Harper Lee's "Furious Hours"

I’ve just finished “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,” by Casey Cep.

It’s part murder mystery, part journalism, part biography and very well-researched.

The title takes its name from a reference to the Battle at Horseshoe Bend, between the forces of Gen. Andrew Jackson and some members of the Creek Indian tribe in what was then Mississippi, but is now Alabama, in 1814. (Harper Lee mentioned this in a lecture about someone else who would be interesting to read about, 19th century Alabama historian Albert Pickett.)

The book is about Harper Lee’s attempts to complete a second book (not counting “Go Set a Watchman,” which was the base on which “To Kill A Mockingbird,” was built.)

She came upon the tale of the apparent serial killer Rev. Willie Maxwell by cocktail party chance, and spent an amazing amount of time (years and years) trying to bring his story, the story of his victims, of his lawyer and of his murderer to life, but in the end, could not. In good part because the lives of black Americans in the South were not documented. Unless they were lynched.

Casey Cep has done a great job of examining why writers write, how they write, and, how, sometimes, they cannot (lack of good and supportive editors being a one reason).

In the end, “Furious Hours” seems to me more apt in referring to the time spent honing “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Trying to bring the story of the Rev. Willie Maxwell, Tom Radney and Robert Burns, seemed more of a slow boil of frustration. I suppose in that sense, it was the last trial of Harper Lee, daughter of a small-town lawyer.

Good book, well written and, again, very well-researched. A Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2019.