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An unlikely journalist a murder case in Mississippi and a fascinating literary true crime story in the style of Jon Ronson for fans of xSerialxA notorious white supremacist named Richard Barrett was brutally murdered in Mississippi in by a young black man named Vincent McGee At first the murder seemed a twist on old Deep South race crimes But then new revelations and complications came to light Maybe it was a dispute over money rather than raceor maybe and intriguingly over sexJohn Safran a young white Jewish Australian documentarian had been in Mississippi and interviewed Barrett for a film on race When he learned of Barretts murder he returned to find out what happened and became caught up in the twists and turns of the case During his time in Mississippi Safran got deeper and deeper into this gothic southern world becoming entwined in the lives of those connected with the murderwhite separatist frenemies black lawyers police investigators oddball neighbors the stunned families even the killer himself And the more he talked with them the less simple the crimeand the people involvedseemed to be In the end he discovered how profoundly and indelibly complex the truth about someones lifeand deathcan beThis is a brilliant haunting hilarious unsettling story about race money sex and power in the modern American South from an outsiders point of view.