Keith Miles is probably best recognised by readers under the pen name of Edward Marston. He writes several well-received historical mysteries spanning the 11th century through to the 19th century. His website is www.edwardmarston.com
What do you do if your first published novel is a world-wide bestseller? In the case of Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, the answer is a sad one. Instead of capitalising on her success by writing a novel of equal quality, she spurned publicity, led a reclusive life and, although she was always “working on something,” never produced anything to stand alongside her masterpiece. As Casey Cep points out in this fascinating study, it was not for want of trying.
Furious Hours describes how Lee became obsessed with the story of Willie Maxwell, a magnetic black preacher and murder suspect. When two wives, a brother, a step-daughter and a nephew died in mysterious circumstances, Maxwell collected the life insurance. Yet thanks to the brilliance of his lawyer, Tom Radney, the Reverend was acquitted every time he was taken to court. When Maxwell was shot dead in front of witnesses at the funeral of his step-daughter, it was, surprisingly, Radney who went on to defend the killer.
The book is divided into three sections – the Reverend, the Attorney and the Writer. Casey Cep has done exhaustive research worthy of Lee herself. She evokes the spirit and rampant racial prejudice of Alabama quite brilliantly. What mars her book slightly is the occasional scholarly digression that holds up what could be a driving narrative. Do readers really need a history of insurance?
Willie Maxwell is a compelling character, handsome, charming, elusive and rotten to the core. Rumours of secret voodoo practices added to his mystique. Tom Radney is equally fascinating, ambitious, single-minded, a tireless liberal fighting political battles in the Deep South. Harper Lee saw their interrelationship as the basis for a true crime book that would have the same impact as In Cold Blood, written by her close friend, Truman Capote. All the elements were there – murder, fraud, religion, racism, corruption, sorcery and an ever-present sense of injustice.
The trial of Robert Louis Burns for the murder of Willie Maxwell is handled beautifully by Ceps and becomes riveting courtroom drama. Since 300 people witnessed the crime, it seemed to be an open-and-shut case but Radney had other ideas. Because of the lawyer’s powers of persuasion, Burns was found not guilty because of his insanity. Like the man he shot, he got away with murder.
Casey Cep’s first book is eye-opening. In finding Lee’s unpublished manuscript for The Reverend, she has given us a real insight into the author’s mind. So much material had been gathered about the Willie Maxwell saga and yet so little of it had been shaped into the chapters of a true crime book. In flight from celebrity, Lee had found a terrific story that she was somehow unable to tell. Writers everywhere know that feeling.
