
The Murdaugh Murders Case
Fifty States of Crime
Arthur Cerf(Author)
Crime Ink (Publisher)
Published on 7. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-61316-694-9 (ISBN)
Description
For the first time in his life, attorney Alex Murdaugh-the scion of a long line of lawyers and prosecutors-stands before a jury at the Colleton Courthouse, not as a practitioner of law, but rather as a defendant. He is accused of having murdered both his wife Maggie and his son Paul on the evening of June 7, 2021.
This trial, The State of South Carolina v. Richard Alexander Murdaugh, marks the end of a fascinating story that gripped the nation for months. An unusual case involving financial crimes, drug abuse, corruption, attempted suicide disguised as murder, and other mysterious deaths in 2015, 2018, and 2019. But more than anything else, this story explores a waning American aristocracy: a successful and powerful family brought to ruin through a mix of drugs, violence, and an intoxicating sense of impunity.
French journalist Arthur Cerf lived in Colleton County, South Carolina, for eight weeks to write about this high-profile trial, which he brilliantly recounts as one family's fall from grace.
50 States of Crime: France's leading true crime journalists investigate America's most notorious cases, one for every state in the Union, offering up fresh perspectives on famously storied crimes and reflecting, in the process, a dark national legacy that leads from coast to coast.
This trial, The State of South Carolina v. Richard Alexander Murdaugh, marks the end of a fascinating story that gripped the nation for months. An unusual case involving financial crimes, drug abuse, corruption, attempted suicide disguised as murder, and other mysterious deaths in 2015, 2018, and 2019. But more than anything else, this story explores a waning American aristocracy: a successful and powerful family brought to ruin through a mix of drugs, violence, and an intoxicating sense of impunity.
French journalist Arthur Cerf lived in Colleton County, South Carolina, for eight weeks to write about this high-profile trial, which he brilliantly recounts as one family's fall from grace.
50 States of Crime: France's leading true crime journalists investigate America's most notorious cases, one for every state in the Union, offering up fresh perspectives on famously storied crimes and reflecting, in the process, a dark national legacy that leads from coast to coast.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Penzler Publishers
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 175 mm
Width: 107 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
113 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61316-694-9 (9781613166949)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Arthur Cerf
The Murdaugh Murders Case
E-Book
10/2025
Simon + Schuster LLC
€11.86
Available for download
Persons
Arthur Cerf has been a journalist for Society magazine since 2015 and for Vanity Fair since 2020. He writes articles on a wide variety of subjects, such as a criminal affair involving Freemasons; false spies; business coaches; a personal development guru; the hyperloop race; a fallen start of French Tech; the creator of Chatroulette; a race between a man and a horse; and young people who are looking for happiness in the country.