I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As neither a native South Carolinian nor a follower of the Alex Murdaugh saga, I was drawn to it for a simple reason: I wanted to understand a bit about my new home of Summerville, SC from January 2022 after having lived my whole life in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.While ‘Summerville’ was mentioned merely once in the book (and then, only in passing), I had made a few trips to Walterboro to buy furniture at Hamilton’s. Just down the street from there I saw a forlorn-looking building with a ‘Murdaugh Law’ sign out front. Our new home in the ‘lowcountry’ is prompting me to read what I can about the area.But back to this book. What a great job Val did to create a historical view of the people and the places described therein. Am I intrigued enough to take the one-hour drive from Summerville to see these places for myself? Absolutely!The work put in by Val to write ‘The Devil at His Elbow’ was worth my highest praise. I’m happy to have purchased this book.The photo was taken September 12, 2025 at Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, Maine where we have a second home.
Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein recounts the fall of the House of Murdaugh in tiny Hampton County, South Carolina, with depth and eloquence in “The Devil At His Elbow.” Although the media relentlessly covered the sordid Murdaugh saga during Alex’s trial in 2023 for his wife’s and son’s murder and subsequent trial in 2024 for his financial crimes, the author does an outstanding job of capturing the lengthy story in an eminently readable 414-page book.The book reads like a Grisham novel, and to this reader’s pleasant surprise, Bauerlein includes details that the news media did not widely report. Additionally, she provides a list of significant characters, photographs, a map of Southeastern South Carolina where the events took place, endnotes, and a detailed bibliography of sources.With “The Devil At His Elbow,” Bauerlein leavens this suspenseful tale of a dark heart gone off the rails with just the right amount of emotion to satisfy true crime and general narrative nonfiction readers alike. Holding her audience spellbound with the Alex Murdaugh investigation and subsequent courtroom drama as he faces trial for Maggie’s and Paul’s murder, the author also relates the history of the Murdaugh dynasty. In doing so, she provides sufficient context to explain how Alex Murdaugh could ascend to the pinnacle of the legal profession and then spectacularly flame out, ultimately causing the dynasty’s collapse.Bound up in corruption almost since its inception, Randolph Murdaugh’s election to the Hampton County solicitor’s seat in 1920, and extending through Alex Murdaugh’s pathological lying and stealing, the Murdaugh house of wealth, power, and status seems to have been built on shaky foundations. Although the Murdaughs successfully prosecuted many criminals in Hampton County, they appeared to tilt the scales of justice depending on the defendant's identity. If he were a relative, friend, or friend of a relative or friend, or if the price was right, the author reveals, justice was fungible. DUI charges, for instance, were routinely dropped or nolle prossed, resulting in “one of the lowest conviction rates for drunk driving in the state.”Appalling lack of regard for the rule of law is the best way to describe this family's approach to law enforcement. More awful, however, is the Hampton County community’s complicity in this conduct. Undoubtedly, the Murdaugh shadow loomed large over the community, and the fear of crossing the Murdaughs and paying the price was sufficient to deter those aware of the schemes and scams from speaking up.Insurance payouts resulting from lawsuits Alex brought on behalf of clients often ended up in his pocket. But his attempted cover-up of his son’s culpability in the fatal boat crash that claimed Mallory Beach’s life in 2021 was clearly the final straw. Alex’s famicide and then the staging of his own suicide in a desperate attempt to salvage the Murdaugh name and what remained of his empire are incomprehensible to most human beings. At this point in Bauerlein’s book, one has to suspend disbelief. The events of the ensuing trial, culminating with Alex taking the stand as he attempts to avoid accountability, are simply jaw-dropping.The prosecution, skillfully captured by Bauerlein through careful pacing as it unfolds over six weeks, leaves the reader incredulous. Were it not for the experienced and measured Honorable Clifton Newman presiding and a first-rate South Carolina state prosecution team led by Creighton Waters, Alex may have escaped justice.In summary, “The Devil at His Elbow” is a breathtaking account of arrogance and self-dealing run amok. Justice and the Murdaugh name would likely have remained synonymous in this tiny corner of South Carolina if not for courageous individuals such as Mark Tinsley, who decided "enough is enough" regarding Alex Murdaugh's illicit activities. Tinsley’s determination to give voice to Mallory Beach and her surviving family members, while suing Alex, combined with the State of South Carolina bringing its legal "A-game" to remove the Murdaugh stain from rural South Carolina, succeeded. It toppled the Murdaugh house of cards and ensured Alex would spend the rest of his life in prison.“The Devil at His Elbow” offers a thorough, fair, and balanced view of the Murdaughs' downfall. When contemplating heinous acts of injustice on this level, one is left to conclude that evil, in fact, walks among us. Alex Murdaugh, a veritable Frankenstein's monster beget from the Murdaugh family line, found a way to defraud, no, dehumanize even the most disadvantaged of Hampton County citizens. His predation seemingly knew no bounds as he found ever more creative ways to steal from the defenseless. But killing his own wife and son is depravity on another level altogether. Through Bauerlein’s excellent account, we witness a cipher, an empty shell of a man, devoid of conscience, and incapable of feeling or emotion. Sociopathic in the extreme, Alex Murdaugh viewed p...
Great read, I saw the Netflix series as well. Nicely written and well researched. To correct a prior readers review who mentioned that the series stated that the housekeeper fell on the back steps and stated that the author was incorrect is not true. The series showed the front steps and the book reflected this as well. In depth research and well written.
A solid piece of reporting and writing. Bonus points for using the word “frisson.” An excellent read — well worth the time.
