I really wanted to enjoy this book but a few pages in it started giving too much background on the history of insurance and I was instantly put off. I know it’s a true crime book and the crime is insurance fraud but I probably wanted to know a bit less than the book told me. I couldn’t go on with it as I’d lost interest

The Furious Hours by Casey Cep
This book is written in three parts and tells a story which Harper Lee had planned to turn into a novel. The story revolves around the true case of murders carried out by Reverend Willie Maxwell. He murdered family members and friends benefiting from the insurance pay-outs. It is at the funeral of one of his victims that he is then murdered by Robert Burns in front of 300 people.
The three parts of the story are as follows; the life of Reverend Maxwell and his heinous crimes, the story of the lawyer Tom Radney who represented Robert Burns and then the third is all about Harper Lee.
The first two sections seem almost a different story and are much faster paced than the last section about Harper Lee and her struggle to write a novel about the case. I found this third section the weakest part; most of it biographical and had little to do with the murder case.
Many thanks to Net Galley and the Publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

Casey Lee knew that Harper Lee was fascinated with writing crime books, She also knew that to kill a Mockingbird would not be her only novel, however Harper Lee failed to complete this so Casey took over.
This booked covers the reasons behind why Harper never publishes this true crime and what Harper saw and heard in the case that started with the murder of Willie Maxwell. It captures different account from characters such as Tom Radney the lawyer who dealt with Willie for many years before his death. Casey Lee really bring this true crime story to life, set in 1970's Alabama, you feel like you are there within the pages.

The premise of Furious Hours by Casey Cep intrigued me as I was naturally drawn to learn more about Harper Lee. As other reviewers have commented the book is split into three. The first concerning Willie Maxwell, a minister in America's Deep South who ultimately seemed to get away with murdering several relations, including two wives, and profited from the life insurance policies he had taken out, often just days before. The history of US life insurance and how those companies tried, but ultimately, failed to pay out ran to too many pages for me. The second part dealt with the trial of the minister's killer who, laughably, was represented by the same lawyer, Tom Radney, who was instrumental in allowing the minister to escape justice in the first place! While the third section concerned Harper Lee herself, her difficulty in coping with the fame, and money, that the success of To Kill a Mockingbird bought her, and her near obsession with the minister's crime was for me the most interesting part of the book. Fundamentally though Furious Hours didn't absorb me and I wished on more than one occasion that it had been edited a bit more ruthlessly. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC.

Furious Hours
By Casey Cep
Furious Hours
Blurb
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.

As Alabama is consumed by these gripping events, it’s not long until news of the case reaches Alabama’s – and America’s – most famous writer. Intrigued by the story, Harper Lee makes a journey back to her home state to witness the Reverend’s killer face trial. Harper had the idea of writing her own In Cold Blood, the true-crime classic she had helped her friend Truman Capote research. Lee spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more years trying to finish the book she called The Reverend.

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.

This is the story Harper Lee wanted to write. This is the story of why she couldn’t.

Our Review
I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and I really wanted to love this story about Harper Lee but I just couldn't get into it.

I liked parts of the book when I read it but I felt like the story went of on a tangeant at times and never found it's way back again. For example, when the author described how the town came to be founded. I felt this was something I really didn't need to know.

When I heard about Furious Hours I though the crime itself sounded like something worth reading about - a rural preacher accused of murdering five family members only to be shot down himself at one of their funerals. Then if you added in Harper Lee's obsession with the case that sounded like an even more promising story. For me though the execution was lacking.

