The most interesting challenge for me was finding ways to get inside Alex Murdaugh’s head — to the extent that that’s ever possible with anyone. One way was to look for precedents in case studies of other so-called “family annihilators,” which I found highly illuminating, both for the ways in which he conformed to known patterns of behavior and the very distinct ways in which he differed from them.
Another was simply to pay close attention to his own words. His police interviews, trial testimony and those extraordinary jail phone calls were a real treasure trove in that respect, revealing habits of mind, emotional reflexes, etc., with a richness you rarely get outside fiction.
How does your process differ when writing fiction versus nonfiction? What elements are similar?
To tell any story convincingly you need to be able to follow your characters into every decision they make and every action they take.
For me, that’s as true in nonfiction as it is in fiction. The big difference is that in fiction you can use your imagination and instincts as a guide, whereas in nonfiction you’re answerable strictly to the facts. You can make conjectures, but they have to be supported by verifiable information.
I wanted to portray Alex Murdaugh with something of the interiority of a fictional character but without inventing anything. Every surmise had to be very clearly argued from a basis of known truths. I found that to be a bracing discipline, in many ways more satisfying than making stuff up.
Murdaugh family members walk into the courtroom during the Alex Murdaugh double-murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Monday, February 27, 2023.
File/Staff
How does it feel to be returning to the Lowcountry? What emotions or memories does the place carry for you?
As a Brit living in New York, I was doubly an outsider in the South. I’d spent very little time there before reporting this story, and none at all in the Lowcountry. I like being in that position — you come to everything with a fresh eye.
And I have to say that pretty much everything I experienced, aside from the horrors of the story itself, had something strange and wonderful about it, from the food to the landscape to the incredible warmth of almost everyone I met.