A Devil Went Down to Georgia

Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton

Deb Miller Landau

Oprah Daily ranked #1 of the “best true crime books of all time.”

A riveting narrative that pieces together the life and murder of Black socialite Lita McClinton Sullivan—and the journey to bring her true killer to justice.

The 1987 murder of Lita McClinton Sullivan sent shockwaves through the affluent Atlanta suburb of Buckhead, Georgia like few other crimes before it. The neighborhood, with its stately mansions and top-tier schools, was simply not the kind of place where women were gunned down in cold blood in broad daylight. How many socialites had enemies so dangerous they would be murdered by a hitman pretending to deliver roses on an early winter morning?

Lita was an intelligent, accomplished, and stunning Black woman from a respected Atlanta family. Her interracial marriage to white millionaire Jim Sullivan, who hailed from working-class Boston, was a newsworthy occurrence in 1970s Georgia. For a while, the couple made the marriage work, but it wasn’t long before Jim’s roving eye and controlling nature put Lita on edge. When he bought a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida (without telling her), the façade of their life together began to crumble. Finally, after a decade of marriage, she loaded her belongings in a U-Haul and never looked back.

But as the legal battle over the divorce raged and Jim’s financial outlook grew precarious, he had a chance encounter with a long-haul trucker, a smooth-talking ex-con who said he could he’d "take care" of Jim’s wife problem. . . .

In A Devil Went Down to Georgia, award-winning writer Deb Miller Landau details the shocking events that followed Lita’s murder in 1987, including the surprising lack of evidence, racial bias in the justice system, and the international manhunt for Lita’s killer. Full of twists and turns, legal battles, and the McClinton family’s unrelenting dedication to justice, Landau's rigorous investigation is the first complete account of this tragic American crime.

Deb Miller Landau first began investigating Lita McClinton Sullivan's murder for Atlanta Magazine in the early 2000’s and has since become an authority on the case.  Her article on the murder was anthologized in Harper Perennial's Best American Crime Writing, and her work has been cited by news stories and TV documentaries, including America's Most Wanted, Dateline, Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege & Justice, FBI: Criminal Pursuit and, most recently, Oxygen Network's 2022 Real Murders of Atlanta.  Additionally, she appears as a primary on-screen expert in BET's 2019 docudrama, Murder in the Thirst. 

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Endorsements & Reviews

"With a journalist's eye, a novelist’s vivid evocation of character, and some chilling interviews with the recently released hitman, Landau brings Lita to life on the page—and calls the people and forces responsible for her death to account." Oprah Daily, "Best Nonfiction True Crime Books of All time"

"A Devil Went Down to Georgia is a kind of testament to what rigorous and intentional true crime stories can do. They can bring to the center the stories of women who were marginalized, abused, and victimized, and give them back some of their agency, their voice—even after death. They can, in their highest form, be their own kind of justice." Atlanta Magazine

"Journalist Deb Miller Landau writes a sweeping account of this crime and prolonged road to justice in A Devil Went Down to Georgia. A page-turning saga, as well as a testament to Lita, her devastated family and the determined investigators and lawyers who sought justice for them." BookPage

"Journalist Landau probes the killing of Atlanta socialite Lita McClinton in her riveting debut. Landau vividly conjures the casually racist world Lita inhabited with Sullivan, describing how she was ignored at parties in Palm Beach, Fla., and rankled Sullivan’s peers in Macon. Displaying a veteran’s knack for pacing, Landau peppers the narrative with cliff-hangers and vertigo-inducing twists. It adds up to a chilling and infuriating work of true crime." Publishers Weekly

"A highly readable account of murder and systemic racism. This title is a compelling example of how to take stories that made headlines and find the deeper, more nuanced narrative strains that rarely come across in the media."
Library Journal, starred review

"Deb Miller Landau writes with compassionate eloquence about the murder of Lita Sullivan, one of the most haunting and horrific murders in the history of Atlanta. You’re there with her on the harrowing morning when she meets the hitman in a deserted parking lot, and then as she takes you deep into the winding investigative odyssey that eventually resulted in the conviction of Lita’s husband. This is a deeply researched, smartly written book." Scott Freeman, Editor-in-chief, Atlanta magazine

“Some books make you reflect and think about the past. Some make you contemplate the future. A Devil Went Down to Georgia does both and keeps you totally spellbound in the process. In it, the story of Lita McClinton finally receives the light of transparency that it so rightfully deserves. Miller Landau unmasks the complicated role race plays in a heartbreaking case that involves love, family, and deception." The Honorable Winfield Ward Murray, Professor of Race & Law at Morehouse College and federal immigration judge
 

“This is an important story of race and justice and of a crime still very much unresolved. As a Southerner, I know just how vital-and how delicate-this work can be. Through impeccable research and vibrant writing, Miller Landau has told a story that is both riveting and respectful of all that happened.” Brooke Baldwin, former CNN anchor, director, on-air host, and bestselling author of Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power

“Deb Miller Landau’s heartbreaking true crime tale of murder and greed is a meticulously researched portrayal of an accomplished young Black woman’s extraordinary life and cruel death. Obscured behind the lies and manipulations of her charming, obsessive, white millionaire husband, the breathtaking narrative unravels the facts behind the investigations and multiple trials to finally reveal the shocking truth." Deborah Holt Larkin, author of A Lovely Girl: The Tragedy of Olga Duncan and the Trial of One of California’s Most Notorious Killer