Harry N. MacLean
AUTHOR

Harry N. MacLean

Biographies & Memoirs | Politics & Social Sciences
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Harry MacLean is a lawyer and writer living in Denver, Colorado. His first book was "In Broad Daylight," published by Harper Collins. This book tells the story of the killing of a town bully on the main street of a small town in northwest Missouri. It won an Edgar Award for Best True Crime and was a New York Times Bestseller for 12 weeks. Brian Denehey stars as the bully in the movie version. "In Broad Daylight" became available as an e-book July 2012. MacLean released his true crime short "The Story Behind 'In Broad Daylight,'" in January, 2013. The book includes nine pages of previously unpublished pictures and tells the harrowing story of how MacLean obtained the story of the reign of terror, the murder, and the coverup. MacLean's newest book available in November 2023 is entitled "Starkweather, The Untold Story of the Murder Spree That Changed America," by Counterpoint Press. Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Fugate, went on a murder spree in Nebraska and Wyoming in 1958 that resulted in ten people dead. This was the first mass murder of the television age in America and the country was mesmerized by the capture and the trials. Starkweather was executed in 1959, and Caril, who has always maintained her innocence, served seventeen years in prison. The saga was immortalized in the movie "Badlands" and Bruce Springsteen's song "Nebraska." MacLean tells the story and reviews the facts of Caril's guilt or innocence as a judge. He also reveals the impact of the spree on American culture. MacLean's second book was "Once Upon A Time, a True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law." Also published by Harper Collins, it tells the true story of a man on trial for murder based solely on his daughter's "repressed memory" of witnessing him murder her playmate 20 years earlier. "Once Upon a Time" was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. It was also the basis for a Showtime series entitled "Buried" which was premiered in 2022. Basic Books published his third book, "The Past Is Never Dead, The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi's Search for Redemption," which was shortlisted for the William Saroyan Award, given by Stanford University. The book tells the story of the trial of a Klansman for the murder of two black youths in 1964 and Mississippi's struggle to overcome its past. In July 2015 Counterpoint Press released MacLean's debut novel, a literary thriller entitled "The Joy of Killing." The book is being hailed as a mystery, a love story, a confession, and a psychological thriller. Kirkus reviewed the book as follows: “MacLean’s writing is lyrical, ebbing and flowing like a deep riptide that conceals the danger beneath… it’s almost impossible to resist the pull of the tide… A dizzying and delirious meditation on desire, violence, guilt, and philosophical justification.”—Kirkus A master true crime author wrote about this book: “Not since American Psycho has there been a novel as unnerving and relentless as Harry N. Maclean’s compulsively readable The Joy of Killing. Inventive. Supremely twisted. And did I say unnerving?” —Gregg Olsen, New York Times best-selling author MacLean's first career was as a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Denver College of Law, magna cum laude, and also received a master's degree in Law and Sociology from DU. He worked as a trial lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission and as a magistrate in Denver Juvenile Court. He taught as an Adjunct Professor at DU Law. He served as First Assistant Attorney General for the state of Colorado, and as General Counsel of the Peace Corp during the Carter Administration. For the past twenty years he has worked as a labor arbitrator and book author. . His website is harrymaclean.com. Connect with him at Facebook.com/HarryNMacLean.
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