Murdaugh, She Wrote: A Tale of High Crimes in the Lowcountry

by Kathleen Hewtson

From the best selling author of 'Blood & Marriage' and 'The Night My Husband Killed Me,' this is a story of murder and money and power gone wrong.

(And Volume 2, 'Murdaugh, She After the Trial' is out now.)

In June of 2021, following two brutal homicides in a prominent family, the rest of the world learned what people in a small Southern town called Hampton had long known …

… Anything is possible if your last name is Murdaugh.

‘Murdaugh, She Wrote’ is a southern gothic tale of one family and the people who served them. It’s an account, or better to say an accounting, of five murders that took place in a tiny area of the Lowcountry, South Carolina, which left a long blood trail that led always back to one family.

There are patriarchs, and a mad young man, and victims aplenty. Some are dead, some are ruined for life, but them’s the breaks in the Kingdom of Murdaugh,

Come on down, there are tales to be told.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction, Audiobook

230 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2022

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 1 out of 5]

5/17b so considering this ding dong author I decided I’d try to finish the book, but I searched for a reputable podcast. The one I found is Murdaugh Murders podcast Mandysomething Luna shark production . She’s actually an investigative reporter and it begins in 2021 and it is ongoing. She’s had copies of 911 calls, interviews with people involved, etc.

GRAMMAR CHECK: LOANING…OR LENDING
DO WE NEED A DISCUSSION


5/17 ok gotta gives these small kudos to this imbecile author. She discusses what “young and stupid” means in America specifically, but it’s probably a theme of this age group in every country. Because of Paul’s age and the people he hung with (I gotta say it. He sounds like an entitled dickhead) she brought in peer pressure, poor decisions, etc. along with liar, liar, pants on fireness. Which with as little as I’ve been able to see on my cheaty peak news feed at work this family is such an amazing piece of work. New money and intimidation-whatcha gonna do? What makes me laugh and shake my head? The town has like 1,000 people in it. So they had to stretch their arms through the generations and suck in these small town simple folk who just want to live their lives in peace and instead they are bullied physically, mentally, socially, economically, I could go on. I think it makes this Murdaugh family look quite desperate and juvenile.



5/16 I didn't realize until just now minutes that the woman that I called a whack a doodle after reading her book about the Watts family wrote this one. It's definitely confirmed that she has zero brain matter. I'm
Not standing up for the murderous donkey heads in this book BUT she firmly believes that the men in this family are being pretentious when Alex Murdaugh is pronounced "Alick Murdock". Does she not know there are other countries on the globe? Did she not even do research just stint bit? And also it's not really a hard stop but I think if she tried to do the burr sound at the end of the names she'd burn people at the stake. "A private name for yourself " good lord

[Claire P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the author’s snark and speculation a little difficult. When she deals with the facts, the book shines. Yes, we watched the trial, we’ve heard the jurors, but there are a couple of startling facts in this book that I don’t want to spoil. If you are interested in this case, you’ll finish this book quickly and you may find your jaw dropping a little bit.

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Well researched and executed. Will be checking out more of Hewtson's work

The book was written before Alex Murdaugh's conviction, so is heavy on the speculation (much of the authors speculation was confirmed to be true during AM's trial), but when the author deals with facts, her writing truly shines.

I made several notes on when the author mentions families with high power and exorbitant wealth (the Murdaugh's but a fart in the wind compared to these), who use their power and pocketbooks to sweep their criminality under the rug, without so much as ruffling a single feather.. (On the Radar? What radar?). My comments were about how much this reminded me of the Sackler family (Empire of Pain - the oxy crisis). The Murdaugh's were no Sacklers, yet wanted all the fruits of their descendants labour. I like that the author made this connection too.

Empire of Pain will forever be one of my favourite books. Highly recommend this if you want to learn about true depravity.

[Stella Gizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

murdaugh, she wrote

This was an interesting read which I enjoyed. I had watched the trial of Alex Murdaugh and this book filled in a lot of missing facts for me. I recommend this book for anyone who followed the trial or the Murdaugh crimes.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical crap about an entitled Southern redneck that tried to get away with abuse for decades. He'll get out when his buddy gets elected

[Buns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad Story, Coupled With Some Humor, Among Many Grammatical and Spelling Errors

As much as I was glued to the story, I was equally cognizant of the numerous errors. Nothing drives me crazier than to have to decipher a run-on sentence and trust me there were many. I feel Ms Hewston is excellent in her research skills. She also has the unique ability of bringing humor into an otherwise very sad and distorted story. It is evident that she spoke to quite a few people to bring the Murdaugh antics together. My wish is that she had allowed someone, anyone - a teacher friend possibly - to proofread her work. The biggest faux pos was when she spelled Alex Alec. Even she should have caught this. With all of this said, her story is a page turner. I recommend if you can get past the above.
PS Alex is pronouncing Alec. He is, however, Richard Alexander Murdaugh. Not Richard ALECander Murdaugh.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading Kathleen Hewtson’s true crime books. She’s a total smart a*s and I love every minute of it. Hilarious commentary and well researched. Plan to follow this author’s career. 4.5 ⭐️

