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Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 7, 2019
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NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2019 BY Time, LitHub, Vulture, Glamour, O Magazine, Town and Country, Suspense Magazine, Inside Hook
New York Times Best Seller
“Compelling . . . at once a true-crime thriller, courtroom drama, and miniature biography of Harper Lee. If To Kill a Mockingbird was one of your favorite books growing up, you should add Furious Hours to your reading list today.” —Southern Living
Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead 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.
Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who had traveled from New York City to her native Alabama with the idea of writing her own In Cold Blood, the true-crime classic she had helped her friend Truman Capote research seventeen years earlier. Lee spent a year in town reporting, and many more years working on her own version of the case.
Now Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South. At the same time, she offers a deeply moving portrait of one of the country’s most beloved writers and her struggle with fame, success, and the mystery of artistic creativity.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication dateMay 7, 2019
- ISBN-101101947861
- ISBN-13978-1101947869
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From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
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One of The Washington Post's Most Notable Reads of 2019
“She explains as well as it is likely ever to be explained why Lee went silent after To Kill a Mockingbird. (The clue’s in Cep’s title.) And it’s here, in her descriptions of another writer’s failure to write, that her book makes a magical little leap, and it goes from being a superbly written true-crime story to the sort of story that even Lee would have been proud to write.” —Michael Lewis, The New York Times Book Review
"A compelling hybrid of a novel, at once a true-crime thriller, courtroom drama, and miniature biography of Harper Lee. If To Kill a Mockingbird was one of your favorite books growing up, you should add Furious Hours to your reading list today.” —Southern Living
"Cep delivers edge-of-your-seat courtroom drama while brilliantly reinventing Southern Gothic…The result is an enthralling work of narrative nonfiction—Cep’s debut—and a poignant meditation on a book that never was."—O Magazine
"[A] well-told, ingeniously structured double mystery—one an unsolved serial killing, the other an elusive book—rich in droll humour and deep but lightly worn research"
—The Economist
“A brilliant take on the mystery of inspiration and the even darker mysteries of the human heart.” —People
“What I didn't see coming was the emotional response I'd have as I blazed through the last 20 pages of the book — yet there I was, weeping…A gripping, incredibly well-written portrait of not only Harper Lee, but of mid-20th century Alabama — and a still-unanswered set of crimes to rival the serial killers made infamous in the same time period.” —Ilana Masad, NPR
“Cep’s book is a marvel. In elegant prose, she gives us the fullest story yet of Lee’s post-Mockingbird life in New York–boozy, unproductive, modest despite her means, yet full of books and theater–and her quest in Alabama, where she grew close to Radney and his family, to tell the Maxwell story. Cep’s is an account emotionally attuned to the toll that great writing takes, and shows that sometimes one perfect book is all we can ask for, even while we wish for another.” —Lucas Wittmann, Time
"Remarkable, thoroughly researched... the great, acrobatic trick Cep accomplishes is to deliver a book so richly detailed and full of thoughtfully condensed research without having access to any of its three main subjects: Willie Maxwell, Tom Radney, and Lee... Cep has a knack for a chapter-ending cliffhanger and building a sort of eerie tension... At her best, Cep manages the feat that all great nonfiction aspires to: combining the clean precision of fact with the urgency of gossip." —Margaret Eby, The New York Review of Books
“[E]xemplary literary true crime…Gripping and meticulous, Cep’s work doesn’t make us choose between fidelity and style.” —Boris Kachka, Vulture
“In Cep’s thrilling account of an Alabama murderer, his killer, and the lawyer who got them both off, we get to see the To Kill a Mockingbird author hot on the trail of some slippery characters while she struggles to write a worthy follow-up to her iconic novel.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“Tells a crime story but also says a great deal about the racial, cultural and political history of the South. As a portrayal of the life of a writer, the section on Lee is by itself worth the price of admission.” —John Glassie, The Washington Post
"Cep narrates this saga atmospherically and with empathy. There are lyrical passages... plus judicious detail... Excursions into the annals of life insurance fraud and folkways of voodoo are fascinating.”—Stephen Phillips, The Los Angeles Times
“Casey Cep’s Furious Hours does something wholly unique: in exploring the bizarre circumstances linking a breadth of crimes—murder and insurance fraud, the failures of the criminal justice system, and the legacy of racism in the South—Cep probes at the mystery of a place built on slave labor, where injustice has seeped into the soil and the courtroom itself is an engine of inequity.” —Camille Leblanc, CrimeReads
“This riveting account of both the murders and Lee’s reporting, writing, and editing process is fascinating for its behind-the-scenes look at one of the South’s cherished creative minds.”—CJ Lotz, Garden & Gun
"Fascinating, addicting, and unbearably suspenseful.” —Adam Morgan, Longreads
“In Furious Hours, Casey Cep gives readers a brilliant history of the life-insurance industry (it's more exciting that it sounds!), a riveting true crime story, and a dazzling biography of one of America's most beloved writers.” —Bustle
"It’s been a long time since I picked up a book so impossible to put down. Furious Hours made me forget dinner, ignore incoming calls, and stay up reading into the small hours. It’s a work of literary and legal detection as gripping as a thriller. But it’s also a meditation on motive and mystery, the curious workings of history, hope, and ambition, justice, and the darkest matters of life and death. Casey Cep’s investigation into an infamous Southern murder trial and Harper Lee’s quest to write about it is a beautiful, sobering, and sometimes chilling triumph."
—Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Nobody recognized her. Harper Lee was well known, but not by sight, and if she hadn’t introduced herself, it’s unlikely that anyone in the courtroom would have figured out who she was. Hundreds of people were crowded into the gallery, filling the wooden benches that squeaked whenever someone moved or leaning against the back wall if they hadn’t arrived in time for a seat. Late September wasn’t late enough for the Alabama heat to have died down, and the air-conditioning in the courthouse wasn’t working, so the women waved fans while the men’s suits grew damp under their arms and around their collars. The spectators whispered from time to time, and every so often they laughed—an uneasy laughter that evaporated whenever the judge quieted them.
The defendant was black, but the lawyers were white, and so were the judge and the jury. The charge was murder in the first degree. Three months before, at the funeral of a sixteen-year-old girl, the man with his legs crossed patiently beside the defense table had pulled a pistol from the inside pocket of his jacket and shot the Reverend Willie Maxwell three times in the head. Three hundred people had seen him do it. Many of them were now at his trial, not to learn why he had killed the Reverend—everyone in three counties knew that, and some were surprised no one had done it sooner—but to understand the disturbing series of deaths that had come before the one they’d witnessed.
One by one, over a period of seven years, six people close to the Reverend had died under circumstances that nearly everyone agreed were suspicious and some deemed supernatural. Through all of the resulting investigations, the Reverend was represented by a lawyer named Tom Radney, whose presence in the courtroom that day wouldn’t have been remarkable had he not been there to defend the man who killed his former client. A Kennedy liberal in the Wallace South, Radney was used to making headlines, and this time he would make them far beyond the local Alexander City Outlook. Reporters from the Associated Press and other wire services, along with national magazines and newspapers including Newsweek and The New York Times, had flocked to Alexander City to cover what was already being called the tale of the murderous voodoo preacher and the vigilante who shot him.
One of the reporters, though, wasn’t constrained by a daily deadline. Harper Lee lived in Manhattan but still spent some of each year in Monroeville, the town where she was born and raised, only 150 miles away from Alex City. Seventeen years had passed since she’d published To Kill a Mockingbird and twelve since she’d finished helping her friend Truman Capote report the crime story in Kansas that became In Cold Blood. Now, finally, she was ready to try again. One of the state’s best trial lawyers was arguing one of the state’s strangest cases, and the state’s most famous author was there to write about it. She would spend a year in town investigating the case, and many more turning it into prose. The mystery in the courtroom that day was what would become of the man who shot the Reverend Willie Maxwell. But for decades after the verdict, the mystery was what became of Harper Lee’s book.
Product details
- Publisher : Knopf; First Edition (May 7, 2019)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1101947861
- ISBN-13 : 978-1101947869
- Item Weight : 1.5 pounds
- Best Sellers Rank: #187,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #477 in Serial Killers True Accounts
- #778 in Author Biographies
- #2,071 in U.S. State & Local History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
CASEY CEP is a staff writer at "The New Yorker."
"Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee" is her first book. It was an instant "New York Times", "WSJ," & Indiebound bestseller. The book earned rave reviews from Michael Lewis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Al Roker, David Grann, and Helen Macdonald.
