The Shooter at Midnight: Murder, Corruption, and a Farming Town Divided

Journalist Cooper debuts with an enthralling account of the murder that tore apart a hard-hit farming community in Missouri. Cathy Robertson and her husband, Lyndel, were gunned down while they slept in Chillicothe, Mo., in 1990. Cathy died immediately; Lyndel was gravely injured. Although Lyndel first identified his daughter’s boyfriend as a suspect, the PI he tapped to work with local law enforcement ended up pointing the finger at Mark Woodworth, the 16-year-old who lived next door. Mark was tried and convicted twice (for second degree murder, then first), in rulings that were subsequently overturned. Through interviews and dogged research, Cooper lays out why the case against him eventually fell apart. Lyndel and Mark’s father were at odds over their joint business venture, which was decimated by the farming crisis of the 1980s, and Lyndel faced an embezzlement lawsuit. He hired the PI and leveraged local law enforcement connections to take the heat off that suit and close the murder investigation in one fell swoop. It wasn’t until the Woodworths hired attorney Robert Ramsey, who highlighted the overwhelming lack of concrete evidence keeping Mark in prison, that they were able to get the case thrown out for good in 2013. Cooper’s suspenseful narrative nimbly interweaves procedural beats and a vivid portrait of rural America in crisis. It’s an arresting work of true crime. Agent: Seren Adams, United Agents. (Apr.)