Home of the Happy

A Murder on the Cajun Prairie

De: Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Narrado por: Christine Lakin

A compelling blend of true crime and memoir tracing the author’s investigation into the kidnapping and murder of her great-grandfather in 1980s Louisiana and the reverberations on her family and community throughout the decades

""Riveting and atmospheric, Home of the Happy is also a heartfelt grappling with a trauma in the author’s family and her attempts to unravel its secrets once and for all. LaHaye Fontenot’s writing is urgent, fueled not just by a desire for justice but by love for her ancestors and the Cajun community of south Louisiana. A must-read for true crime and mystery fans.""— Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines

On January 16, 1983, Aubrey LaHaye’s body was found floating in the Bayou Nezpique. His kidnapping ten days before sparked “the biggest manhunt in the history of Evangeline Parish.” But his descendants would hear the story as lore, in whispers of the dreadful day the FBI landed a helicopter in the family’s front lawn and set out on horseback to search for the seventy-year-old banker.

Decades later, Aubrey’s great-granddaughter Jordan LaHaye Fontenot asked her father, the parish urologist, to tell the full story. He revealed that to this day, every few months, one of his patients will bring up his grandfather’s murder, and the man accused of killing him, John Brady Balfa, who remains at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola serving a life sentence. They’ll say, in so many words: “Dr. Marcel, I really don’t think that Balfa boy killed your granddaddy.”

For listeners of Maggie Nelson’s The Red Parts and Emma Copley Eisenberg's The Third Rainbow Girl, Home of the Happy unravels the layers of suffering borne of this brutal crime—and investigates the mysteries that linger beneath generations of silence. Is it possible that an innocent man languishes in prison, still, wrongly convicted of murdering the author’s great-grandfather?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Jordan LaHaye Fontenot (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers

Shedding a light on dark family history

The methodical story telling, back history and research had me intrigued. I felt like I was with Jordan as she was researching and trying to turn over every stone while tiptoeing around a delicate touchy family heartache. Wanted to listen beginning to end. The only cringy part was listening to the narrator slaughter cajun accents and names.

The narrator absolutely butchered so many names

It was really annoying to hear her mispronounce Acadia and Manuel and other names. She really should have consulted with the author prior to jumping into that.

Pronunciations

I am from Eunice and the names of places and family names were not pronounced correctly, distracting me from the listen. I would hope the author would have more input to give correct pronunciations for her book.

Hits Close to Home

Outstanding balance of storytelling and evidence. My only complaint, as someone from Louisiana, is that the audio performer could have been more knowledgeable of pronunciations.

The impartiality in the telling of the story was phenomenal.

This isn’t my usual genre of book, but seeing as it is centered in my hometown, including 2 of my grandfather (one a physician who was close to Dr Marcel) and Naomi is a dear friend who has babysat for me for years, I knew I had to listen. I devoured the story in less than 24 hours. I could now stop listening and feeling all of the emotions that come with the raw telling and in knowing so many of the people in this book. I will definitely be a Jordan fan and watch out for any other titles that she releases in the future.

What’s Evangeline Parish, Louisiana like? The author captures it perfectly!!!

I’m very happy with my purchase! My expectations have all been surpassed! The whole book is like silky poetry, poetry that has me sitting on the edge of my seat.

Mesmerizing!

This story was so mesmerizing it was hard to put down! Jordan has a way of drawing the reader/listener into the story making you feel as though you are right beside her. I am from the community and was around when this horrific crime took place. But she reveals so much more then we ever knew and I believe she truly looks at the case from the outside, really investigating, even though this is her great grandfather!!

Very well written/ Horribly read

The publishers really should have had someone from here in Cajun Country read this book for the audio version! I was literally cringing at her portrayal of a Cajun accent. Instead of hearing Evangeline Parish (or any parish in Acadiana), my ears were being assaulted by some horrific bastardization of Foghorn Leghorn and Scarlet O’Hara. It was like the Cajun version of acting in black face. Throughout the book, she mispronounced words like Acadiana, pecan, Plaisance, and most Cajun last names. This book was, at least in part, a tribute to the author’s heritage. The audiobook shouldn’t be a mockery of it.

I just had to keep reading!

I loved the pacing. I thought the book must be over by the middle but then the twists and turns just kept coming and I couldn’t stop listening.

Best wrote book I have probably ever read/listened to from a local author.

I was most interested in this book because of the local aspect as to your families tragedy, but I did not expect to be educated by such a young woman about the penal system, and how women are treated by men in power still to this day. Thank you for writing this book.