# The Furious Hours # Netgally
I was so looking forward to reading his book mainly because it's a true story. I do tend to go for a few real stories particularly if serial killers. I enjoy them from a distance in the sense of trying to work out why they do this. This one supposed to be for insurance money. Some I actually believe they enjoy killing. Yet in some ways I can actually understand that others it power. Some that I think enjoy killing, they have to be mentally ill surely .that applies in many cases. Although I enjoyed this to a degree in other ways I was slightly disappointed. Although the Rerverand does come across as a fairly intelligent man in some places yet in others he tries to act intelligent but comes over as someone who really are stupid. In parts I got a little confused now that was not me after reading a few paragraphs over two to three times it's either the way the author writes or him deliberately wanted to try and confuse people. I personally believe it was him. However if I had to be truthful I can not say 100% sure. This is not meant it any disrespect to the author far from it. It just never really becomes clear and because of that confusion without any clarification one way of another I do have to mark the star rating down a bit. Yes I would read it again not literally I never read a book more than once and if I ever do it's got to be something really spectacula. What no mean about I would read again knowing what I already know. So if true stories are your thing I would not be put off by what I said about being a bit confused in a couple of places. Although I did say it wasn't me yet truthfully it could well have been me, especially I wasn't feeling too great when I read it. What I should really have done was have had a few days off of reading. I have to got pneumonia with a termreture so my apologies to everyone. Yet I do thinking you like true stories you have to at least give it a go

Seventeen years since the publication of, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee lat in a courtroom in Alabama. She was planning to write a true crime book about the case she was watching, but that book was never published. In this volume, author, Casey Cep, writes not only a compelling explanation as to why this book never appeared, but also combines true crime and biography, in a riveting account of a crime and the characters involved.

She begins by looking at the murder victim, the Reverend Willie Maxwell, whose exploits almost defy belief. Born in 1925, Maxwell was a man who had a tendency to insure almost everyone within his orbit; benefiting by their deaths, which seemed to happen with alarming regularity and in suspiciously similar circumstances.

The second character was lawyer, Tom Radney, who swopped from dealing with Maxwell’s, seemingly endless, insurance claims, to defending his killer. Through looking at Radney, Cep manages to incorporate the history and politics of the area. To my mind, the talk of sharecroppers, voodoo and unspoken segregation, spoke of an earlier age, and it was almost a shock to discover that this book took place, mostly in the Seventies.

Lastly, the author turns her attention to Harper Lee, looking at her life, her friendship with Truman Capote, and her first experience with writing true crime, when she was involved in the research for, “In Cold Blood.” I knew very little about Harper Lee, so I think I found this the most interesting part of the book, although, to be honest, I was riveted by all of it.

It is hard to imagine that this is a debut, as it is so self-assured and well written. I trust that Casey Cep has further works planned, as she is an author to watch. A fascinating account of a crime, with excellent historical and literary background. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review and recommend it highly.

