Chasing King's Killer

An astonishing account of the murder of America’s most beloved civil rights leader and the search for his killer, by a New York Times–bestselling author.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., stepped onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. What happened next—a man in a window, a rifle, and a single shot—was one of the most horrific and tragic events of the twentieth century.

But this book is about more than a murder. It is the story of two men set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s—a decade of assassinations, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and the race to the moon. It is the story of King’s heroic life, his tumultuous last year, and his fateful trip to Memphis. But it is also the story of a mysterious, lifelong criminal—James Earl Ray—whose 1967 escape from prison sent him on a strange, year-long journey that unexpectedly climaxed with King’s murder and one of the biggest manhunts in American history.

In an action-packed, minute-by-minute, ticking-clock narrative, James L. Swanson, award-winning New York Times–bestselling author of Manhunt, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, and “The President Has Been Shot”: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, weaves together riveting stories of the assassin and the civil rights leader as he transports readers back to one of the most shocking, sad, and frightening days in American history.

Praise for Chasing King’s Killer

Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year

Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year

Texas Topaz Reading List Top Ten Title for Nonfiction

 “Page-turning nonfiction that captures the tenor of the times with meticulous research and a trove of photographs. Exhaustive, exemplary backmatter further enhances the text. An important contribution to the understanding of a complex period in United States history that still reverberates today.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

 “[Swanson's] masterful work . . . takes on thriller pacing . . . This immersive history reveals, in gripping style, how one individual can impact history.” —Booklist, starred review

 “An absorbing chronicle of the lead-up to and aftermath of the assassination of an American leader . . . Riveting.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review