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    The Devil and Harper Lee
    The Devil and Harper Lee
    The Devil and Harper Lee
    Audiobook3 hours

    The Devil and Harper Lee

    Written by Mark Seal

    Narrated by Charlie Kevin

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    In the 1970s, a mysterious man captivated and terrorized a small Alabama town. He was elegant and handsome, a charismatic pastor and leader in the African American community. But rumors swirled. Preaching on Sunday, people would say, killing on Monday.

    Far away in New York City, one of America’s most beloved writers was about to get caught up in the strange and violent tale of Reverend Willie J. Maxwell. Harper Lee, author of the modern-day classic To Kill a Mockingbird, was searching for her next book when the perfect story came her way: There was a man, the Reverend, who had allegedly murdered five of his family members, and managed to do it without getting caught. Thanks to the skills of his talented lawyer, he collected sizeable amounts of money from insurance policies that named him as the beneficiary. It was said the Reverend used voodoo to commit the murders and that his magical powers made him untouchable. And then, at the funeral of his most recent alleged victim—his sixteen-year-old stepdaughter—someone pointed a pistol at Reverend Maxwell’s head and shot three times.

    Mesmerized by the string of bloody deaths, Harper Lee returned to her native Alabama. She spent months in Alexander City, getting to know the town and the people, slowly pulling out the threads of this macabre tale. She found a story that only a writer of her caliber could do justice to: a modern southern gothic tale of death, fraud, superstition, and race. But apparently she never finished the book. After all that research, all the time spent tracking leads, speaking with crucial sources, and examining records, she dropped the project. Why?

    Acclaimed investigative reporter Mark Seal, himself an Alabama native, follows the trails of both the Reverend and Harper Lee, bringing the lurid tale back to life. He interviews key players, including relatives and other survivors who bear witness to this astonishing true story. One can only wonder how Lee herself would have told it. With The Devil and Harper Lee, Seal has woven together a new and uniquely American mystery.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEverand Originals
    Release dateApr 29, 2019
    ISBN9781645399735
    Author

    Mark Seal

    Mark Seal joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in 2003, covering stories as varied as the Bernie Madoff scandal, Ghislaine Maxwell, Tiger Woods, the fall of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, the making of classic films such as Pulp Fiction, and many more. His 2016 Vanity Fair article “The Over the Hill Gang,” about a gang of retired thieves who pulled off the biggest jewel heist in British history, was the basis of the 2018 film, King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine. In addition to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, he is the author of the books Wildflower and The Man in the Rockefeller Suit. His website is Mark-Seal.com.

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    Reviews for The Devil and Harper Lee

    4/5

    529 ratings34 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Interesting about familiar people and places. Alabama and Harper Lee
    • 5/5
      The mystery of not wanting to harm another was also within my grandfather gene fowler.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful book with a great narration. I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      Great account of how Harper Lee investigated a series of questionable deaths committed by a preacher in Alabama. This audiobook made me want to immediately find “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
    • 3/5
      Interesting chapter of history . Disappointing ending on several fronts.
    • 4/5
      A interesting look behind the closed curtains of Harper lee and a novel that was never to be.
    • 5/5
      Super interesting, with a great reader. Thank you for this story.
    • 5/5
      This is a well-researched and fascinating account of a serial murder case investigated by famous author Harper Lee and the mystery of her unwritten book. I greatly enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      The Devil and Harper Lee is a strange story. Not a novel; not a memoir or biography. It is a glimpse of the social history of Alabama mixed with some insight into the life and character of the celebrated novelist. Her practice of diligent reportage contrasts with the obviously lax fact- checking of the author. ( He states that Hank Williams’s song Kaw-Liga is about an historical person; the first line of the song belies that. So you have to wonder about everything else in the book.)
    • 5/5
      Surprisingly fascinating story , man that rev was a psycho just wish it went deeper into his story instead of Harper Lee’s . Great ether way
    • 4/5
      Interesting story that I had no idea existed
      Harper lee
    • 5/5
      1970’s True crime, history, intrigue. Narrator does a good job. If Harper Lee had chosen to publish the manuscript it would have been a best seller. Easy to listen to and well organized.
    • 5/5
      Kept me interested for the entire book. Highly recommend. Great listen
    • 5/5
      A non fiction story about how the famous author Harper lee, who in her 50s has started to look for an idea for her "To kill a mockingbird " follow up book.... that is when she comes across an Alabama murder mystery involving the death of 5 members of the family of One Reverend Willie Maxwell.... Harper lee follows up on the facts and spends many years interviewing the people of the small city including the person who shot the reverend during his last victims wake.... however something happened along the way and Harper lee stops writing the novel and never finished it.
    • 5/5
      The narrator had a great range of voices for story telling and accents, and the topic is fascinating. I just wish I could read The Reverend by Harper Lee!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Great story, but some of the voices the narrator did were offensive.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Nicely written. Biggest takeaway is that Harrper Lee never wrote anything after her famous book because she really wasn't a writer... To Kill a Mockingbird was crafted over 2 years of heavy editing by a professional editor. Her backstory made for good copy, but she was not great except at being at the right time and place once upon a time in New York.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Loved the book. Interesting story regarding Harper lee and her life.
      Learned a bit about her personality her writing and the famous people she knew. Good history about the South
      years ago regarding racial discrimination.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The details that were outlined from beginning to end help shed some light on areas that have been lost in the stories that were shared through the years in the rural south of Alexander city, Alabama. I appreciate the effort that Harper Lee poured into the story while also making sure the facts about Rev. Maxwell were told.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      The Devil and Harper Lee

