The Devil at His Elbow by Valerie Bauerlein is a must read if you're interested in the Murdaugh family murders.

I've read other books about the family and watched the television specials and the legacy of just getting away (almost) with murder will hopefully be done now that Alex is in jail for the murder of his wife and son and theft of the millions from innocent accident victims.

The in-depth writing and investigating that the author did is easy to follow in her book. She exposes the Murdaugh dynasty of privilege and corruption and how it took just one person at the family law firm to care enough to find out what Alex was doing and to unknowingly start the chain of events that toppled the lies and led to the whole tragic event.

The story is so fascinating to me because it seems we all aspire to live lives of having endless money, but don't realize the evil that some people do to keep their secrets under cover. Alex Murdaugh deserves every minute of jail time he will be serving and more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in lieu of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was the second book I’ve read about this awful family, and I can say without hyperbole that they got what was coming to them. Everyone kept praising their relatives, despite the fact that most of them were awful too. Almost every single Murdaugh was a corrupt jerk. The things they got away with… the things they did… it’s all so infuriating. Even worse is the fact that they almost didn’t even charge him with murder!!

I’ve said it again and again — our justice system is broken and needs a complete overhaul. I basically disliked almost everyone in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

"'Oh my god,' he said. 'The jackass has shot himself.'"

#Thedevilathiselbow" is soooooo good. Living in Virginia and having spent a good amount of time in South Carolina, I was riveted by the saga of Alex Murdaugh as it played out in summer 2021. The Murdaughs first came to my attention when Maggie and Paul were brutally murdered at their home.

Ms. Bauerlein does a fantastic job of outlining the Murdaugh's dynasty in Hampton County. How they kept businesses from getting a foothold in this "judicial hellhole." We see how years and years of privilege bring about this horrific crime (and many others) and how that privilege creates the perpetrator. We see how one attorney's pursuit of Alex's financial records brings the family crumbling down. We see how Alex and Maggie's refusal to manage their feral son, Paul, brings the family crumbling down. We see how residents, for years and years, live terrified of crossing the Murdaughs. The devil was truly at their elbow.

The chapters of the trial are riveting. We see how Creighton Waters spent a few years living and breathing the Murdaughs. We see how Alex's hubris on the stand dooms him.

You only need to look in his eyes to see he has no soul. Have mercy.

P.S. thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

One of the best true crime books I have read on the Murdaugh Saga. Meticulously researched. Talk about a tangled web 😬

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210454076