When successful photographer Oliole Fontenot starts falling for the charm of a handsome drover, "it's a struggle between God's will and her own."--Cover.

Includes the decisions of the Supreme Courts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the Appellate Courts of Alabama and, Sept. 1928/Jan. 1929-Jan./Mar. 1941, the Courts of Appeal of Louisiana.

A new calling. A new business. A new start. Oliole Fontenot did not come West to look for a husband. She came for freedom. The freedom to stand outside and shout to the heavens. The freedom to be herself. To be a photographer. To succeed or fail on her own merit. To grow in her devotion to God. And in Cantrell, Montana, she finds that freedom. But that's not all. There is also danger, adventure, and the mundane. In addition, she has good friends like Carolina Cantrell Parks and Isabel Leon Mandera, a fourteen-year-old protege, and a menacing gang of bank robbers led by the notorious Sam Black. But the biggest challenge for Oliole is not outlaws nor selling her photographs. It's the charm of a handsome drover. His open personality and simple ways sneak past her defenses and force her to consider giving up the freedom she cherishes. It's a struggle between God's will and her own ... and she knows its resolution will affect every day of the rest of her life.

Winner of the 2019 Humanities Book of the Year from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Today sharecropping is history, though during World War II and the Great Depression sharecropping was prevalent in Louisiana's southern parishes. Sharecroppers rented farmland and often a small house, agreeing to pay a one-third share of all profit from the sale of crops grown on the land. Sharecropping shaped Louisiana's rich cultural history, and while there have been books published about sharecropping, they share a predominately male perspective. In A Cajun Girl's Sharecropping Years, Viola Fontenot adds the female voice into the story of sharecropping. Spanning from 1937 to 1955, Fontenot describes her life as the daughter of a sharecropper in Church Point, Louisiana, including details of field work as well as the domestic arts and Cajun culture. The account begins with stories from early life, where the family lived off a gravel road near the woods without electricity, running water, or bathrooms, and a mule-drawn wagon was the only means of transportation. To gently introduce the reader to her native language, the author often includes French words along with a succinct definition. This becomes an important part of the story as Fontenot attends primary school, where she experienced prejudice for speaking French, a forbidden and punishable act. Descriptions of Fontenot's teenage years include stories of going to the boucherie; canning blackberries, figs, and pumpkins; using the wood stove to cook dinner; washing and ironing laundry; and making moss mattresses. Also included in the texts are explanations of rural Cajun holiday traditions, courting customs, leisure activities, children's games, and Saturday night house dances for family and neighbors, the fais do-do.

For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dazzling world of America’s 19th century elite in this lush, page-turning saga… Shakespearean actress turned Pinkerton detective Lilly Long and her reluctant partner, Cade McShane, travel to New Orleans to save a young widow from a fate worse than death… 1881, Chicago. Assigned to her second case as a Pinkerton, Lilly still needs to prove herself—both as a novice detective and as a woman in a man’s world. Ordered to once again work with Lilly, Cade needs to redeem himself for conduct unbecoming to a Pinkerton—a grief-driven drunken brawl. As if their forced partnership wasn’t bad enough, the agents must pose as husband and wife servants in the troubled household of a wealthy New Orleans family. An acting challenge if ever there was one… The elderly matriarch of the Fortenot family is convinced her grandson’s former widow has been unjustly committed to an insane asylum by her second husband. She believes the man is attempting to wrest the family fortune away from his new wife. Soon, behind the beautiful façade of the Fortenot mansion, the detectives uncover secrets, betrayal, voodoo curses—and murder. Even as Lilly and Cade chafe against their roles, they must work together to expose the true villain of this tragedy before the hapless widow faces her final curtain call.

For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dazzling world of America’s 19th century elite in this lush, page-turning saga… In 1880s Chicago, Shakespearean actress turned Pinkerton detective Lilly Long must play the part of a soiled dove to find a missing friend . . . As one of a handful of female operatives employed by legendary crime fighter Allan Pinkerton, Lilly draws on her theatrical training to go undercover in situations inaccessible to male detectives—much to the discomfort of her partner, Cade McShane. Their latest case takes them to the rough and rowdy bordellos that line Hell’s Half Acre in Fort Worth, Texas—truly the Wild West. This time the case is deeply personal. Lilly’s friend, Nora Nash, who traveled to Fort Worth as a mail-order bride, has instead been forced into prostitution. After a desperate call for help, Nora has gone missing. To find her, Lilly must revamp herself as a vamp and expose a seamy underworld of unspeakable secrets where anything goes. But she and Cade soon discover firsthand that lives are cheap in Hell’s Half Acre—including their own . . . Praise for Penny Richards and An Untimely Frost “A strong heroine and the intriguing Pinkertons make this historical mystery a cozy way to spend a weekend. Lilly Long’s independence and stubborn spirit will immediately endear her to many readers.” —RT Book Reviews (4 Stars) “Penny Richards has created a fascinating heroine, a great mystery,and an exceptional play on history.” —New York Times bestselling author, Heather Graham

Everybody in Batson, Texas, and thereabouts thought they knew Captain Yberri—until the day his wife was found with her face blown away by a shotgun in Taylor Boudreaux's trailer. Now Taylor, well, everybody also knew about him and his love of whiskey and women. He finally had met the fate everyone knew would be his someday: shot to death by a jealous husband. But was what everybody knew really so? Big-city attorney Sandra Lerner thought not. And it was her mission to untangle the lies and cut to the truth of the matter. Murder on Pine Island Bayou is a classic murder mystery, with passion, intrigue, and just a touch of southern flavor. A true page-turner.