Thanks to NetGalley and Cornerstone Digital for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
I requested an early copy of this book as soon as I read what it was about. I’ve always been fascinated by books about writers and the writing process, and true crime stories have also intrigued me both professionally and personally for a long time, so this book seemed to tick all the right boxes. And I’m pleased to confirm that it does deliver.
Narrating the story of the book Harper Lee intended to write after her success with To Kill a Mockingbird —a true crime story seemingly inspired by her friend Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, which she helped research (and there is little doubt her contribution was key to the greatness of the book)— would guarantee a lot of attention. Most people have read (and/or watched the movie version of) To Kill a Mockingbird, an American classic, and many stories have circulated about its author, who never published another novel and avoided public attention, interviews, and homages. I can’t imagine many readers of the book who have not wondered why this was her only book. Of course, she is not the only author to have published an extremely successful book and no more (I won’t run through the list), but the more we hear about her (recent movies about Capote brought her attention as well) the more intrigued we become.
Cep’s methodology for telling the story is fascinating and by the end of the book I though she lives up to the exacting rules and standards Lee applied to her own work. She did not wish to fictionalize parts of the story (as Capote had done in writing what he dubbed his “nonfiction novel”), and she wanted to make sure people knew what was fact and what was rumour or fancy. It is worth reading the notes at the end (which go into a lot of detail about which sources Cep used for which part, including interviews, letters and articles) to get a clearer sense of the process of creating the book and researching it. She had privileged access to the original sources, managed to interview many of the people involved (those still alive), although, of course, Lee’s paper remain sealed, so there remain many unanswered questions. She could have chosen to write herself into the story (writing therefore the story of her writing the story of Lee’s abandoned book), but she doesn’t, and I felt her strategy worked well.
The book is divided into three parts: the first is dedicated to Reverend Maxwell, his life, his career, the suspicious deaths of five of his relatives, whose life insurance policies he was the main beneficiary of, the rumours of his having used voodoo, and his murder during the funeral of his stepdaughter (and suspected last victim). The second part follows the life and career of Tom Radney, who was Reverend Maxwell’s lawyer while he was alive and who went on to defend the man who killed him. “Big Tom” was a larger than life character, a Southern democrat, with a past in politics, and a pretty congenial and influential man. The third part introduces Harper Lee, talking about the town where she grew up, her family, her friendship with Capote, her writing (and rewriting) her famous novel, her trip to Kansas with Capote to gather information for In Cold Blood, her sudden success, and her difficulties writing after that. It also talks about her trip to Alexander City and her stay there, sitting in the trial of Robert Lewis Buns (the man who killed Rev. Maxwell) and gathering information about the reverend and all involved. That part of the book follows Lee and her life (as much as is known of it) to her death and includes the fact that, upon her death, Radney’s relatives were returned the legal paperwork he had lent her to help her write the book. At first sight, it might seem that the third part is the most interesting, but Cep has managed to turn the whole book into a compelling reading and, in my opinion, there is enough material to create three books here.
The author’s writing is informative, compelling, and easy to follow. Her rich vocabulary describes perfectly the atmosphere of Alabama, and her inclusion of historical and sociological details allows readers to gain a fuller understanding of the characters, their backgrounds, and the era. This is not a minimalist book, or one that avoids any information extraneous to the plot, perhaps because there is no specific plot and the book aims are not pure entertainment or the telling of a single story. The method, that at times seems as if the author was meandering around and going off on tangents (for example, when she starts talking about Maxwell’s possible motives, she writes about the development of life insurance, both in the world and in the US, and talks about the way African-Americans were sold and miss sold, insurances, or she mentions the name of a hotel, and then explains the battle that gave it its name), reminded me of the description of Lee’s way of classifying her notes for Capote’s In Cold Blood. Lee included sections on the town, the landscape, the crime, the victims, the survivors, the interviews and the trial. She had an almost photographic memory, and she would include comments on clothing, where people were standing, and incorporate detailed drawings. Personally, I found these seemingly “extra” nuggets of background information enthralling, and although we would “get” the rest of the book without them, our understanding of the circumstances and the era would never reach the depth and complexity it does with them.
I’ve read articles and reviews about Lee (mostly after the recent publication of Go Set a Watchman), but I’m not an expert and haven’t read any biographies, so I cannot compare the information included in the book with that of any other sources. Judging by the reviews and comments about the book, the information is pretty accurate, but I am not sure it would surprise specialists in the field, although, on the other hand, anybody who gets to it with limited information is likely to learn plenty, not only about Lee but about Alabama politics, judicial system, society, and the South in general.
As I have mentioned, there is a thorough bibliography included, and also copious notes that detail which information and sources were used where. I only had access to an ARC e-copy of the book, so I’m not sure if the final version includes images or not (mine didn’t). Anybody interested in Lee’s writing should read this book, and anybody who enjoys Southern writing and is interested in it will also enjoy it. In fact, I’d recommend it to anybody who loves To Kill a Mockingbird and feels curious about the book and its author. It is not a book for those who want tight writing and getting straight to the point, or are looking for a full disclosure and explanation about the author and her life, or even about Reverend Maxwell and Tom Radney. And it is not a novel, or three. But it is wonderful.

