VALERIE BAUERLEIN is the author of the Instant NY Times Bestseller THE DEVIL AT HIS ELBOW. She is a national reporter for The Wall Street Journal who writes about small-town America and Southern politics, economics, and culture. She has covered the South her entire career, including nineteen years at the Journal and four years at The State in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from Duke University and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and their two children.
Power, privilege, and blood—this is the true story of Alex Murdaugh’s violent downfall, from a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter who has become an authority on the case.
Alex Murdaugh was a benevolent dictator—the president of the South Carolina trial lawyers’ association, a political boss, a part-time prosecutor, and a partner in his family’s law firm. He was always ready with a favor, a drink, and an invitation to Moselle, his family’s 1,700-acre hunting estate. The Murdaugh name ignited respect—and fear—for a hundred miles.
When he murdered his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at Moselle on a dark summer night, the fragile façade of Alex’s world could no longer hold. His forefathers had covered up a midnight suicide at a remote railroad crossing, a bootlegging ring run from a courthouse, and the attempted murder of a pregnant lover. Alex, too, almost walked away from his unspeakable crimes with his reputation intact, but his downfall was secured by a twist of fate, some stray mistakes, and a fateful decision by an old friend who’d finally seen enough.
Why would a man who had everything kill his wife and grown son? To unwind the roots of Alex’s ruin, award-winning journalist Valerie Bauerlein reported not just from the courthouse every day but also along the backroads and through the tidal marshes of South Carolina’s Lowcountry. When the jurors made their pilgrimage to the crime scene, trying to envision Maggie and Paul’s last moments, she walked right behind them, sensing the ghosts that haunt the Murdaughs’ now-shattered legacy.
An INSTANT NYT BESTSELLER
Join us for a very special event in Brookgreen Gardens!
We will enjoy a delicious summertime lunch at the wonderful Austin’s Harvest Restaurant directly adjacent to the Jenniwein Gallery where we will be hosting our author presentation. *This event does not include the cost of the book.
Date: Friday July 18th, 2025
Location: Brookgreen Gardens & Austin’s Harvest Restaurant- 1931 Brookgreen Drive, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
Time: 10:45AM-1:00PM
This event price includes *one guest ticket to Brookgreen Gardens, a delicious plated entree, dessert, beverages, complimentary seating, table service, private dining, an author presentation, meet & greet, personalized book signing, and the opportunity to purchase the event book.
Refund Policy- Thank you for signing up for an event at Litchfield Books! Cards will be charged upon time of ticket purchase. We will refund your ticket, excluding our merchant banker convenience fee and credit card reversal fee. Cancellations are accepted up until seven days prior to the event date. If the cancellation is past the seven days you will not be offered a refund but you will be offered the signed copy of the event book.