An unpublished book makes engrossing tale
A series of murders that were never really solved and the beloved American novelist who never quite figured out how to write about them — it doesn't sound like the formula for a compelling book.
But in the capable hands of journalist Casey Cep, it adds up to a most fascinating read. "Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee" combines true crime of the Southern gothic variety, complete with elements of race and rumors of dark magic, with an insightful biography of Harper Lee, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," became a classic of 20th-century American literature.
"Furious Hours" is Cep's first book, but not her first time writing about Lee. Cep covered the 2015 publication of Lee's novel "Go Set a Watchman" (written before "Mockingbird" but published 55 years after it) and, in 2016, the author's death.
The first section of "Furious Hours" tells the story that drew Lee to spend a year researching the case and many more years trying to write about it. It happened in and around Alexander City, Ala., northeast of Lee's hometown of Monroeville, the inspiration for the Maycomb of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
A local man named Willie Maxwell returned to the area after serving in World War II, went to work in local textile and pulpwood operations and became a preacher for Baptist churches with black congregations.
Tall, handsome and always elegantly dressed, Maxwell was a popular preacher. Then, in 1970, Mary Lou Maxwell, his wife of 21 years, was found beaten to death in her car on a road near their home.
Within days, Maxwell filed to collect a $15,000 life insurance policy he had purchased shortly before his wife's death. He was also charged with murdering her, but he was found not guilty after his neighbor, Dorcas Anderson, changed her testimony about what happened the...