Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty

As the host of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast and an award-winning journalist, Matney fights daily to discover the truth, amid corrupt local officials and other hindrances. In this book, she focuses on the family of Alex Murdaugh, a former lawyer sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife and one of his sons, Paul. The patriarch also plead guilty to 22 counts of federal fraud and money laundering. Matney doesn’t try to make this the definitive story about the crimes; they made national headlines, so many readers already know the details. Instead, she takes readers through the obstacles she’s encountered since 2019 in her reporting on the Murdaugh family, their alleged crimes, and the victims and their families; for example, Matney faced institutional sexism and death threats. Her book is well written, full of breathless accounts of secret communications from locals as she and fellow journalist Liz unravel how Paul Murdaugh got off easy for a fatal boating accident. They also reveal more details surrounding the murder of Alex’s son and wife. Like her podcast, Matney is blunt in her views.