The Wiregrass
A Tale of Murder and Retribution in the Deep South
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The Wiregrass
Pre-order Now for £14.64
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Matt Kessler
About this listen
In 1999, two white teenage girls, J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, were found shot in the trunk of Beasley’s car on her 17th birthday. Months passed and the murder remained unsolved, with no clear motive for either death. Locals suspected a police coverup; Ozark’s police force had a reputation for dating high schoolers and had butchered the investigation in crucial ways, including destroying the crime scene during the course of the investigation. Suspicion of the police rose to a fever pitch fifteen years later with the release of leaked FBI documents. Soon after this came to light came the surprise arrest of Coley McCraney, a devout Black man in his mid-forties, in 2019. Many in the community, including Beasley’s father, harbor doubts that he was the killer, but McCraney was convicted of both murders in 2023 and sentenced to serve two life sentences.
The Wiregrass is an atmospheric and utterly compelling true crime narrative, populated by an eccentric and sometimes frightening cast: crooked cops and politicians, showboating lawyers, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, whistleblowers, obsessive detectives, and 90’s jocks, preppies, Bible kids, and wanna-be thugs. It is the story of a region that cannot escape the traumas of its past, and a chilling account of police corruption that runs rampant across the region.
Critic reviews
"In The Wiregrass, Matt Kessler brings to vivid life a place—a tiny corner of southwest 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
—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
—Aimee Bender, New York Times bestselling author of The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake
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