Devil's Knot The True Story of the West Memphis Three

Coming soon as a major motion picture starring Academy Award winners Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth, this “riveting portrait” (Publishers Weekly) of a small Arkansas town recounts the all-too-true story of a brutal triple murder and the eighteen-year imprisonment of three innocent teenagers.

For weeks in 1993, after the grisly murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas, seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers—alleged members of a satanic cult—with the killings. Despite the witch-hunt atmosphere of the trials and a case that included stunning investigative blunders, the teenagers, who became known as the West Memphis Three, were convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison and Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. The guilty verdicts were popular in their home state—even upheld on appeal—and all three remained in prison until their unprecedented release in August 2011.

In Devil’s Knot, award-winning investigative journalist Mara Leveritt presents the most comprehensive, insightful reporting ever done on this story—one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history. In-depth research, meticulous reconstruction of the investigation, and close-up views of its key participants unravel the many tangled knots of this endlessly shocking case.

Acclaimed as “an indictment of a culture and legal system” (Library Journal) and “the best blow-by-blow account available of the investigations and trials” (The Memphis Commercial Appeal), this award-winning account will shape the American legal landscape for years to come.