Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee [B2152]

2019 HCDJ in Gift-Worthy condition. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This "superbly written true-crime story" (The New York Times Book Review) masterfully brings together the tales of a serial killer in 1970s Alabama and of Harper Lee, the beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who tried to write his story.

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted-thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante's trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called The Reverend.

Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Absolutely fascinating read. Can't say enough how much I loved this book, found it on Barack Obama 's book list.. Absolutely fascinating that how one book contained two stories and one a almost biography of Harper Lee and both stories interwoven with each other and never felt disjointed . I really hope Netflix will make a mini series out of this book."; "Loved bits of pieces of this! Non-fictions that reads like fiction has a special place in my heart. From voodoo and insurance fraud to the life and death of Harper Lee, I learned so much."; "I loved reading this book. I first heard of it years ago and had it in my wish list. I really would have loved reading The Reverend."; "Really engaging. Decided to read this after listening to a podcast episode about Reverend Willie and they mentioned this book. Excellent reading! Super interesting how Cep combined history, true crime, and biography together."