Famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump is expanding his body of work beyond the courtroom with the release of his debut fiction novel, “Worse than a Lie,” set for Feb. 17.
The book launches a new legal thriller series built around the character Beau Lee Cooper, a lawyer drawn into a case that begins with a violent traffic stop and spirals into a fight over truth, power, and freedom inside the criminal legal system.
“What trial lawyers do on a regular basis is we tell engaging stories to juries, and in my case, juries all across America,” Crump said. “And so oftentimes, I find myself taking notes when I see things or observe different cases to tell the next story.”
The novel opens on the night of November 4, 2008, as the country celebrates the election of its first Black president. At the same time, Hollis Montrose, a 53-year-old Black former police officer from suburban Chicago, is shot 10 times during a traffic stop by four white men who once could have been his colleagues. Montrose survives, but the system closes ranks. He is arrested, charged, and handed a wrongful prison sentence with bail set far beyond reach.
Crump’s central character, Beau Lee Cooper, is shaped by an early sense of purpose. Raised in Texas during the 1970s, Cooper grows up determined to become a lawyer after reading “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Years later, he runs his own firm with longtime friend Nelson “Nellie” Rivers and trusted colleague Brent “Cape” Capers. When Cooper learns about Montrose’s case, he steps into a dangerous pursuit of evidence and accountability, confronting official narratives and hidden power along the way.
“And so, you know, because we’ve covered so many cases over the years, I’m always on planes going all across the country,” Crump said. “When I’m sitting on those planes, I find myself writing notes and so forth or reading legal thrillers.”
Crump said the idea for the novel grew from years of observation and storytelling that already define his work as a trial lawyer.
“And so that was the impetus for me to write ‘Worse than a Lie,’ knowing that the old Perry Mason books, I watched this TV show with my grandmother, and that kind of inspired me when I was young,” he said. “And then as we got older, the John Grisham books and the Lincoln Lawyer books. So, all those things led me to saying, we are going to tell a different kind of story, a civil rights legal thriller.”
The book aims to introduce readers to the mechanics of civil rights cases through fiction, using suspense to walk them through the pressures faced by defendants, lawyers, and families caught in the system. Crump said the decision to write fiction did not pull him away from his mission but offered another way to tell the stories he has carried for years.
The novel has already drawn attention within the publishing world. Annable Gutterman, an editor at Amazon, praised the project for both its execution and its improbability.
“The fact that this book exists astounds me,” Gutterman said. “How did Ben Crump, one of the most prolific civil rights attorneys in the country, have the time to write it? Somehow, he did and we are lucky for that. Using his deep bench of knowledge as a lawyer, Crump writes from his own experiences to craft this heart pounding exploration of race, class, and justice.”
New York Times best-seller Lee Child, co-author of the “Reacher” series, celebrated Crump’s new work.
“A sensationally good crime and legal thriller,” Child wrote, according to Magic City Books. “This is exactly what a book should be.”
Crump’s entry into fiction comes after decades of prominence as a civil rights lawyer. He has been named among Time magazine’s Time100 Most Influential People, Ebony magazine’s Power 100 Most Influential African Americans, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers, and was selected as the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s (NNPA) Newsmaker of the Year in 2014. This year, the NNPA named him the top newsmaker of the 21st century, ahead of figures including Barack Obama and Beyoncé.
Founder and principal owner of Ben Crump Law, the lawyer and advocate has become widely known as “Black America’s Attorney General,” representing families in some of the nation’s most visible civil rights cases and building a national profile rooted in advocacy, litigation, and public accountability. He is the founder and principal owner of Ben Crump Law.
Crump summed up simply why he was moved to write the new book.
“I want to tell the story,” Crump said.