Presents the history, geography, people, politics and government, economy, social life and customs, state events and attractions, and notable people of Louisiana.

Ginny Polk works as a prison cook and also prepares the last meals of those sentenced to execution. When she stumbles upon information about the man executed for killing her father, it leads to a series of dark and painful revelations.

"Brilliant. . . . A structural tour de force. . . . A classic Southern tale of dysfunctional and marginal madness. The author's gift for giving life to so many voices leaves the reader profoundly moved."- Seattle Weekly The companion novel to Rebecca Wells's celebrated #1 New York Times bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Who can resist the rich cadences of Sidda Walker and her flamboyant, secretive mother, Vivi? Here, the young Sidda-a...

A brutal legacy of cruelty and hate is awakened in the bayou. When Sonny Boy Marsallus returns to New Iberia after fleeing for Central America to avoid the wrath of the powerful Giacana family, his old troubles soon follow. Meanwhile Dave Robicheaux becomes entangled in the affairs of the Fontenot family, descendants of sharecroppers whose matriarch helped raise Dave as a child. They are in danger of losing the land they've lived on for more than...

In the Dave Robicheaux mysteries, Edgar Award-winning and best-selling author James Lee Burke immerses his fans deep in the Louisiana underworld of cops, convicts, and con artists. With each intriguing case that lands on the police detective's desk, Dave continues his debate with the unpredictable forces that dwell within him. A journalist has asked Dave to help her investigate rumors of police brutality in the Iberia Parish jail. But since her father...

Wade Benedict has a job to do: infiltrate a treacherous land and rescue Chloe Madison. It was her father's dying wish and Wade is taking it personally. The problem is, this stubborn, angry and courageous woman doesn't want to be saved. Her rage at the oppressive treatment of women has pulled Chloe into the dangerous world of an underground rebellion. She can't desert the women with whom she forged a daring alliance, and this self-appointed rescuer...

Back in college, Jane Lewis would have given anything to be like homecoming queen Connie Bryan. Instead, she was just Plain Jane--overweight, frumpy, and painfully shy. That was then. Today, a lovely and confident Dr. Jane Lewis has a thriving psychotherapy practice, her own radio talk show, a beautiful old Louisiana mansion, and her affectionate, nutty dog, Olive, to keep her company. The only thing missing is someone to share her life. Jane has...

What will it cost to keep a promise? Of the four people at the Newpointe post office when the bomb went off, three were killed instantly. The fourth, a five-year-old boy, lies comatose in the hospital and might not survive. Who would do such a thing? The answer comes in the form of a gunman crashing through the door of the hotel room where Jill Clark is staying. With a rifle barrel pointed at her temple, the young attorney suddenly finds herself the...

Ten stories trace the connections between four generations of one Louisiana family from 1939, when a young girl leaves school to help support her family, to 2006, when an eighty-year-old woman embarks on a book tour.