“The Search for Lofie Louise” by Helen B. Anthony tells the true story of Louise Peete, a woman convicted of two murders in California over two decades apart in the early 1900s. She denied her guilt in both instances, and her story and trial were widely covered by the media in California. Peete received a life sentence for the first murder and a death sentence for the second; she was executed on April 11, 1947. The author captures the history of the death penalty in an earlier era. Today, the author posits, Peete might have been diagnosed with severe psychological problems and given help. Louise Peete was the first wife of the author’s father.

(H. Anthony, “The Search for Lofie Louise,” Glendale Press, 1999). See more Books on the death penalty and History.