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Alabama native, journalist and author Matt Kessler's will be joining us on Thursday, October 29 to discuss and sign his October 6 release, The Wiregrass: A Tale of Murder and Retribution in the Deep South. ABOUT THE BOOK
A reporter’s dogged quest to solve the murder of two teens uncovers a forgotten corner of the Deep South and the chilling web of police corruption, violence, and miscarried justice beneath its surface.
In 1999, in the rural Alabama town of Ozark, the bodies of two white teenage girls, J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, were found shot in the trunk of Beasley’s car. The girls were out past curfew and celebrating Beasley's birthday―but from there the story grew tangled, then went dark.
As months, then years, passed without answers, an eccentric cast of townspeople took it upon themselves to chase down leads. In this hardscrabble, farming region at the southern tip of the Bible Belt―a place cut off from freeways and wary of outsiders―everyone knew you couldn't trust the cops. Their investigation was shoddy at best; at worst, it looked a lot like a cover-up.
Twenty years later, the chief of police called his childhood friend, a devout Black man and long-haul trucker named Coley McCraney, into the station. To the shock of the community, and most of all McCraney, he was arrested for the long-ago murder of two girls he didn’t seem to recognize. DNA evidence tied McCraney to the crime scene. But in a region rife with corruption, and haunted by a legacy of racist violence, was there any chance of finding the truth?
The Wiregrass is a twisting, deeply reported true-crime narrative, populated by Bible kids, white supremacists, and amateur sleuths. Unraveling the notorious Beasley-Hawlett cold case, it reveals the stunning, Southern gothic story of a region―and a nation―that cannot outrun the traumas of its past.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Kessler is a writer from Alabama. He has reported justice, race, and equity stories in Mississippi for The Guardian, and environmental stories for The Atlantic. His radio work has been broadcast on Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Illinois Public Media. A fellow in the University of Southern California’s PhD in Creative Writing and Literature Program, he lives with his family in Birmingham. This is his first book.
PRAISE FOR 'THE WIREGRASS'
"Page-turning, novelistic, brilliantly reported and extremely important to read right now.”
—Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of Gone Girl
"The Wiregrass could only be written by two to three writers in history. The work here, in all its rigor and violence, is utterly beautiful. Matt Kessler has set a new standard for storytelling with this one. This book is a fucking revelation."
—Kiese Laymon, award-winning author of Heavy
"In plain yet driven prose, Matt Kessler lays out his riveting tale, which is also the tale of a region and a country. I admire his reporting, insight, and style, as much as I rue and rage at the story he has meticulously assembled for us."
—Maggie Nelson, award-winning author of The Argonauts and Bluets
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