From 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday evening, the Historic Natchez Foundation and Turning Pages Books and More are hosting a cocktail reception, exhibit, and book signing at the Natchez Institute, 108 S. Commerce St., in honor of Dr. Karen Cox, author of the newly released “Goat Castle:  A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South.”

At 6:30 p.m., Cox will make a brief presentation about her decision to write about the Natchez murder and her experiences as she researched and wrote the book.  The event is free and open to the public.

The Historic Natchez Foundation has also arranged a special tour from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday to visit sites associated with the murder of Jennie Merrill, which occurred on August 5, 1932, at Glenburnie.  Karen Cox will conduct the tour, which will begin and end at the Natchez Institute.  Some of Natchez’s best tour guides have registered as participants, which will insure a first-rate educational experience.  Highlights of the tour include visits to the crime scene at Glenburnie and to the Natchez City Cemetery, where major figures in the Goat Castle Murder drama — Emily Burns, Duncan Minor, Jennie Merrill, Dick Dana, and Octavia Dockery — will make an appearance.

Interested participants should call the Historic Natchez Foundation at 601-442-2500 for tour reservations, which cost $35 to defray the cost of transportation.

Published by the University of North Carolina Press, the book is attracting national attention and Dr. Cox is touring widely to promote it.   A professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the founding director of the graduate public history program, Cox teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in southern history.   She received her B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Southern Mississippi.  She is the author of two books and numerous essays and articles on the subject of southern history and culture.

Two previous publications also played an important role in documenting the Goat Castle Murder.  Zaida Marion Wells published a small booklet, The Merrill Murder Mystery, not too long after the murder.  Her account has particular validity because she had access to first-person accounts and attended the trial of Emily Burns.  In 1985, Sim C. Callon and Carolyn Vance Smith published a small, but well researched and richly illustrated book, The Goat Castle Murder, which generated new interest in Natchez’s crime of the century.
Mimi Miller is the director of the Historic Natchez Foundation.