This is an account of a murder trial which took place in a small town in Alabama. Harper lee was intrigued by the reverend Willie Maxwell and attempted to write a tale for her many fans, Sadly, she never succeeded but Casey Cep has. The book is in three parts, a true crime narrative, the trial of the murderer and the third part is all about Harper Lee and her writing efforts. The book just never connected with me but the author packed the book with information and the ending was not quite what I expected. My thanks to Net Galley for my ARC. Reviews on Goodreads and Facebook.

I was so excited to get my hands on this book which is a true crime novel and a sort of biography at the same time. Harper Lee is an author that has always intrigued me for a few reasons. Firstly there’s the fact she wrote one of the most famous American novels of all time, To Kill A Mockingbird, and then didn’t release another for decades until the controversial publication of Go Set A Watchman which I haven’t read because at the time I didn’t get the feeling Lee actually wanted it published and that bothered me. Reading this in depth look at the author kind of confirmed my feelings on that matter. Secondly, I find Lee’s connection to Truman Capote and her clearly important contribution to the writing of In Cold Blood really fascinating and vital to the discussion about the writing of true crime in general. Putting aside Harper Lee momentarily, the case that Furious Hours looks into of the Reverend Willie Maxwell is every bit as shocking and engrossing as the very best of the true crime genre.

There is always something extra compelling about stories set in the deep south and this tale did not disappoint in this regard. The Reverend is a mysterious and sinister figure and I could not tear myself away from the strange and murky details of his very probable crimes and rumoured supernatural powers. Furious Hours is split into three sections. The first covers the Reverend and his tangled web of murder and insurance. The second part details the life of the Reverend’s lawyer who is a man interesting enough for his own book to be honest and the last is all about the writer – Harper Lee herself – as she travels to the the trial of the man who finally put an end to the Reverend Maxwell and researches the case obsessively. The story Lee finds proves the saying that truth is almost always stranger than fiction but the most compelling part of Furious Hours for me is the story of Harper Lee’s literary career.

The author offers up an intelligent and intense exploration of Harper Lee, a woman famously enigmatic and complicated. There is a sense of sadness that I got from reading about Lee’s experiences with notoriety and success and I think this is one of the most movingly honest portrayals of what it really means to be a writer. Often biographies of celebrated figures who don’t particularly want to be written about can feel intrusive or unseemly but Furious Hours gets the tone just right. Cep doesn’t judge Lee but merely tries to build a realistic picture of an intelligent, perceptive and morally complex woman who struggled with some aspects of life and fame. By the end of this book I didn’t feel like I knew every detail of Lee’s life but I did feel like I had gained some real perspective about why people behave the way they do and an understanding that some mysteries don’t need to be completely exposed to be engrossing and worth examination. I would highly recommend Furious Hours to any reader of true crime and anyone who finds the writing process even slightly interesting. A definite five stars from me.

The Rev Willie J Maxwell is implicated in numerous suspicious deaths, holding life insurance payable for each individual; yet despite the circumstances, this black preacher from Alabama is not convicted on any count.

‘Big Tom’ Radley is Maxwell’s lawyer – although later Radney becomes defense to Maxwell’s murderer, as he is shot to death at the funeral of one of his ‘victims’.

Harper Lee, local to Alabama, has the intention of writing Maxwell’s story; however, months, years and decades later her labour results in nothing, and she remains known only for To Kill A Mockingbird.

A fascinating insight into the famously elusive Harper Lee, Furious Hours tells the story of her endeavours along with the story she set out to write. Fascinating.

Reverand Willie Maxwell was believed to have killed five family members for the insurance money from policies he set up, but a lack of anything other than circumstancial evidence prevented him facing justice until he is shot dead at the funeral of his latest victim, Harper Lee travels to Alabama to investigate. This is the true crime novel that Harper Lee investigated, but didn't publish, and has been extensively researched. A great, evokative read.

