A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton

Journalist Landau probes the killing of Atlanta socialite Lita McClinton in her riveting debut. On the morning of January 16, 1987, Lita, a Black woman, was shot in the head after answering her doorbell. Suspicion quickly settled on Jim Sullivan, the white millionaire Lita was in the process of divorcing; the pair were scheduled to appear in court and divide their assets on the day she was killed. Though Sullivan was the obvious suspect, police lacked evidence linking him to the crime, leading to a protracted judicial process—prosecutors didn’t bring charges against Sullivan until 1992, and a judge swiftly dismissed the case before it could reach a jury—that allowed Sullivan to remarry and start a new family. In 1998, authorities identified long-haul trucker Tony Harwood as the hired gun Sullivan paid to kill Lita; in 2006, Harwood’s testimony finally led to a conviction and life sentence for Sullivan. Landau vividly conjures the casually racist world Lita inhabited with Sullivan, describing how she was ignored at parties in Palm Beach, Fla., and rankled Sullivan’s peers in Macon. Displaying a veteran’s knack for pacing, Landau peppers the narrative with cliff-hangers and vertigo-inducing twists. It adds up to a chilling and infuriating work of true crime. Agent: Rick Richter, Aevitas Creative Management. (Aug.)