This fascinating new book reveals in stunning detail the case of Euel Lee (alias Orphan Jones), who was accused and eventually convicted of murdering a family of four in Eastern Maryland in the 1930s. The tumultuous series of events and characters that surrounded the crime and roller coaster trial garnered national media attention and changed the course of Maryland history. The true story is told now in compelling narrative, replete with historical fact collected through exacting research.

The racially charged case of Orphan Jones features at its core the murder of a white family by an African American man over the sum of $1, but includes at various stages an obsessed Communist attorney, a series of riots and lynchings, several trial venue changes, a bizarre claim to a dead body, and much more. The action unfolds throughout Eastern Maryland as well as the Baltimore area, against the backdrop of Jim Crow politics and American society during the Depression.

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