Book #126 of 2019:

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

This is practically three books in one, and while I appreciate the overall effort, I do feel like the project weakens as it goes along and doesn’t quite tie together as closely as I would like in the end.

We open with an extended piece of true crime reporting on a shadowy Baptist minister (and rumored voodoo priest) linked to a string of deaths in 1970s Alabama, allegedly killing five members of his family and a neighbor in turn before being shot to death by another relative at the last victim’s funeral. Despite a clear pattern of the reverend taking out multiple massive life insurance policies on his loved ones soon before they passed — an easy feat with the loose industry regulations of the time — no accusations would ever stick, and the companies were forced to pay out again and again.

For almost a decade, one lawyer defended the man against allegations of both murder and insurance fraud, and the second part of the book turns to consider this complicated figure, who also later represented the vigilante charged with gunning down his first client. An idealistic politician run out of office for his liberal views, the white attorney worked tirelessly for his black defendants, and debut author Casey Cep brings the courtroom drama to life with the same fervor as her coverage of the earlier crimes.

And then there’s Harper Lee, the famous novelist who was there at the trial of the killer’s killer and taking detailed notes for a true crime book of her own. Yet her planned follow-up to the classic To Kill a Mockingbird never actually came to much, and Cep’s attempts to explain that mystery aren’t especially satisfying either. This final section does at least provide an interesting look at Lee’s life and long-standing friendship with Truman Capote, although that’s less in the way of original reporting that couldn’t be read elsewhere.

I’d still recommend the first two-thirds of this work as arguably the exact book that Harper Lee was trying to write herself, but the less distinctive ending and odd title are regrettable.

★★★★☆

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