[MaggieThe Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrongfully accused

First; this was a fun enjoyable fast read. Yet before I talk about the book, I feel compelled to stick up for the writer a little bit. She has been accused of errors of both form and content. Form as in misspelling Alex's name and content as in everything else. She did make it clear in the first few pages,the liberties that the sticky low country accent will do to a name, ie: Alex (Phonetically "Al-leckss') being pronounced Alec (Phonetically A-lick)and she even pointed out,and I verified in both the FITS podcasts and court witness testimony, that some low country folk even pronounced "Alex" as "El-lick ". Same with Murdaugh(Murr-d-aww)being low countried into Murdock (Mur-d-awww-k). Thats not mis-spelling,that's helpful. That's setting the scene. Content: well,come on ya'll-the book was written as events were occurring,which were somewhat at breakneck speed after Mallory's death. Yeah there's definitely speculation, she had some things nearly flip flopped from the info we got on FITS news, reddit, hbo, netflix , dateline, but remember,it takes a minute to write a book and with this crazy azz case things were changing by the minute. Granted some things should have been easy for her to clarify,she seemed to be allowing intense personal feelings against Paul to color her writing. Paul is described as the prince of the family,beloved of Maggie. But the documentaries and Dateline info claimed he was more like the spare,and Buster was the heir,the one they pinned all their future grifty hopes on. Paul's ex-girlfriend Morgan even said in an interview for the Netflix doc: " I'd say Maggie adored Buster, I feel she did not love Paul. She did not put the love on him that she did to Buster. She was not a loving mother to Paul ". The writer postulates that Paul killed Steven because he bragged at school about it (alleged) but does not mention how many times Buster's name came up in the Highway Patrol investigation (14), the HBO doc,the Netflix doc,and the Dateline episode, nor does she mention Steven was tutoring Buster,or that Buster and Steven were allegedly quite emotionally friendly with each other. She even refers to Buster repeatedly as "poor Buster..." which feels like championing the cottonmouth over the alligator. BUT if you accept this book was completed pre-trial and therefore mostly speculation re: the crimes and if you enjoy good gossip ala Paris Hilton then you will enjoy the hell out of her writing style. She is funny. I spent most the boom with a smirk on my face,and at times I laughed out loud (as when she described the Wandering Lone Lawman of the Low country Sheriff Chris as " the human Mastercard") She is clever, self deprecating, very entertaining and great fun. A really worthy read

[Linda Stoks · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would have been a better read before the trial but it was interesting.

[Diana R. Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

evil

It’s amazing what drugs and money will make people do… I have watched this story develop and reading these details makes it so much worse!

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Take on a Headlining Story

I really enjoyed this book...and the sense of humor nestled between the words! Cackled out loud reading the part about Alex’s job as a volunteer prosecutor and stories about Alex and the fam going to Cracker Barrel. The humor brought out the utter ridiculousness regarding the Murdaughs having their thumbs in everything in Hampton. Even though the author posited that Alex would never be found guilty, aren’t we glad he was!

[Dennis C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very interesting true crime story that is not well told. Reading the book I had several moments where I looked up the Murdaugh murders and saw other books that I was tempted to buy and leave this one behind, but as they say in poker, I felt I was "pot committed" to finish.

Hewston's style is often flippant, scattered and self-centered despite her having no connection to the events other than writing about them.

The writing is too repetitive for characters, actions, situations, background that add nothing but to add paragraphs and pages to the book. There is a sequel that I will skip and find out what happens on the showing streaming on one of the services about the murders.

If you are interest in this true crime story I recommend finding a better written version than the one put forth by Hewston.

[Susan M. Lantz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snarky and Interesting

If you need more *Murdaugh*, then this book is for you. Written before the murder trial ended and before Prosecutor Maders' fine story telling closing. Author should add an epilogue and not forget to use her best snarky voice. No doubt there is more to come.

[Diana Nolen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure I’d recommend this one, but, I got it based on a recommendation from a podcast I listed to after the guilty verdict and felt I had a lot of still unanswered questions. Not sure this book, which was written prior to the conviction of Alex Murdaugh, answers very many of these questions, really. In fact, the southern gothic style of writing and snark of the author detracted from the story and I felt like she repeated herself way too much. (I sometimes wondered if I was actually re- reading things I had previously read.) I think I learned some things, but not really sure.

[Marianne Power · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inaccurate and Scattered

Now that the trial is over and we see the evidence that was presented, much of what she wrote as fact turns out not to be. Nobody is all bad or all good. Paul wasn't all bad, nor was Maggie. Where are all of these witnesses saying Paul bragged about killing people? Lots of small town gossip. Nobody really knows for sure.

