Furious Hours by Casey Cep *** (of 4)

Three mysteries. In the first, the Reverend Willie Maxwell, a black Alabama preacher, was tied to the deaths of five close family members, including a couple of wives. Following each untimely departure, the Reverend was the primary beneficiary on several life insurance policies per deceased. While all of the investigations strongly suggested murder for profit, Tom Radney, a civil rights lawyer, and unsuccessful liberal politician, managed acquittals in every trial.

At the funeral of Willie Maxwell's third wife's daughter, the Reverend was shot dead by Robert Burns. There was no question about who killed Maxwell. The church was packed. Everyone saw Burns fire three shots. Nor was there much question about why -- Burns had had enough of Maxwell's antics -- so the second mystery was only whether Burns would be convicted. Tom Radney, the same lawyer that defended Maxwell, now successfully defended  Burns, who was acquitted on grounds of insanity and released from psychiatric care within weeks.

In Part Three, Harper Lee sets out to write a second book: The Reverend, about the late Reverend Willie Maxwell. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most read books on the planet and Lee never released a follow up. (Go Tell a Watchman was written before Mockingbird, but not published until after Lee's death.) The third mystery is why Harper Lee, one of the twentieth century's most celebrated writers failed to finish The Reverend. The hagiographic treatment of Harper Lee vacillates between piquing untapped curiosity and over-satiating it. To Casey Cep's credit, it took a considerable degree of chutzpah to write the book that Harper Lee intended to, but didn't. And to Cep's credit, she does so admirably.