Casey Cep

Cep was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/books/furious-hours-author-casey-cep-finds-a-nonstop-book-club-as-she-tours-the-us-20190628/|title='Furious Hours' author Casey Cep finds a nonstop book club as she tours the U.S.|date=2019-06-28|website=Tampa Bay Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-24}} After attending public schools in Talbot County, Maryland public schools, including Easton High School, Cep graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 2007 with a degree in English.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stardem.com/news/cordova-student-named-rhodes-scholar/article_eb4b8b62-60ca-57e5-beb5-9617c1aad56c.html|title=Cordova student named Rhodes Scholar|last=Nery|first=Steve|website=The Star Democrat|language=en|access-date=2019-07-23}}{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/5584939/harper-lee-after-to-kill-a-mockingbird/|title=What Happened to Harper Lee After "To Kill a Mockingbird"?|website=Time|language=en|access-date=2019-07-24}} Cep attended the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship,{{Cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2006-11-20-0611200042-story.html|title=2 with Md. ties win Rhodes honor|last=Emery|first=Chris|website=baltimoresun.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-24}} earning an M.Phil. in theology.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/05/15/the-hidden-harper-lee/|title=The Hidden Harper Lee|last=Cep|first=Casey N.|date=2019-05-15|website=The Paris Review|language=en|access-date=2019-07-24}} After internships at the New Republic and other publications, she became a staff writer at The New Yorker.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721435957/furious-hours-tells-the-tale-of-harper-lee-and-her-unfinished-work|title='Furious Hours' Tells The Tale Of Harper Lee And Her Unfinished Work|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2020-01-02}}

Cep's first book, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, was published by Knopf in May 2019. The book focuses on the life and criminal trials of Rev. Willie Maxwell – an African American preacher and businessman, five of whose relatives died during the span of seven years, all after he procured life insurance policies for them.{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/casey-cep/furious-hours/|title=FURIOUS HOURS|work=Kirkus Reviews|language=en}} Additionally, the book examines the trial of the Reverend's killer, which Harper Lee attended and planned to write about in her final book, though it remained unfinished at the time of her death. The Alabama lawyer, politician, and civil rights pioneer Tom Radney defended Rev. Maxwell during several murder investigations and civil trials for insurance payouts, and subsequently represented his accused killer.

The podcast Criminal spoke with Casey Cep about Rev. Willie Maxwell and Harper Lee's unfinished book in their episode titled "The Reverend."{{Cite web|title=The Reverend|url=https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-127-the-reverend-11-8-19/|last=|first=|date=November 8, 2019|website=Criminal|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309224858/https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-127-the-reverend-11-8-19/ |archive-date=2021-03-09 |access-date=}}

Furious Hours debuted at No. 6 on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers List,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/hardcover-nonfiction/2019/05/26|title=Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - May 26, 2019 - The New York Times|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-07-23|language=en|issn=0362-4331}} and is a Books-A-Million President's Pick.{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190417005563/en/Books-A-Million-Selects-Casey-Cep%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9CFurious-Hours%E2%80%9D-President%E2%80%99s|title=Books-A-Million Selects Casey Cep's "Furious Hours" as President's Pick|date=2019-04-17|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en|access-date=2019-07-24}} The book won the 2020 ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction{{Cite web|date=2020-10-23|title=Michael Robotham wins the 2020 Gold Dagger|url=https://www.booktopia.com.au/blog/2020/10/23/michael-robotham-wins-the-2020-gold-dagger/|access-date=2020-10-23|website=The Booktopian|language=en-AU}} and has been shortlisted for the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/women-dominate-baillie-gifford-prize-non-fiction-shortlist-1101941|title=Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist revealed {{!}} The Bookseller|website=www.thebookseller.com|access-date=2019-10-23}}

In reviewing Furious Hours for the New York Times Book Review, the author Michael Lewis wrote: "She reminded me all over again how much of good storytelling is leading the reader to want to know the things you are about to tell him, while still leaving him to feel that his interest was all his idea." Cep's book, he said, "makes a magical little leap, and it goes from being a superbly written true-crime story to the sort of story that even Lee would have been proud to write."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/books/review/casey-cep-furious-hours-harper-lee.html|title=The True-Crime Story That Harper Lee Tried and Failed to Write|last=Lewis|first=Michael|date=2019-05-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-07-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The New York Times selected Furious Hours for its "100 Notable Books of 2019."{{cite web |title=100 Notable Books of 2019 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/books/notable-books.html |website=The New York Times |accessdate=29 November 2019}}

According to NPR's Ilana Masad, "Furious Hours delivers a gripping, incredibly well-written portrait of not only Harper Lee, but also of mid-20th century Alabama – and a still-unanswered set of crimes to rival the serial killers made infamous in the same time period."

Time's Lucas Wittman writes, "In elegant prose, [Cep] gives us the fullest story yet of Lee’s post-Mockingbird life ... an account emotionally attuned to the toll that great writing takes, and shows that sometimes one perfect book is all we can ask for, even while we wish for another."{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/5586403/casey-cep-furious-hours-harper-lee-book/|title=Review: The Little-Known Story of Harper Lee's Failed Attempt to Write a True Crime Novel|website=Time|language=en|access-date=2019-07-24}}

President Barack Obama selected Furious Hours as one of his favorite books of 2019.{{Cite web|last=Stone|first=Chelsea|date=2019-12-30|title=Shop Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/30/cnn-underscored/obama-favorite-books-2019/index.html|access-date=2021-04-20|website=CNN Underscored|language=en}}

Cep was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she now lives with her wife, fellow New Yorker staff writer Kathryn Schulz, and their baby daughter.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/01/11/kathryn-schulz-lost-and-found/ |title=Life these days is a symphony of grief and celebration. Kathryn Schulz puts it into words. |date=2022-01-13 |orig-date=2022-01-11 |author1=Jessica M. Goldstein |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}{{WaPoCheckDates}}[https://caseycep.com/about/ About Casey Cep] As Cep herself has said, "I grew up in the Lutheran Church, and I often say that Sunday services were my first book club, because week after week very thoughtful, very loving people gathered around the same book and tried to figure out what it meant. I was steeped in scripture as a kid, and I’ve devoted quite a lot of my adult life to studying religion and theology, so I find it is one of the great themes that interests me — not only as a writer, but as a person in the world, trying to figure out how to be a good partner and community member and citizen of the cosmos. I end up writing about it so much because I think about it so much."[https://www.thegazette.com/subject/life/books/author-profile-casey-cep-20190727 AUTHOR PROFILE | Casey Cep, True crimes: Courtroom drama, Harper Lee's involvement spawn novel]

{{Incomplete list |date=April 2023}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

• {{cite book |ref=none |author=Cep, Casey |title=Furious hours : murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee |publisher=Knopf |date=2019 }}

• {{cite journal |ref=none |author=Cep, Casey |date=May 31, 2021 |title=Kindred spirits : why did so many Victorians try to talk with the dead? |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=14 |pages=67–71 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/why-did-so-many-victorians-try-to-speak-with-the-dead }}Online version is titled "Why did so many Victorians try to speak with the dead?".

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• [http://www.caseycep.com Official website]

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Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:American women non-fiction writers

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Category:Journalists from Maryland

Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:21st-century American women journalists

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:The New Yorker staff writers

Category:American LGBTQ journalists

Category:LGBTQ people from Maryland