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

Power, privilege, and blood—this is the definitive and thrilling 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 — 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. Like generations of Murdaugh men before him, he had mastered the art of bending justice to his will. 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 almost walked away from his unspea