In March 2023, Alex Murdaugh, 54, received two life sentences for murdering his wife Maggie and younger son Paul at the family hunting lodge in Colleton County, South Carolina. Since the early 20th century, three generations of his family had served as state prosecutors in the Lowcountry, a region marked by severe economic inequality. The Murdaughs held power over incarceration and capital punishment while maintaining a facade of Southern gentility.
Parallel Criminal Enterprises
Alongside public duties, the family ran a large personal injury law firm. In an area plagued by alcoholism and hazardous farm equipment, the Murdaughs secured multimillion-dollar settlements for clients. However, Alex Murdaugh embezzled these funds to finance a lavish lifestyle—luxury cars, prostitutes, opioid pills, and a private arsenal. He also stole millions from his legal partners.
Whispers about Murdaugh's financial misconduct had accumulated for years but were overshadowed by the June 2021 killings. Murdaugh claimed he was not at the scene and suggested hitmen targeted Paul, who was on bail for a fatal boat crash in 2019. Maggie, he argued, was collateral damage.
Trial and Conviction
The prosecution convinced the jury that Murdaugh shot his wife and son seven times. The motive, they argued, was to divert attention from impending financial ruin. In the sentimental community, no one would pursue "Big Red"—6ft 4in with ginger hair—for embezzlement while he grieved.
James Lasdun, a British novelist living in the US, began researching the case uncertain of Murdaugh's guilt. He invokes Thomas De Quincey's point that robbery capacity says nothing about murder propensity. Lasdun questions how a man with no history of domestic violence could shoot loved ones to delay financial exposure.
Lasdun's Approach and the Overturned Conviction
Lasdun's ethical audit recalls Janet Malcolm's criminal case writing. Like her, he tested ideas in long-form New Yorker pieces before expanding into a book. However, while Malcolm avoided narrative weeds to focus on psychological exploration, Lasdun delivers meticulous retelling with subplots including the housekeeper's suspicious death and another teenager's murder.
This completeness seems puzzling given the existing coverage—well-regarded podcasts and documentaries on Netflix and HBO. Lasdun acknowledges these contributions but insists on reiterating established evidence. Yet his prose is pure pleasure, avoiding full Southern Gothic, though he includes the stink of rotting jellyfish from one of Murdaugh's failed side hustles.
Lasdun's refusal to reach an ironclad conclusion proved prescient. On May 13, 2026, after the book went to press, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction, citing "shocking jury interference" by court clerk Becky Hill. Witnesses testified she nudged jurors toward guilt and was writing a book needing narrative closure. The retrial likely begins next year.
