Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Casey Cep author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, published by Knopf in May, her first book.

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a man who loved life insurance. He loved it so much that in the 70s he took out, I guess, scores of policies inuring him to the benefits of the payouts, and then meticulously murdered and I guess allegedly, murdered five of his family members in order to collect on those policies.

Miraculously with the help of an amazing lawyer he escaped conviction for all and his life of largesse only ended when he was shot dead at the funeral of his last victim. I don’t know who collected on HIS policy.

Weirdly and incredibly, the same lawyer who defended Willie successfully obtained an acquital for the murderer of Willie.

Strange justice system we have.

But the crux of this book is really not about Willie. It is about Harper Lee, the author of one of the most beloved books in modern American literature.

She was going to write a book about Willie, even sat in the audience at Willie’s trial, but then, and we learn why, that never happened.

So in addition to being a fascinating look at a fascinating story, we also obtain a wealth of information and understanding of this elusive woman, Harper Lee.