You can follow Casey Cep on Twitter (@cncep) and Instagram (@caseycep) or visit her website (www.caseycep.com).
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and informative. They appreciate the insights into Harper Lee's life and creative process. The writing style is described as well-written and gripping. Readers appreciate the detail provided and the well-developed characters. Opinions differ on the crime story, with some finding it fascinating and enjoyable, while others consider it strange and difficult to believe.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the compelling writing style and interesting subject matter. The first half of the story is a worthwhile read, while the balance is an in-depth mini-series. Readers describe the book as an excellent read with a well-crafted true crime story.
"...Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, and so many insights into not just Harper Lee and her (amazing) classic, but also the South she was..." Read more
"...The story is well presented, but I feel Cep is in part "paying off" the family who expected to be heavily featured in Harper Lee's never-completed..." Read more
"...All the victims had been heavily insured by the killer and Cep does a great job at looking at Reverend Willie Maxwell and his world in rural Alabama...." Read more
"...It was definitely a disappointment, but there was some interesting aspects for me to keep drudging my way through...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's information value. They find the subject matter interesting and the author's insights into the creative process fascinating. The bibliography and extensive notes are praised. Readers also appreciate the accurate portrayal of the lives of three accomplished Alabamans. The mix of historical fact, theory, and conjecture draws them in, with an enduring mystery as the basis for this interesting true crime story.
"...Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, and so many insights into not just Harper Lee and her (amazing) classic, but also the South she was..." Read more
"...Harper Lee is her third subject. Lee's biography is interesting and often colorfully presented, though there are again odd lacunae and failures to..." Read more
"...Casey Cep is such a good writer that all the book was interesting, not just the part about Harper Lee. I highly recommend it." Read more
"...a former librarian I always start at the back, and I was impressed at the Bibliography, and the extensive notes sections...." Read more
Customers find the writing quality of the book good. They say it's well-researched, and the author is talented. Readers enjoy the gripping narrative and the author's ability to weave together historical facts and theory in an engaging way. The book is described as a page-turner that keeps them turning the pages until the end.
"...Casey Cep is such a good writer that all the book was interesting, not just the part about Harper Lee. I highly recommend it." Read more
"...I liked the first two acts. But I loved Act 3, the story of the writer, her feelings about her craft and her struggle to wrestle it into submission..." Read more
"...The author Casey Cep is a good writer, but I expect that as she looks back on this work in 20 years she will cringe at some of the things a better..." Read more
"...Cep is a talented writer. I remain anxious to see what she does next." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's detailed account of the case and Harper Lee's life. They find the characters well-developed and interesting. The book is structured in an eye-opening way, with footnotes, photos, and maps.
"...Lee's biography is interesting and often colorfully presented, though there are again odd lacunae and failures to tackle subjects which are likely..." Read more
"...Cep's book, which is both fascinating and thoroughly footnoted with photos and maps provides some solace for the reader...." Read more
"...difficult to believe, but Casey Cep's documentation is thorough and meticulous. This is Cep's first book, but I certainly hope it isn't her last." Read more
"...The way the author has structured this book is genius: Part One is the story of a suspected serial killer and how he was able to avoid punishment..." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the crime story. Some find it fascinating and enjoy learning about the criminal investigations. Others find it strange, difficult to believe, and filled with unnecessary details.
"...Getting back to Casey Cep. Her book is the story of the true crime - a black pastor in Alabama was suspected in five murders of his own family,..." Read more
"...is the true mystery of this book. And it’s original and compelling...." Read more
"...Instead, she ends with a lot of speculation, which is a shame. Cep is a talented writer. I remain anxious to see what she does next." Read more
"...by the time this book was being researched, Furious is a combination of true crime, historical fiction and biography...." Read more
Customers have different views on the pacing of the book. Some find it fast-paced and engaging, getting hooked after a few pages. Others feel the book drags and takes too long to read, with unnecessary details that slow down the story.
"...But, as I read through the book, I had a hard time getting through it...." Read more
"...All this other information is extraneous and a drag on the story. I'm slogging through it, hoping it gets better." Read more
"...that she doesn't bring together til the end, but somehow, it comes together beautifully...." Read more
"...I disliked the second half of the book. It dragged. Overall, it was interesting." Read more
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Great insight into the reclusive life of Harper Lee
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2024So glad I picked this up from a recent Book Bub email. This book is far more than what is it described to be. I could hardly put it down and have already recommended it to multiple people.
Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, and so many insights into not just Harper Lee and her (amazing) classic, but also the South she was raised in and continued to be drawn to and her childhood friend Truman Capote. I will be reading this again.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2019Note: I am a born & reared (as we say) Southerner and have not read any reviews of this book aside from one in the New York Times that caused me to buy it. I did not name my cat, but he is named Atticus.
It is difficult to approach this history of Harper Lee and her projected writing about a bizarre serial killer. The author, Cep, starts with a record of hydroelectric dams in Alabama. I was not engaged by this and never figured out how it relates to the rest of the book. Maybe if i read it again, but, NO, I don't want to read it again. It might be padding to balance the holes in the rest of the piece. It may be intended to echo Capote's descriptive strategies in "In Cold Blood" It is oddly disconnected though Cep seems to want to tie it up to geographical items at the end of the book, perhaps to document her own arc of research. I was skimming by then.
Cep next describes the activities of a man who killed people to collect insurance policies and was never brought to (official) justice: his murders, his trials (as plaintiff and defendant and victim) and the trial of the man who finally murdered him. It is an effective and satisfyingly hair-raising example of the Gothic, old white boyish perversity of the South. The author spends too much time on the life and career of the white lawyer who defended the insurance murderer and later successfully defended (temporary insanity) the man who killed him. That family helped Cep and, earlier, Harper Lee in their research. The story is well presented, but I feel Cep is in part "paying off" the family who expected to be heavily featured in Harper Lee's never-completed book on the topic. Not that they aren't moderately entertaining Americans but they are not why I (for one) was reading. There are plenty of photographs of these people, but she failed to make them memorable or lovable.
I wish Cep had made a better or more successful, effort to connect to the black families related to the serial killer, his victims, and his killer. She does seem to try but only the killer has much of a personality. The lack of a vivid presence of people who were potentially the protagonists and victims of Lee's projected work is a major weakness. It echos "To Kill a Mockingbird" in which the accused man is not the focus but, rather, his lawyer is, but, alas, this lawyer is no Atticus Finch.
The strategy of fleshing out a number of intersecting stories is possibly deliberately akin to Truman Capote's approach to the murders in "In Cold Blood," to which Lee contributed a great deal of research, research which most likely elevated it to the high literary reputation it now enjoys. Cep does an excellent job of showing how this worked. Harper Lee is her third subject. Lee's biography is interesting and often colorfully presented, though there are again odd lacunae and failures to tackle subjects which are likely important to the reader, like why Lee had no documented romantic relationships. Or did she? I tend to feel the author elides speculations. Perhaps polite, in the old-fashioned Southern way, but not satisfying.
The parts on Lee's relationship with Truman Capote and the research in Kansas are the best. This element of the book is the 4 star part for me.
The question the book suggests it will answer is "Why didn't Lee ever write another book.?" Cep admits to not having this answer -- but who does? It all must be speculation. I wanted more speculation. She does talk about the transformation of "Go Set a Watchman" into "Mockingbird" and this, as others have said, must be part of the explanation. Lee was a segregationist (the author does not come out and say this but we get the idea from this and other things we have read.). Lee wanted to show that people could be for segregation and not be lynchers or in the KKK. She was persuaded to drop this quixotic, and wrongheaded concept in favor of a more straightforward approach in "Mockingbird," yet she never seemingly gave up that as a potential theme.
The second question I hoped would be answered by the book is "Did Lee really authorize the publication of 'Watchman'?" This is the author's biggest moment of cowardice. Cep suddenly introduces Lee's new lawyer (or literary agent -- the one who got hold of the text of "Watchman" and sold it.) after being very clear and detailed about how earlier people of this sort entered Lee's life. At this time Lee was legally blind and deaf and probably non compos mentis; could she legally consent? Her sister who had protected her had died a couple years earlier. The possible perfidy of the publisher and others remains unaddressed -- an almost Robert Mueller approach: "I'm not saying--You decide."
