The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty

A true account of Alex Murdaugh's violent downfall by Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein. Murdaugh was a prominent South Carolina trial lawyer, president of the state trial lawyers' association, political figure, part-time prosecutor, and partner in his family's law firm. He was known for his generosity and influence across the region, and his family's name commanded respect and fear for a hundred miles. On a summer night at Moselle, his family's 1,700-acre hunting estate, Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul. The crime unraveled the carefully maintained facade of his world. The Murdaugh family history included a covered-up midnight suicide at a railroad crossing, a bootlegging operation run from a courthouse, and an attempted murder of a pregnant lover. Though Murdaugh initially seemed positioned to escape accountability, his downfall came through a combination of chance errors, fateful decisions by an old friend, and investigative work that led to trial. Bauerlein conducted extensive reporting throughout South Carolina's Lowcountry, attending the courthouse daily and following the investigation. She was present when jurors visited the crime scene. The book examines Alex's life, the night of the murders, and the trial that drew widespread attention.