Oxford Writer Releases Fictional Book Centered Around James Meredith Riot at Ole Miss

Michael Henry, an Oxford writer and a former District Attorney, has released his latest book called Murder in the Grove.

This is Henry’s eighth book to be published, and the story revolves around a murder during the James Meredith riot in 1962. Murder in the Grove is the sixth novel in the Willie Mitchell Banks series.

Michael Henry

According to the back of the book, “Former Mississippi Delta District Attorney Willie Mitchell Banks moves to Oxford and investigates a cold case–a murder in The Grove on campus during the James Meredith riot in 1962. Banks soon discovers that the killer of a 22-year-old Ole Miss senior used the riot as a coverup for a very personal murder that involved a former Miss Mississippi and a founding member of the White Citizens’ Council with ties to the Dixie Mafia.”

“When I first moved up here in July 2012, I knew very little about the Meredith Riots, I thought it was just a demonstration. I learned that it was actually a very violent confrontation, and I started researching the riot. I was researching and reading about it and the idea came to me,” Henry said.

Ole Miss legend Archie Manning “highly recommends” this “exciting page turner,” according to the blurbs on the novel’s cover. Oxford literary luminary Curtis Wilkie, who was present in the Grove the night of the riot, says Henry “draws on the drama of the Ole Miss riot in 1962 to create an intriguing new mystery.”

Henry has co-written three novels with his son William Henry, and is a Natchitoches, Louisiana native.

Henry graduated from Tulane University and the University of Virginia Law School. He practiced civil and criminal law, including 16 years as a prosecutor, with 12 of those years serving as an elected District Attorney.

“This is a genre I like to call ‘Friction- fiction,’ rubbing against actual people, places and events,” Henry said.

Henry’s other novels are set in small town Mississippi life, and Louisiana living. This is his first novel set in Oxford. He has been voted as Best Local writer in Oxford in the Oxford Eagle’s “Best of Oxford” 2015 edition.

Murder in the Grove is available in Oxford exclusively at Square Books. E-book and print versions can be purchased on Amazon.com.

For more information on Murder in the Grove and Michael Henry, visit his website, http://www.michaelhenryauthor.com/

Kathryn Winter is a social media specialist and staff writer for HottyToddy.com. Email her at kathryn.winter@hottytoddy.com