Friday, December 26, 2025

Zenith Man by McCracken Poston Jr.


Started: 12/24/2025

Finished: DNF

Year: 2024

Pages: 291

Genre: true crime

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "In October 1997, the town of Ringgold in northwest Georgia was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley’s house—and even more shockingly, she was the wife no one knew he had.

"McCracken Poston had been a state representative before he lost his bid for U.S. Congress and returned to his law career. Alvin Ridley was a local character who once sold and serviced Zenith televisions. Though reclusive and an outsider, the “Zenith Man,” as Poston knew him, hardly seemed capable of murder.

"Alvin was a difficult client, storing evidence in a cockroach-infested suitcase, unwilling to reveal key facts to his defender. Gradually, Poston pieced together the full story behind Virginia and Alvin’s curious marriage and her cause of death—which was completely overlooked by law enforcement. Calling on medical experts, testimony from Alvin himself, and a wealth of surprising evidence gleaned from Alvin’s junk-strewn house, Poston presented a groundbreaking defense that allowed Alvin to return to his peculiar lifestyle, a free man.

"Years after his trial, Alvin was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a revelation that sheds light on much of his lifelong personal battle—and shows how easily those who don’t fit societal norms can be castigated and misunderstood."

Opinion: How to make a legal case all about the lawyer instead of the client...at least this is how this book starts out and honestly, I don't care. I want to know about the client, the murder, the case, what the lawyer is going to do to help their client out. 

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