In Alabama, USA in the 1970s, Reverend Willie Maxwell is introduced as an industrous and polite young black man. He is also surrounded by an unusually large number of family deaths, all of which were covered by life insurance policies Maxwell had taken out. Local people's and police's suspicions ran high but there was only (substantial) circumstantial evidence and Maxwell avoided being convicted on a number of occasions.

Tom Radney ('Big Tom' - he had a son called Tom) is a successful local lawyer, Maxwell's lawyer who helped him successfully avoid conviction and obtain most of the money from his insurance policies. Despite this he was a likeable, charming man and a friend to anyone who needed his help, representing members of the black community made him unpopular with Alabama's white and racist element.

Split into three parts (The Reverend, The Lawyer and The Writer), Cep has written the true crime novel Harper Lee investigated but never published. Inspired by Harper Lee's (never seen) manuscript about the murder, during a church service, of Maxwell, a suspected serial killer and insurance fraudster. The detail Cep goes into for each event and character, is admirable (as the extensive epilogue and bibliography evidences). Equally her prose in describing these events is beautiful, evoking the landscape, climate and culture (including voodoo) of Alabama. For each turning point Cep extrapolates and delves into the history and origins of a practice or event that influenced characters. Reading this I felt submerged in Alabama. This is fascinating book about Alabama during the 1960s and 70s, an insight into the true crime genre and into Harper Lee. I was ensconced in and highly recommend this triumph of a book.

I was excited to read this as a fan of Harper Lee and of true crime. It’s a really well written and immersive book, but not quite what I’d expected, and hard to define. It is almost three separate books that could do with a bit more tying together. One is about an enigmatic Reverend who seems to be at the centre of a series of mysterious deaths, with a hefty tangent on life insurance. The next is ostensibly about the trial of the said Reverend’s own murderer, but spends as much time recounting the political career of the man who went on to become the defendant’s lawyer. And the third is a biography of Harper Lee, which was lovely to read, tying in at the end with the fact that she had written but never published a book about the trial of the Reverend’s killer. So it’s sort of three books in one and didn’t quite mesh for me. The quality of the writing is great, though.

I am not sure why the title of this book is Furious Hours as that just doesn’t mean anything to me even having read it. The subtitle is ‘Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee’ and it is actually three books in one. The first quarter entitled ‘Part One The Reverend’. is the book I wanted to read and was interesting and well researched. It’s the curious true story of Reverend Willie Maxwell who was a rural preacher, among other things, in Alabama in the 50s, 60s and 70s. In the space of seven years from 1970 to 1977 he was accused of murdering five people in order to collect life insurance money on them. How he escaped justice is almost unbelievable if it wasn’t true.

The second quarter of the book is entitled ‘Part Two The Lawyer’ and is the story of Tom Radney, the defence lawyer, who convinced the court and juries to acquit Willie Maxwell on the cases he was tried for. Most of this part is about Tom Radney’s career as a politician and his many struggles and causes in his political career and attempts for election. I found it rather dull as this is not what I chose to read this book for.

The last half of the book is entitled ‘Part Three The Writer’ and is a biography of Harper Lee, famously known for publishing 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in 1960 and then nothing more until she published 'Go Set a Watchman' in 2015 only months before her death. The latter was a draft for 'To Kill a Mockingbird' which had been rejected by publishers in the late 1950s. This biography of Harper Lee is interesting although I still didn’t really feel like I’d got to know her from it. Maybe that was the point as she was clearly very private. Harper Lee was born in Alabama and was childhood friends with Truman Capote. When she heard about Willie Maxwell and the five suspicious deaths of those close to him she decided to write a book about it. She had previously collaborated with Truman Capote on a similar book, 'In Cold Blood', about a real life crime. She did a lot of research but never wrote the book about The Reverend so this biography is a condensed one mostly centred on that research and time of her life. This wasn’t the book I thought I’d chosen to read but was of interest all the same.

