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Jeff Davis 8: The True Story Behind the Unsolved Murder That Allegedly Inspired True Detective, Season One
The Unsolved Mystery That Rocked the World
Jefferson Davis Parish has been described as quaint, and in many ways it certainly is. For anyone from a big city much of the area, especially out among the farms, is like a trip in a time machine. For a sleepy rural community, however, Jefferson Davis is a lot more violent than you’d expect, and these days cheap, potent rocks of cocaine are at the root of a lot of that violence.
Crack addicts are famously willing to do just about anything to subsidize their habit so street prostitution has become a real issue, mostly concentrated in the town’s poorer neighborhoods south of the railway track. Prostitution – especially on the street – is a dangerous business, so the sheriff’s office weren’t too surprised when the first one turned up dead. As the body count climbed people started to take notice, but despite all their efforts the killings continued until eight women were dead.
This book traces one of the most fascinating unsolved crimes in the history of Louisiana. In 2014, many believe it became one of the inspirations for the first season of HBO’s “True Detective.” But the crimes in this book are much more shocking than anything captured on TV.
Please This book is not published or endorsed by the creators or producers of “True Detective.”
Jefferson Davis Parish has been described as quaint, and in many ways it certainly is. For anyone from a big city much of the area, especially out among the farms, is like a trip in a time machine. For a sleepy rural community, however, Jefferson Davis is a lot more violent than you’d expect, and these days cheap, potent rocks of cocaine are at the root of a lot of that violence.
Crack addicts are famously willing to do just about anything to subsidize their habit so street prostitution has become a real issue, mostly concentrated in the town’s poorer neighborhoods south of the railway track. Prostitution – especially on the street – is a dangerous business, so the sheriff’s office weren’t too surprised when the first one turned up dead. As the body count climbed people started to take notice, but despite all their efforts the killings continued until eight women were dead.
This book traces one of the most fascinating unsolved crimes in the history of Louisiana. In 2014, many believe it became one of the inspirations for the first season of HBO’s “True Detective.” But the crimes in this book are much more shocking than anything captured on TV.
Please This book is not published or endorsed by the creators or producers of “True Detective.”
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
121 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 31, 2019
A good read!
This little book concerns the unsolved deaths of 8 women who lived in Jennings, LA. At least that's where it starts. All the dead women lived in a small area of a small town, all of them knew each other and some of them were clearly murdered. From there, though, the story gets much more complicated and tangled. Mason lays out a lot of intriguing possibilities but ultimately lets you decide for yourself.
This little book concerns the unsolved deaths of 8 women who lived in Jennings, LA. At least that's where it starts. All the dead women lived in a small area of a small town, all of them knew each other and some of them were clearly murdered. From there, though, the story gets much more complicated and tangled. Mason lays out a lot of intriguing possibilities but ultimately lets you decide for yourself.
February 26, 2026
reads like a true crime podcast and unfortunately utilizes the same victim blaming, pro-prosecution language and perspectives
April 7, 2020
As a Louisiana native who lived in Jennings around 2008-2010. Fergus Mason gathered an appropriate amount of info. surrounding the cases and painted a clear picture of what a mess the investigations were. Many people speculated law enforcement were involved and intentionally botched evidence. Unfortunately, even the FBI couldn’t figure it out because the community is so tightly knit in different circles. I remember a lot of people not really wanting to discuss the cases in public.
March 22, 2025
I read this as a bookend to Penance by Eliza Clark, and it is a very stark example of what constitutes the true-crime junkie fix. We need what My Favourite Murder podcaster Karen Kilgariff insists on when people are telling their hometown stories: a beginning, a middle and an end. And as she has said in the past, the end can't be that the mystery remains unsolved. That's not an end. We want to consume the story knowing there is nothing left to worry about anymore. But also, and probably more importantly, we need it to have a personal angle. In Mindhunter season 2 they focused on The Atlanta killings, which became a focused and specific thing when mothers of murdered children formed The Committee to Stop Children's Murders. There's something about even that as a name that renders a situation vibrant and real.
So when I say I didn't like this book, it's because it didn't scratch that true-crime itch. The victims weren't brought alive in some way that humanised them, outside of information Fergus correlated with how they ended up dead. There was no resolution. And there weren't those left behind telling the stories to give it the personal angle. If no-one in Jefferson Davis, Louisiana wants to talk about the killings, maybe they don't matter.
I think it is very human to consume content that helps you understand human behaviour, very often in extreme situations, because it gives you some sort of grasp on a broader reality. This book, while it was exemplary in trying to stick to fact rather than theorising, didn't contribute much to our understanding of the human condition. I think I would have liked more exploration in that area.
So when I say I didn't like this book, it's because it didn't scratch that true-crime itch. The victims weren't brought alive in some way that humanised them, outside of information Fergus correlated with how they ended up dead. There was no resolution. And there weren't those left behind telling the stories to give it the personal angle. If no-one in Jefferson Davis, Louisiana wants to talk about the killings, maybe they don't matter.
I think it is very human to consume content that helps you understand human behaviour, very often in extreme situations, because it gives you some sort of grasp on a broader reality. This book, while it was exemplary in trying to stick to fact rather than theorising, didn't contribute much to our understanding of the human condition. I think I would have liked more exploration in that area.
March 15, 2019
A good book but one with an open ending. We learn a bit about each of the women at the center of the story and others in their orbits but, in the end, there is no resolution. Was there one killer? Two? I think two, personally, but that doesn't matter. I enjoyed this book very much and I encourage any reader who enjoyed true crime to give this book a chance.
June 21, 2019
Restored information I had not thought of as a link.
This is very informative and worth the read. My heart breaks for the families of the murder victims. It’s the not knowing that’s hardest, there needs to be closure.
This is very informative and worth the read. My heart breaks for the families of the murder victims. It’s the not knowing that’s hardest, there needs to be closure.
November 7, 2019
Decent read
I think this is a decent read, however it seems to just recap a lot off what was either already said off written about. The sad part is its 2019 and nothing has really changed.
I think this is a decent read, however it seems to just recap a lot off what was either already said off written about. The sad part is its 2019 and nothing has really changed.
March 22, 2024
This is a very short work. Though the case obviously wasn't presented in any great depth, it seemed well-researched. This case is fascinating and unbelievable. There definitely seems to be law enforcement involved at a very deep level.
August 22, 2024
I would've given this 3 stars because it was interesting, quick, full of conspiracy, mystery and small town cover ups. However, I really didn't like the language used to describe victims and it times it felt very victim blaming. So 2 stars for that.
November 30, 2023
It was fine. Mainly though, the audiobook was podcast length
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews