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1970s: The stunning story of an Alabama serial killer and the true-crime book that Harper Lee worked on obsessively in the years after To Kill a Mockingbird
Furious Hours
What you need to know before your trail
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.
Locations
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Travel back in time BookTrail style to 1970s Alabama with Harper Lee
This is the story by the pen of the famous author Harper Lee, the story she researched and was going to write, but never did. This was something which caught her interest coming years after her famous book “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Alex City
Alex City is a small textile- based town beside the Tallapoosa River, and the events of this novel take place towards the end of the 1970s. This case caught Harper Lee’s eye as it contained elements of religion, serial murder, the occult and courtroom drama. She travelled to Alex City numerous times for research, much in the same way as she had with Kansas in the early 1960s, when she helped her childhood friend Truman Capote research his pwn book, “In Cold Blood.”
Monroeville
This was the town in which Harper Lee was born and raised.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Furious Hours
Destination: Monroeville, Alex City Author/guide: Casey Cep Departure Time: 1950s
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