There is quite a lot of detail in all three parts which just seemed to pad out a story which really didn’t need padding. There was a lot of geographical detail about the area in Alabama where Willie Maxwell was born and how it has been flooded to create a reservoir with a powerhouse in the dam used to generate hydroelectric power for the Alabama Power Company. I found this interesting but suspect many won’t. I assumed that the level of detail meant this was going to be relevant further on in the book but it wasn’t. There was also a lot of details about the origins of insurance, and in particular life insurance. Again of interest to me but maybe not to all. I am left amazed that life insurance policies can be taken out on adults without that person knowing. Something that is illegal in some places as it increases the chances of being bumped off to collect the money on the policy, as indeed seems to have been quite a money spinner for the Reverend Willie Maxwell. And not just one insurance policy on a person but often multiple ones only taken out months before their suspicious death. And yet insurance companies still took his money for new policies on new people. I was left wondering why that was and why Reverend Willie Maxwell was still doing some pretty heavy labour work despite having claimed a vast sum of money on dozens of life insurance policies.including the proceeds of at least seventeen life insurance policies on his second wife.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Cornerstone for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a fascinating story-I couldn't put it down!The story of Harper Lee's attempt to write a true crime novel is a gripping one,preceded by the story of the crime she spent years investigating and trying to write about.
The book falls into three sections-the first sets the scene of the murder of Willie Maxwell,an Alabama preacher whose family members died in mysterious circumstances and who just happened to have taken out life insurance on all of them.He was tried for the crimes and acquitted.When he is shot by another family member at the funeral of the last victim ,it would seem he could only be convicted,given the number of witnesses.
However ,he is ,ironically ,defended by the same lawyer who defended Maxwell and managed to have him acquitted ,and the lawyer gets the same result for the preacher's killer,on grounds of insanity.The second section deals with this trial,which was attended by Harper Lee,the author who had such success with 'To Kill a Mockingbird ' and famously only published one more novel years later.
The third section tells the story of her life and attempts to write a novel based on the preacher's story,which was never finished.It's meticulously researched and explained and gives a fascinating picture of a complicated woman.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the American South,or fans of literary history.Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.These opinions are my own.

As a history graduate who specialised in the history of why books were written - or not, in this case - I absolutely loved this book. A mix of true crime, biography and history, Cep weaves a skilful tale of a writer who finds herself the victim of overwhelming success and struggling to cope with the aftermath.

An easy read, it is clear that there's a high attention to detail and copious background research, giving a fascinating insight into one of America's best loved authors.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

This had me gripped from the opening line!

Robert Louis Burns shot The Reverend Willie Maxwell in front of 300 people. Why?

Casey Cep will explain why over the rollercoaster ride she takes us on as we discover who “The Reverend” was. It a meandering journey because to learn who he is and why he was murdered, we need to jump into one of the rollercoaster seats that takes us as we follow Willie Maxwell, first growing up in dirt poor Alabama. After the bare minimum of schooling, he was drafted into the army along with millions of other African-Americans. He was discharged at the end of WW2, and it was the time after this that his schemes to make money and become a preacher come to fruition.

“The Reverend” as he was known, took advantage of the burgeoning life insurance industry by taking out life insurance on members of his family who then seemed to mysteriously die in bizarre circumstances. These deaths of his family members could never be linked back to him, no matter how much the police investigated. This was mainly thanks to his outstanding lawyer, Tom Radney.

Our journey on the rollercoaster then takes us onto Tom Radney and how he became such a hugely successful lawyer. Tom Radney had political ambitions, but unfortunately, his radical views were not those of most of the population of Alabama. When he realised that his dream to become a leading political figure was never going to come to fruition, he decided to go back to practising law and set up a practice nicknamed “The Zoo” next to the courthouse in Alexander City.

The next part of our ride is meeting Harper Lee. We learn about her childhood and friendship from a very early age with the strange little lost boy, Truman Capote whom she helped investigate the killings described, "In Cold Blood". Capote played a significant role in her life, not always for good.

