REV WILLIE is a Voodoo-Hoodoo Gumbo With Blood (And Laughs!)

The author of To Kill a Mockingbird ALMOST wrote a book based on a true story. Its title: The Reverend. Some claim that a burglar stole the manuscript. Others say Harper Lee was a day away from sending the book to her publisher, then decided not to. And according to her cousin she said, "Richard, when you're at the top, there's only one way to go."

Everyone agrees on the subject, murder, as well as the main character, a charming Southerner known to all as the Reverend Willie Joe.

Willie's main job was messy and low paying: wood pulp processing. He also preached occasionally at local churches. The local sheriff knew that the Reverend had another pastime that was much messier but was personally gratifying (and very lucrative): off'ing his in-laws and collecting their life insurance.

No one disputes that Willie Joe made eyebrow-raising bundles of money after the spectacularly odd deaths of several close relatives, including his first wife, second wife, brother, nephew, and sixteen-year-old niece.

Harper Lee never produced that much-promised novel. No news reporters or police detectives ever solved the crimes. Rev Willie offers a new account of what might have happened.

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE: www.LeeSmyth.com