Upstate South Carolina is a scenic region of business centers, farms and textile towns. But it has a dark side. In 1924, a local resident was convicted for poisoning a neighbor in a case that went to the state supreme court. One resident aided a prisoner in a daring outbreak in the name of love. Fairfield County had its own version of witch trials. Crime writer Cathy Pickens brings a novelist's eye to the Upstate's real crime stories and the international headlines and the little-known tales that define the sinister--and quirky--side of her home state.
Cathy Pickens is a crime fiction writer (Southern Fried Mysteries, St. Martin's/Minotaur), true crime columnist for Mystery Readers Journal and professor emerita in the McColl School of Business. She served as national president of Sisters in Crime and on the boards of Mystery Writers of America and the Mecklenburg Forensic Medicine Program (an evidence collection/preservation training collaborative). She is also the author of CREATE! (ICSC Press), offers coaching and workshops on developing the creative process and works with writers on telling their stories. Her other books from The History Press include Charleston Mysteries, Charlotte True Crime Stories, True Crime Stories of Eastern North Carolina and Triangle True Crime Stories.