      This novel is set in the 1970's when a mysterious man captivates and terrorized a small community. This individual is an elegant and charismatic priest when rumours are forming that he is preaching on Sunday and killing on Monday. While this is happening in Alabama, one of American's most beloved writers is about to be swiped up and dragged into the strange and captivating story of Reverend Willie J. Maxwell.

      When the modern day classic of To Kill a Mockingbird, is formulating her next story and is unsure of the subject for this. The perfect idea was dropped in her lap and this involved no other than Reverend Willie j. Maxwell. She hears the story of a preacher who is rumour to killing 5 members of his own family and the way that he has been able to collect sizeable amount of money as a result of life insurance policies that he has taken out in the victim's name. This tale as elements of dark magic - including voodoo - which the preacher using to his advantage and helps him evade being held responsible for the deaths.

      Once Harper Lee has heard this she knows that she is set to return to her home town Alexander City, Alabama. She spends several months fitting into the community and getting to know the individuals again - people she remembers from her childhood - and this result in her to be able to pull together the pieces of the puzzle. Once she has collected these puzzle pieces she is able to give this horrific tale the time and attention that it needs. However she does not completed the book and she drops the story with no explanation - Why?

      This is when the author of this book picks up the scent and follows the chain of evidence so that he can finish the work that Harper Lee has started. To do this he has to follow the breadcrumbs of the previous investigation and this novel is a reflection of one of his idles Harper Lee.

      This novel includes some of the key players in the morbid and astonishing tale and describes the way that these characters have characteristics of the characters in To Kill A Mockingbird. He finds that there is evidence that she has writing something on the story however she up and leaves without finishing the story.

      His writing style is perfect for this novel as he uses description throughout the to help build the story and helps you to see both his and Harper Lee's investigation but he does go off tangent. While he is in the town that the surreal story is based there is another murder which has resulted in the killer gaining insurance payout and then you find that there is crime happening in the same manner. I like the way this book reads as is very similar to the writing style of Harper Lee. However this is not one of my favourite novels. I would recommend this to a reader who likes Harper Lees but there is so many other authors i would pick first for this type of book. I find that the author rambles and goes of off track when writing this book and this is the main reason that i didn't enjoy the book from chapter 20. Unfortunately this is one of the books that i have to put on dislike pile in my reading in 2020.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Fascinating. I had no idea that Harper Lee after extensive research abandoned a true crime novel about suspected killer Reverend Willie J. Maxwell.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I couldn’t put this down! Intriguing, spooky true crime story. I would have liked to have seen a more tightly edited piece. But if you’re looking for information about Harper Lee’s thwarted second book or the Reverend William Maxwell case, Mark Seal has added an astonishing amount of generous research. I’ll be reading lots more of his work!
    • 2/5
      Where do they get "performers" like this? The guy reading sounded like one of those computer generated voices that read out the newspaper getting all the nuances wrong. And the ACCENTS. He made every putatively Black person sound like a literal idiot. As for the book or article itself, well Seal is no Capote, and he sure does repeat himself not only in the torturous time hopping but also within paragraphs. I had fun with the voodoo descriptions and the horrific parts were well done but overall I wish I hadn't "completed" my image of Harper Lee with this boring account.
      -- Coming back a couple of days later, I amend: I am glad Seal told us that Lee was not just a "research assistant" to Capote!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      The writeup and narration was believable. I recommend this


      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Keeped and held my attention, which has been hard to do lately with Audiobooks. I

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Occasionally hard to follow; the segments jump around in chronology, but otherwise well written and entertaining. A very intriguing story! I recommend!!

      3 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Strong narration, but chronologically all over the place and very little about Harper Lee herself. I would be mad if I had actually bought a physical copy instead of it being included in my Scribd membership.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      An excellent telling of the book never written. Cool story. It was short and to the point. As a former journalism student I really appreciated the attention to detail as well as the sources used and the facts facts facts. Also tho written in the true crime novel style ala Capote.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Pretty good, but writer was a bit murky on setting out the actual case. As the book's title would imply he seems fixated on Harper Lee which leads to the conclusion of name dropping to increase sales.

      5 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Eye opening! Wow, Hatper Lee had no fear and I learned so much.

      3 people found this helpful