at Nicholls State University, Chris got to share his knowledge on a tour given Saturday under the auspices of history lover Nic Clark, who guided well-wishers around the region, the first of what Clark hopes will be a regular schedule of such tours. Donaldsonville may not be Gettysburg or Antietam, but it proved an important point for campaigns west of the Mississippi River.
Thursday Chris will meet with the men and women of the Houma-Terrebonne Rotary Club. Saturday he will be in Baton Rouge from 1:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble tent where more books will be signed.
The featured work is his newest one.
“The Strange Case of Dr. Etienne DesChamps: Murder in the New Orleans French Quarter” tells the story of a New Orleans dentist obsessed with the treasure of Jean Lafitte, who was found with the body of a dead young girl and tried for her murder.
The case is significant because of its bizarre twists and turns, told masterfully by Pena to a point where it is a murder mystery and then some. DesChamps’ case was one of the first to utilize the insanity plea, and Pena maximizes its chilling value to the benefit of the reader.
Chris is going to have lots of company in Baton Rouge. Presented by the Louisiana Center for the Book at the State Library of Louisiana, the festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the State Library downtown, the State Capitol, the Capitol Park Museum and other locations. I’ll be there, giving a presentation on my own book, The Thibodaux Massacre. But I tell you of all this because you must know that the event presents an amazing look at the tremendous talent that exists in our state of so many people willing to commit stories and topics to print. It is a testament as well to the diversity of thought in our state, where so many colorful people, places and things make for so many book topics.
Of greatest importance, however – and something I am learning to appreciate all over again because I am an author – are the resources available right here at home. The libraries in Lafourche and in Terrebonne offer people and programs as well as books. Bent Pages on Barrow Street in Houma has a sensational local section, and the women who run the place are walking encyclopedias of who among your neighbors has written something good lately. •