However, what we learn most about is Harper Lee and “To Kill a Mockingbird” how this brought fame to this shy “tomboy” who shunned contact with the world, and who struggled with writer's block.

Now we get to the best part of the rollercoaster ride, why was this court case so important to attract Harper Lee’s attention? After years of staying out of the limelight, Lee became fascinated with this case. She left New York to attend the trial, hoping that she too could write a true crime novel. But instead, after she died, an old briefcase containing all the evidence relating to the case was discovered. Thankfully for us, Casey Cep then took up the reins brand we have this brilliant, historical book, not only covering one of the most bizarre murder trials but the life of one of our most famous and reclusive authors, Harper Lee.

This is a truly brilliant book. It gives us so much background and history on Alabama with this astonishing biography of Harper Lee, whose story is like a work of fiction itself.

This book is going to have to be re-visited. I've used a rollercoaster to describe how it moves from one scene to another. Unfortunately, a rollercoaster ride is always over far too quickly. I couldn't help but read it at speed, I'm going to have to jump on a slow boat going nowhere to re-read it and then let my brain become a sponge to soak up all the fascinating bits that Casey Cep has added to make the book that much more exciting.

Bravo! Casey Cep. This is a masterpiece of writing.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

What an interesting book this is. To my mind, a set of small books all intricately linked together so well that, in the end, the sum is so much greater than its parts. Each of those smaller books covers, in detail, an aspect of the original murders, the politics, the insurance industry etc, wrapped around and through with the life of Harper Lee. Full of what seem to be interesting asides which are, in reality, a fundamental part of the total narrative.

If you have an interest in any of the following - Harper Lee, the history and/or problems of the South, Truman Capote, their two famous books (To Kill a Mocking Bird and In Cold Blood), the challenges facing an author attempting to write a "sequel" to To Kill a Mocking Bird that is all truth rather than part fiction - this is definitely a book worth your time.

I must start by saying that Furious Hours is probably the best true crime work I have had the pleasure of reading; it has so much more to it than one would initially imagine and that's what makes it such a gripping book. It's an amalgamation of true crime, American history, legal thriller and biography of Harper Lee, which is a very interesting mix and works well. For many years Lee was obsessed with one particular case - that of church minister Reverend Willie Maxwell, and set in the context of the time and place - 1970s rural Alabama, United States - it provides much thought-provoking information on the racial, political, cultural and societal circumstances at the time.

It's certainly very easy to get swept up in this story, and I indeed was. Part of my fascination, being a law graduate, was the trial of Reverend Maxwell's killer and seeing the differences in American law when compared to the British and the nuances of the system. The case begins with murder and insurance fraud and from that point onwards the body count grows and grows. As it is a little-known case it's one many people, including myself, will not have been aware of; this is quite refreshing as most true crime books focus on infamous crimes and convicts.

The depiction of the deep south, also referred to as the gothic south, is vivid and evocative, and Casey Cep does a wonderful job of writing the book that Lee worked on for years after her most celebrated work, To Kill a Mockingbird, but could not finish. Included is information on the development and growth of the insurance business, paying particular attention to life insurance which it is widely believed was the motive behind the Reverend's killing spree. The irony of the lawyer, Tom Radney, who managed to get Maxwell acquitted, later repeats this in respect of Maxwell's killer, Robert Burns.

The first half focuses on the case and trial whilst the second discusses lawyer Tom Radney and the final section goes into detail about Harper Lee herself. Her struggle to become accustomed to the fame and fortune that comes with achieving bestseller status and her perfectionist tendencies which led to her being unable to complete and release this book in her lifetime as she'd planned. I loved that we found out more than we ever have before about the enigmatic Ms Lee. All in all, this is a brilliantly compelling and well-structured work of non-fiction and the engaging writing and touch of humour keep you turning the pages long after the sun goes down. Many thanks to William Heinemann for an ARC.