Blood on Their Hands: The Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty and the System That Protected Them

Murdaugh Murders podcaster Matney details her experiences covering South Carolina’s infamous Murdaugh family in this propulsive memoir cowritten with New York Magazine editor Murnick. In only her second journalism job, at South Carolina’s Island Packet, Matney was plunged into the Murdaugh story in the wake of Paul Murdaugh’s deadly 2019 boating accident. As she dug into the accident, Matney discovered hints of much deeper, longer-running transgressions, and spent years researching records and cultivating sources to piece together the links between Paul’s father, Alex Murdaugh, and a series of mysterious deaths and financial wrongdoings. Fighting overly cautious editors and online threats, Matney eventually broke from the Packet to tell the story in her podcast. When Paul and his mother were murdered in 2021, making national news, Matney’s reporting on Alex provided the public with crucial context before his 2023 conviction for the killings. Matney and Murnick smartly spread the focus around, giving more weight than readers might expect to Matney’s early reporting in order to establish the Murdaugh family’s m.o., and they write with the unshowy momentum of the best investigative reporting. The result is both an engrossing true crime saga and a galvanizing ode to boots-on-the-ground journalism. Agent: Meredith Miller, UTA. (Nov.)