‘The Family Man’ offers a fresh take on Murdaugh murders
With the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday to overturn the double murder conviction of Alex Murdaugh, a twisted tale of power run amok in the Lowcountry gets a surprising new chapter.
Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of killing his wife and son to allegedly cultivate sympathy and divert attention from the discovery that he had embezzled $8 million from his clients. According to reports, the state’s highest court determined that Murdaugh was denied a fair trial because Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill exerted influence on the jury.
Just last week, James Lasdun published “The Family Man: Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh” (W.W. Norton, $31.99), the latest of many books on the murders. The author admits he struggles with a modicum of doubt that Murdaugh pulled the trigger on his family members.
“Whenever I asked people after the trial, ‘Do you think they got it right?’ people would say, ‘Yeah, probably.’ Or they’d say, ‘Well, 95%,’” said Lasdun in a phone conversation earlier this week. “Almost everyone I spoke to, including lawyers that were involved with the case, said they had a little bit of doubt, like 3%. And we saw in the trial itself people who had every reason to detest Alex, even some of those people were reluctant to completely embrace the state’s theory.
“There is a very small piece of me that has a little bit of doubt. Not because I don’t think he’s a terrible guy. He’s an unbelievably terrible guy. I have no pity for him at all. But I’m interested in the truth.”
Lasdun is primarily a novelist, but he also writes nonfiction and covered the crimes for The New Yorker. Compared by critics to “In Cold Blood” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “The Family Man” is a captivating, literary account of the crimes told from the perspective of an author struggling to believe a man is capable of killing his adult son.
“It’s very, very rare,” said Lasdun. “It happens, but it’s very rare. And it just strikes such a chill.”
Based on interviews with lawyers and reporters, police reports, courtroom testimony and transcripts of jailhouse phone calls, Lasdun’s account has been praised by critics for its detailed recreation of the murders, ending with Murdaugh pulling the trigger on his wife and son.
Ultimately that is what Lasdun believes happened, but he also offers an alternative explanation that proposes Murdaugh, known for creating scenarios, hired criminals to pose as vigilantes and stage an attempted murder to create sympathy and diversion. Could the deaths of Maggie and Paul, Lasdun wonders, be the unintended result of a plan gone awry?
“I wanted to think if there’s any other explanation for events that could be consistent with everything we know about Alex’s personality,” said Lasdun. “I did come up with a scenario that to me was consistent with those things. That doesn’t mean it’s what I believe happened, but in the small part of my mind that still has some doubt, that’s where I go. I think it’s plausible … (but) it doesn’t get him off the hook.”
“The Family Man” also examines many unanswered questions in the trial, as well as Hill’s questionable behavior as clerk of court, which ultimately led to the conviction being overturned.
“We know she wanted a guilty verdict,” said Lasdun. “She told people that; she was open about it. … Why did she not feel confident there was going to be a guilty verdict? I think she knew … there were holes in this case. Yes, the prosecutors won the case, but it might have gone the other way. And as I said in my book, I was predicting a hung jury. To me there were too many unanswered questions in the case.”
As for the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision announced Wednesday, Lasdun said, “I think they did the right thing. I think the fact that Alex Murdaugh is a terrible man and almost certainly guilty of murdering his wife and son makes it a difficult decision and all the more courageous. I think it shows a real commitment to due process, and I think it restores some honor to the South Carolina legal establishment, which came out of the case looking pretty tarnished.”
Suzanne Van Atten is a columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
About the Author
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
