|gPart one:|tThe Reverend.|tDivide the waters from the waters ;|tMinister of the Gospel ;|tDeath benefits ;|tSeventh son of a seventh son ;|tJust plain scared ;|tNo exception to the rule --|gPart two:|tThe lawyer.|tWho's in the stew? ;|tRoses are red ;|tThe fight for good ;|tThe Maxwell house ;|tPeace and goodwill ;|tTom v. Tom ;|tThe man from Eclectic ;|tWhat Holmes was talking about --|gPart three:|tThe writer.|tDisappearing act ;|tSome kind of soul ;|tThe gift ;|tDeep calling to deep ;|tDeath and taxes ;|tRumor, fantasy, dreams, conjecture, and outright lies ;|tComing back until doomsday ;|tHorseshoe Bend ;|tThe long good-bye
520
|a"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. 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. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante's trial was Harper Lee, who had traveled from New York City to her native Alabama with the idea of writing her own In Cold Blood, the true-crime classic she had helped her friend Truman Capote research seventeen years earlier. Lee spent a year in town reporting, and many more working on her own version of the case. Now Casey Cep brings this nearly inconceivable story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South. At the same time, she offers a deeply moving portrait of one of the country's most beloved writers and her struggle with fame, success, and the mystery of artistic creativity."--|cDust jacket