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SouthBound: Author Casey Cep On The Real-Life Murder Story That Harper Lee Tried To Write

Author photo by Kathryn Schulz

Harper Lee wrote one of the classic novels in American history, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” A second novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” was published under a cloud of controversy a few months before her death. But there was another book that Harper Lee worked on – a nonfiction story from her home state of Alabama that involved a preacher, a series of mysterious deaths, and possibly voodoo.

That story is at the center of Casey Cep’s book “Furious Hours,” which tells the story of the murder mystery and Harper Lee’s efforts to write about it. And along the way it reveals Lee as an artist who was irreparably changed – maybe even damaged – by the overwhelming success of her famous novel.

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Show notes:

Other music in this episode courtesy of bensound.com

New episodes of SouthBound come out every other Wednesday. Subscribe:

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SouthBound is a production of WFAE. Our host is Tommy Tomlinson. Our audience engagement manager is Joni Deutsch, and our main theme comes from Josh Turner.

Tommy Tomlinson has hosted the podcast SouthBound for WFAE since 2017. He also does a commentary, On My Mind, which airs every Monday.