Its a Virgil Flowers tale, and a good one.

“Everything I Never Told You” by Celeste Ng. This is her debut novel.

The story of a mixed-race Chinese-American family dealing with small-town bigotry and the death of their teenage daughter who was found drowned in a nearby lake.

Epperly, a retired professor from Luther College, has been researching the Villisca Axe Murders and the subsequent investigations, grand juries and trials since the 1950s. This book was published in 2021.

This is a straightforward look at the 8 murders, and how the town and surrounding area split into factions over who they believed (or disbelieved) the murderer was; factions which exist to this day, more than 100 years after the crime.

I'm a big fan of true crime books, as it is, but I love the take on this one about the long-term repercussions of the crime.

Thanks so much for mentioning it. I might have a few slots open at the end of the year to get to it.