Enjoyed the thoroughness of the research and the skilled, articulate story telling about one of the most recent falls from grace in Southern history. Valerie Bauerlein has skills honed by decades of reporting for the WSJ and tells this intricately branching series of episodes of a family in the Low Country of South Carolina.
This is a very good story that many people may think they already know.This book opens that story into a fascinating read. The author has written such a powerful account of family power, arrogance, immorality, and cruelty which is rich in detail and fact. I can’t recommend this book enough. It has the tenor of a novel but the tension of a horrifying true tragedy.Read it and enjoy every page.
An excellent first hand account of the trial. I watched the entire trial and this author captured every aspect perfectly. She also did a great job providing background family history.
this book is just as a book like this is supposed to be – fantastic.
I've read a lot of true crime, but have rarely found one as captivating, especially a case so well chronicled nationally. I raced through this one. Bauerlein's writing is smooth and easy to follow. Highly recommend.
The author is a gifted story teller and rare literary talent. She weaves a deep tapestry of a crime, a century of small town southern family history, and a life-long criminal sociopath for the ages. Alex Murdaugh and his co-conspirators are exquisitely rendered as some of the most demented and diabolical criminals who ever lived. The Devil was truly at his elbow. Don’t miss this one.
I stepped carefully into the soggy mud and found myself struggling to stop following this path of disillusion that power, wealth and privilege make a man invincible. As a South Carolinian born and bred I could feel the muggy breeze coming from the marshes. Images of grand oaks dripping with lacy Spanish moss from their sheltering branches in offered comfort. My heart beat echoed in my ears as rumble of the oncoming train wreck was visualized in my mind.Valerie is very powerful voice for each victim of the Murdaugh Dynasty. I hope her next book will reveal the truth of the investigation and articles she is writing about my beloved homeland known as Horry County. Thank you Valerie.
What a fantastic, in depth book about the tragedy that is/was Alex Murdaugh. I only live 30 minutes from the murder site and watched the trial with great interest. This book, which was thoroughly investigated, fills in many missing gaps. Learning the history of this despicable family was truly eye opening. They were the very definition of “the good ole boys club”. Thank God we had a prosecution team that fleshed out all of his many crimes.
I have watched every documentary I can find regarding the Murtaugh family, watched hours upon hours of the televised trial, and have read several books generated by the tragedy. To date, I feel this is the best account I've come across.
This book was highly informative and I enjoyed. As someone who followed the trial and new coverage, this had a lot of background information and did a good job of covering the current happenings too. It's objectively written though - unlike some other books I've seen - which is much appreciated.
I followed the case at the time but this book has details which I had not read or seen. It also includes a lot of the family history and history of that area of South Carolina. It also includes details of his many financial crimes including the heartbreaking thefts of the settlements that were intended for children of victims.I would have liked more about the prosecution's theory of exactly how Alex committed the shootings. One of the photos shows a demonstration of the angle of fire on Paul, but those details were not discussed in the text. Other than that the book was very thorough and I recommend it for anyone interested in the case or in how murders are solved. The prosecutors had to go against a powerful, influential family to see justice done.
Thank You Valerie this book answers several questions. For starters, the legacy of corruption from one family hiding behind bogus sophistication. The author accomplished an exceptional reality of uniting rogue bankers, overzealous police, secrets, concealment, and straight-up larceny with people who practice law it's almost as if their is a binding agreement. The mantle of justice is a blind folded lady holding scales; Alex Murdaugh was doing everything to her imaginable. I always asked myself who is vetting the justice system? Answer: Mrs. Valerie Bauerlein. Great job. I can go on & on and consider this. The author was managing plot twists at every paragraph throughout the book and indeed crafted a great novel.
I feel like I’ve read and watched everything there is about the Murdaugh family but this book didn’t fail to add a lot to my body of knowledge- particularly regarding the history of the family. It’s very well written and I enjoy the author’s style of writing. My only criticism is that I think there were many points that were editorialized leaving me wondering how much is fact and how much is inference. It’s hard to strike a fair balance between factual and captivating though and to her credit, I think she did a decent job of advising the reader when facts were unverifiable.
I watched the trial on tv. This was a great, detailed account of the family, its history, its legal tactics, and the cases involving Alex & his sons. I thought there would be more details that had not come out in trial, so that disappointed me. I only hope now for satisfaction for the family of Stephen Smith.
I haven't finished it, but it is an interesting read, well written with good pacing. I don't want to go into a lot of detail because someone might want to read it that doesn't already know much the case. It bothers me, for example, that the author continually wrote that Gloria fell down the front steps. She fell on the back steps according to everything I have seen on television. She also slightly misquoted some of the people who were involved, at least given what they said on television. It makes me wonder what other facts she may have gotten wrong. I do recommend the book. It is well written and informative. If you enjoy reading true crime with lots of twists, this one is for you.
I couldn't put this book down, and read it over the course of two days. The author has clearly done a lot of research to write a very comprehensive book. And this book answered so many of my questions and filled in so many details I'd missed during the investigation and trial. Yet I still have so many more questions and can't help but believe there is so much more to this story. 1) Why would a State Senator agree to represent someone in a criminal case? Especially when it became clear AM's money was running out? 2) Why were so many people complicit in AM's crimes allowed to get off with little or no punishment - bankers, judges, lawyers, coworkers, etc.? 3) If all those people knew and yet didn't report anything, what were they all afraid of? 4) If AM was involved in drug smuggling or drug selling, wouldn't there have been more evidence? In particular, drug smuggling would involve some interaction with cartel members, which should have come out if it had been the case. 5) Why do we still have very little knowledge of Cousin Eddie's actions and responsibility? It seems to me that AM was just the fall guy in a system where everyone was breaking the law that such a system will continue to operate unimpeded.
