Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
by Casey Cep
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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.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781101972052
- Binding
- Paperback
- Authors
- Casey Cep
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Published Date
- September 29, 2020
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 352
- Physical Info
- 7.9 in L x 5.1 in W (0.7 lb)
This isn't really a long book, but there's considerable padding. It might have been better served up as magazine articles -- and there's actually little material about Lee's attempted book of non-fiction. I was disappointed and wouldn't recommend anyone else to purchase this book.
Library quality first edition. Great find!!!!!!
An entire chapter was written about insurance: how it came about, the kinds of insurance & etc. Who cares? More than half the book was written about Reverend Maxwell & then Lee never even wrote a book about him!The only interesting part of the book was Lee’s relationship with Truman Capote & how ahead helped him research “In Cold Blood.” Overall, I did not like this book.
This book is not only a true story but a really interesting one! Although this book was not written by Harper Lee, the young lady that wrote it, Casey Cep, took Harper Lee's notes from the last trial she attended and wrote the book.Cep is an excellent writer. It is really, really an interesting read, I my opinion. :-)L. Wilson
Wow...there is A LOT going on in this book! It is almost like reading 3 completely different books in one that somehow relate with one another. I am not sure if I would classify this as a true crime or a biography. Part One of the book is entitled, "The Reverend" and it is all about Reverend Willie Maxwell, his life and his supposed crimes. Part Two is called, "The Lawyer" and in this section, we learn all about Lawyer Tom Radney (a little too much for the story). The third and final part is called "The Writer" and discusses Harper Lee and eventually gets to her involvement in the murder trial of Robert Burns, who was accused of killing Reverend Willie Maxwell. Each one of these part is like reading a stand alone biography on these three characters.At times, I felt that there is way too much detail involved in order to tell the story. For example, there is an entire chapter dedicated to insurance fraud and how insurance worked throughout history. While it does relate to the story in some way, an entire chapter was not needed. I also felt that there was too much information about Tom Radney and Harper Lee. A very short part of their life and careers are actually dedicated to the story, but we are given ENTIRE biographies on them both. This book is less than 300 pages, but it took until page 209 that we understand Harper Lee's connection to the trial of Robert Burns.This was a very well researched book, but I felt like tha author was trying too hard to make connections between Tom Radney and Atticus Finch and relate the trial of Robert Burns to the trial of Tom Robinson in "To Kill a Mockingbird". In doing so, it takes the focus off of the subject of this book.Overall, I did enjoy this book and it kept my attention. But, there were times where I would find myself frustrated at long parts that dragged on and asking how it related to the overall story.
