LSU Alum Turns Honors Thesis Into Bestselling True Crime Memoir

For LSU alum Jordan Lahaye Fontenot, what started as her honors thesis has grown into a bestselling true crime memoir. “Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie” explores the devastating murder of Fontenot’s great-grandfather and the lasting effects it had on her family and hometown. 

Fontenot originally started the project as a shorter work of creative nonfiction that she envisioned becoming a long-form essay on the murder of her great-grandfather, Aubrey Lahaye. She proposed this idea to Joshua Wheeler, LSU associate professor of English, as a potential subject for her honors thesis. 

“He suggested that I instead write a book,” Fontenot said. “With his help, I was able to prepare a book proposal, which served as my thesis and set me on the long path of publication.”

The book follows Fontenot’s journey as she re-investigates the tragic events of January 6, 1983. Her grandfather, an influential banker, farmer, and business man in the area, was kidnapped from his home at the age of 70. After 10 days of investigation by the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Department, the Louisiana State Police, the FBI, and hundreds of local volunteers, his body was discovered in the Bayou Nezpique.

Fontenot struggled with writing about her family’s tragedy but chose to channel that pain into her work.

“The most difficult moments were when I stepped outside of the lenses of journalism, which guided so much of the project, and found myself grappling with the reality of how much my family has been through,” Fontenot said. “I wouldn’t say I overcame those difficult moments so much as I channeled them into the storytelling itself—which I hope made the book more honest, in the long run.”

Because she grew up in Louisiana, Fontenot was able to dig deep into her family’s past and center the book around the community and landscape of Evangeline Parish. 

“Louisiana is as much a character in this book as anyone—small town, rural, French Louisiana in particular,” Fontenot said. “There’s a distinct cultural matrix in Evangeline Parish that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world that created the community at the center of my book, that created my family, and that created the environment for something like Aubrey LaHaye’s murder to happen. And I grew up absolutely unaware that the rest of the world was any different.”

Fontenot credits her writing style and love for nonfiction storytelling to influential professors she had during her time as an LSU student. She said the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College granted her freedom to get this project off the ground with mentorship. She said she worked with Wheeler closely on the earliest drafts and he helped guide her through the process of creating a book proposal. 

“It was invaluable,” Fontenot said. “The journey of getting this book to print lasted far beyond my time at LSU, but without that foundation, guidance, and encouragement so early on, I don’t believe I’d have a book today.”

Following its April 2025 release,  “Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie” became a national bestseller. Fontenot credits Louisiana readers for the book’s success 

“I was driving when I got the news and had to pull over to have a little freak out,” Fontenot said.  “I will say that, while the book has been doing well nationwide—Louisiana is who made this book a bestseller. The enthusiasm of readers and booksellers here has been such an enormous gift.”

Fontenot said she gained valuable insight into the creative writing and publishing processes while working on the book and offered advice to others with similar writing goals, especially to LSU students.

“I would just say to take advantage of the resources at your fingertips—the luxury of time dedicated to a single project, the access to experts and professionals who are eager to help you,” Fontenot said.  “Don’t waste it!”

In addition to her book, Fontenot works as a professional editor and writer, as well as a managing editor of “County Roads” magazine. She joined the magazine six months after she graduated from LSU in 2018. 

“It was a direct result of a story that I completed through Professor Wheeler’s Introduction to Immersion Journalism Honors course,” Fontenot said. “So, even beyond the book, LSU and the Honors College have played a significant role in my career—in a field where it can be difficult to find steady work. And for that, I am eternally grateful!”

Looking to the future, Fontenot is in the early stages of an essay collection, as well as learning how to write for fun again after working on “Home of the Happy” for eight years. 

“I do see another book in the future—hopefully a few,” Fontenot said.  

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