I personally feel that we have to accept that Lee, like some other authors of great works (Tolstoy -- Anna Karenina!! -- for example) was very imperfect in some of her thinking. Sometimes we must look beyond deep human flaws as best we can to appreciate the higher achievement of the writing itself. Cep fails to engage with this topic in a meaningful way and seemingly asks us to be satisfied with the idea that the white people Harper met in Kansas and when researching her never-finished Alabama serial killer book said she was a "nice lady."
- Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2019"Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee", by Casey Cep, is my favorite type of book. It's a work of non-fiction that reads like fiction. It's a bit of a strange book - Cep writes three different stories that she doesn't bring together til the end, but somehow, it comes together beautifully.
Harper Lee, long famed for "To Kill A Mockingbird", never published another book during her lifetime. After her death in 2016, an unfinished manuscript was published by her estate. The book, a prequel of sorts to "Mockingbird" was called "Go Set a Watchman" , was fairly panned by critics and readers. But Lee had been quietly been working on another book a few years after "Mockingbird"; a true crime book set in Alabama was to be her second book.
Getting back to Casey Cep. Her book is the story of the true crime - a black pastor in Alabama was suspected in five murders of his own family, including two of his three wives. Part one is "The Reverend". He was murdered in cold blood at the funeral of his last victim. All the victims had been heavily insured by the killer and Cep does a great job at looking at Reverend Willie Maxwell and his world in rural Alabama. Her writing is as good as Thomas Thomson's in his true crime books. The second part of the book, "The Lawyer", is about local lawyer Tom Radney, who defended both Willie Maxwell AND the man who gunned down Maxwell. Radney - that rare bird in Alabama, a Democrat - has his own stories of life-as-a-liberal.
Part three is "The Writer" and is the story of Harper Lee in the years since the publication of "To Kill A Mockingbird". Living in both New York City and Alabama, Harper Lee can't seem to get it together to write another book. She seemed to enjoy her fame, but, at the same time, run for cover when she's recognised. She lost her publishing support team when her editor and manager died in New York and she aged along with her two older sisters in Alabama. It was during the 1970's Harper Lee decided to investigate the Reverend Willie Maxwell's murders and his own. But, she couldn't seem to put her notes to book form. Eventually, she gave up investigating and "Go Set a Watchman" was her last book.
Casey Cep is such a good writer that all the book was interesting, not just the part about Harper Lee. I highly recommend it.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2020I was excited to read this since Harper Lee, author of one of my most favorite books seemed to be involved. But, as I read through the book, I had a hard time getting through it. I am usually a fast reader, and it took me almost a week to finish it, and at some points, was not sure if I would. At some parts, there were just too many details. A lot of it that didn’t really need to be explained. A lot of it felt gratuitous- like the author was making a short story longer than it should have been. Plus, I didn’t like the way she split the subjects. I feel that this should have either been a book about The Reverend or Nelle Harper Lee. Not both.. It is stated time and again that Lee was very picky about a biography of her life, and it seemed that the author skirted around her wishes, which I found disrespectful. Then, it was noted that this was supposed to be about Tom Radley, who seemed to have been a great character, and the book really should have been about his life. But, in the end it felt like Harper was made a part of it just to render sales... this book could have been written a lot better. It was definitely a disappointment, but there was some interesting aspects for me to keep drudging my way through. Honestly, I thought The Reverend’s story was the best part.
Top reviews from other countries
-
AntonioReviewed in Mexico on July 26, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Lo recomiendo
La realidad supera la ficción, aun en historias de crimen y justicia
- Richard BarnesReviewed in Canada on July 5, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Discover what kept Harper Lee awake at night!
I couldn’t put it down. Chilling true crime story that obsessed Harper Lee.
- JCReviewed in India on September 20, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fascinating read
I 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 disjoint . I really hope Netflix would make a mini series out of this book
- E. MandelReviewed in Canada on May 12, 2024
4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and vividly rendered
Elegantly written, perfectly paced. Divided up into three tidy sections. I was skeptical, that the third and final part regarding Harper Lee would be as gripping as the story of the murders in part and part two, which is the story of the court case but Cep finds great empathy, and writes beautifully of Harper Lee’s relationship to her craft and to this story.
- HROReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2022
4.0 out of 5 stars A whirlwind of a story.
A very insightful account of H Lee, her friendship with Capote and investigation into why we only have two published novels from her stable.
The story of the reverend is a great opener and the reporting of his legal Beatle even more so.