Dead Weight Gains National Audience.
Breakout novel by Batt Humphreys to be featured on “The Radio Reader” in May 2010

Charleston, SC - Joggling Board Press is pleased to announce that Dick Estell, host of “The Radio Reader,” will present Dead Weight by Batt Humphreys in May and June. “The Radio Reader” is syndicated on public radio stations throughout the United States and reaches more than one million listeners.

The book currently is available in hardcover. The trade paperback will be released in March.

This acclaimed first novel by author Batt Humphreys is based on the true story of the State vs. Daniel Duncan. Dead Weight details the 1910 trial, conviction and execution of Daniel Cornelius “Nealy” Duncan, a young black man of respectable employment and temperament, arrested on the eve of his wedding for the murder of a local merchant. The novel tells of a love story, described by one reviewer as ‘Shakesperean’ in its tragic reality. The true story includes a devastating hurricane that hit Charleston following the execution. The reader finds these two factual events strangely connected.

In Dead Weight, Hal Hinson is a fictional reporter from New York assigned to cover the Duncan trial. Through his narration we see the beauty of Charleston, the ugliness of the racial divide, and a struggle between two lawyers for the life of a man accused of murder. New York Times #1 bestselling author Harlan Coben calls it, “A stunning story, masterfully told.”

Acclaimed journalist Batt Humphreys, a Georgia native, spent 15 years at CBS News in New York, most as a senior producer. He managed the coverage of many of the events that have shaped our lives over the past quarter century. In 2007, Humphreys returned to his beloved South, but it wasn’t long before the lure of the headline drew him to a century-old story.

Humphreys has petitioned the state of South Carolina to pardon Duncan. His efforts were recently cited in an Associated Press article titled “SC Crusaders look to right Jim Crow justice Wrongs,” in which Mr. Humphreys commented: “By not taking action it will show the state has not grown in 100 years."