[Karen Hatfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Question Raiser

To anyone who followed this trial, this book does raise some questions. There are a few details that I didn’t pick up on in the trial coverage. I still think Alex Murdough was not forthcoming with everything he knew. I honestly think he was guilty, but cannot help but wonder about that airstrip and how it was used.

[De An Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not impressed!!!!

Way too much rambling......... Had a very hard time concentrating on the main topic of the story with all short stories brought in that had nothing to do with main topic of book...

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some information in this book I hadn't read or heard before, but the writing is more like reading a blog than a book: casual, snarky, and statements presented as facts without specifying a source.

[April Tanner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t bother reading

This book is full of fallacies. Her “facts” are ridiculous and highly erroneous. Should be catagorized as fiction. Watch Eric Alan and Mandy Matney podcasts to learn the truth she doesn’t tell!

[Zephrey London · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt it repeated itself a lot to where I was infused thinking I just read this. I didn’t care for that.

[Rachel]

DNF because this was ridiculous to read.

[Susan Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author has a unique style of writing that was difficult for me to read. Sarcasm, snarky comments took away from the message. Not enjoyable. I will not read volume 2 of this series.

[Watch Jamie Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Call me a fuzzy-headed moron if you like, but someone had to have killed these people – right?”

I had never heard of the Murdaugh murders before this book. I read it because the title really caught my eye. I kept reading it because the author was hilarious, but in a respectful way. It was a weird line to walk, but Hewston nailed it. I loved the in depth research! We didn’t just get a look at the death of Maggie and Paul, but a whole sordid look into the whole fam damily. I wish the book had been written after the trial because I’m left with more research to do. I also felt that, at times, it was very repetitive. The same info was circulated over and over and over again but then there were times I was begging for info (like what were the run-flat tires that Alex had?!), and we got nothing. Only to go into a long winded description of Fast Eddie’s financial holdings. And I absolutely died whenever she noted Fast Eddie because she made fun of the nickname every time. 🤣 all in all, I enjoyed this authors brand of sarcasm, knowledge, and storytelling. I will definitely pick up a book by Hewston again.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried another book on the Murdaugh saga, but that book was so confusing, I could not keep track, so when I saw this on the Audible Plus catalog, I thought I'd give it a try. I was a little apprehensive as this audiobook is narrated by virtual voice. I have never listened to virtual voice narration before, and it was not completely unpleasant, but I still prefer an actual person narrating a book. Some weird things with a virtual voice is that it does not seem to be able to pick up abbreviations and those are read as words, eg M.O for modus operandi is read as mo (rhymes with mow). 911 emergency services is sometimes referred to as Nine One One and other times as Nine Hundred and Eleven and sometimes spacing and necessary pauses are missing, so the reading flow can be a bit choppy or weird.

Besides the virtual voice and the author's sarcastic side nodes and remarks, this book actually broke this messy affair into a followable story.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and flew right through it. I was going to take off one star for a few inaccuracies - or maybe they were just differences of opinion - but the book was written before the trial so it would be unfair to take off that star. Plus I enjoyed the author’s sense of humor and laugh every single time I think of an Amazon employee’s obituary saying they’re “survived by Jeff Bezos”! Hilarious! Great job and I’m starting Book 2, After the Trial, as soon as it’s done downloading. Nice job!

[Janet Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little one-sided

This book was a quick read and covered many aspects of the murder of 4 people at the hands of a Murdoch…the author, who definitely has a sense of humor even with writing about a horrific tragedy such as this, has a very biased opinion and makes one wonder why she continually gives HER opinion every few minutes which denies the reader a chance to come to their own conclusions - let us decide for ourselves

[jimme dale tilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

No more doubts about Alex Murdaugh

Very well researched, I have been following this case since Paul's murdering boat ride.
Learned so much more about this deranged family from this incredible book by KATHLEEN HEWTSON! Such a great read (you would think it's fiction). Buying it as a gift for a friend of mine. I definitely will read more of HEWTSONS books.

[Angela Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, I thought this would be several stories of crime in the Lowcountry. Instead, it was about the Alex Murdaugh family murders. Just this week Alex Murdaugh was found Guilty of the murders of his wife and son! This author will be shooked! Great history of the Murdaugh family and the power they processed in Hampton, South Carolina. But sooner or later, bad deeds to get puniched!

[Richard Gunvalsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative

Not fond of this writing style. Conflicting information, discussions, & points-of-view… fascinating! Too bad for Kathleen, Alex found guilty! Will definitely read volume 2.

[Dorothea M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written, going into more details of the Murdaugh family history and histrionics than revealed in news reports and other media sources. I enjoyed the writer’s style and ability to describe the depth of hereditary depravity that created Alex and Paul Murdaugh.