Furious Hours

Narrator Hillary Huber uses a slow, even pace and authoritative tone in her narration of this twisted true-crime story set in Alabama. What makes this audiobook even more engaging is that it is also a literary biography of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD's Harper Lee, who leaves an unfinished manuscript based on the incidents. That manuscript, THE REVEREND, was supposed to be similar to Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD, a nonfiction novel, but Lee failed to capture the story. Huber allows both the tension and the anticipation of what might have been to color her delivery. This is likely not the book Lee would have written, but the strange twists and unbelievable outcome, and Huber's steady and professional delivery, are a pleasure. R.O. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

The Reverend Willie Maxwell lived in Alabama in the 1970s. He was a fiery preacher, a family man, proud of his African American heritage and a hard worker. He was also very unlucky – two of his wives, his brother and stepdaughter, all died in similar but mysterious circumstances. Lucky for him he had substantial and often multiple life insurance policies on all of them, taken out shortly before they died and, although he was certainly a person of interest in each case, nothing had been proved and he used every legal means to get his money. However, the community marked these ‘coincidences’ and were fearful of him. Until someone killed the Reverend, in front of hundreds of witnesses. What surprised everyone was that his killer was represented by the very same high-profile lawyer who assisted the Reverend with his insurance cases. Layer upon layer of controversy, it was this case that apparently fascinated Harper Lee, reclusive author of that great novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Ms Lee had shunned her success and the demands upon her for another book but had found the layered machinations of this case to be particularly interesting. This is an interesting work, however, it never quite flows smoothly, being almost three separate tales, though it may intrigue Lee’s many fans who yearn to understand her. Reviewed by Lesley West

While Harper Lee fans were almost unanimously disenchanted with the 2015 publication of her eons-awaited second novel, Go Set a Watchman, they’ll likely be intrigued by Casey Cep’s account of the true crime book that Lee attempted but ultimately failed to write. Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee tells the strange saga of Reverend Willie Maxwell, a black Alabama preacher accused of murdering five members of his family for insurance money in the 1970s. Law enforcement officers and insurance officials suspected something was up but had no hard evidence, while Maxwell’s followers whispered rumors of voodoo after his relatives kept turning up dead by the side of the road.  At the funeral of Maxwell’s last victim, his 16-year-old stepdaughter, he was shot dead by one of the girl’s relatives, Robert Burns, who until that moment had been a hardworking, law-abiding family man. Amazingly, despite the fact that hundreds of mourners witnessed the shooting, Burns was ultimately acquitted of his crime.  Attending the trial was Lee, who wrote that Maxwell “might not have believed in what he preached, he might not have believed in voodoo, but he had a profound and abiding belief in insurance.” After studying law at the University of Alabama, Lee was naturally intrigued by the Maxwell story—although she realized “all too well that the story of a black serial killer wasn’t what readers would expect from the author of To Kill a Mockingbird.” She spent nearly a decade working on a manuscript she called “The Reverend” but ultimately abandoned the project, much to the disappointment of many of the citizens of Alexander City, where Maxwell’s murder took place. Cep, a thorough researcher and polished writer, divides this sprawling tale into three parts: first telling Maxwell’s story, then chronicling the lawyer who once had Maxwell as a client and ultimately represented Maxwell’s killer, and finally explaining the famous novelist’s fascination with and involvement in the case. Harper Lee fans may find themselves impatient to read about her, as she doesn’t appear until more than halfway through the book, but they’ll be rewarded for the wait. While the myriad mysteries about Lee’s life seem unlikely to ever be resolved, Furious Hours offers an absorbing glimpse into the gifted but guarded life of this enigmatic literary hero.   ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with Casey Cep for Furious Hours.