The Wiregrass - by Matt Kessler (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

"A captivating, richly reported and deeply humane story of found families, crooked cops, ferocious loyalties and the terrifying velocity of justice slipping away." -Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of El Dorado Drive

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 girl 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.

Review Quotes

"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 story telling with this one. This book is a revelation."--Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Heavy

"A harrowing and heartbreaking true-crime that looks unflinchingly at small-town police impunity to expose America's continued fealty to racism, white supremacy, and injustice. A damning, but damn-good read."--Jonathan Escoffery author of If I Survive You

"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 I much as I rue and rage at the story he has meticulously assembled for us." --Maggie Nelson

"Matt Kessler presents a compelling and impeccably written portrait of a forgotten corner of America and its enduring beliefs and mythologies, which make it a battleground for the convergence of race and class, power and corruption. With the eye and ear for the odd, deeply characterizing detail, Kessler's prose exhibits the solicitude of an insider, and the clarity of an outsider. This comprehensively researched and meticulous investigation is propulsive and gripping; the omnipresent knowledge that it all really happened renders this tale an enduring and true American tragedy."
--Gothataone Moeng, author of Call And Response

"Matt Kessler's intelligent, clear-eyed attention to the customs and character of the Deep-Southern Wiregrass Region builds to a crescendo as a seventeen-year-old double murder is resurrected and prosecuted by notoriously corrupt local police. Strains of Cormac McCarthy and Truman Capote echo throughout The Wiregrass, where truth remains inconclusive, swirling somewhere between stinging racial injustice and casual chance." --Chris Kraus, author of The Four Spent the Day Together

"In The Wiregrass, Matt Kessler brings to vivid life a place--a tiny corner of southeast Alabama--its people and its deeply troubled history of violence and corruption. Calling to mind the works of Robert Kolker and Patrick Radden Keefe, Kessler tells a captivating, richly reported and deeply humane story of found families, crooked cops, ferocious loyalties and the terrifying velocity of justice slipping away."
--Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of El Dorado Drive

"In gripping prose, Kessler's rigorous reporting pulls a reader into this devastating story that could be a microcosm of so much happening in this country. His thorough investigative skills, paired with a profound reserve of empathy, plunge us into the depths of a narrative I won't forget."
--Aimee Bender, New York Times bestselling author of The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake

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.