BOOK McCRACKEN POSTON JR.

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Linda Konner Literary Agency

LDKONNER [at] cs.com

 

 

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McCracken Poston Jr.

Specialties: true crime; Southern Gothic; the intersection of autism and criminal justice systems
Home base: Ringgold, Georgia
Website: www.ZenithManBook.com
Facebook: McCrackenPostonJr
Linkedin:  mccrackenposton
Instagram: mccrackenpostonjr

McCracken Poston Jr. is a criminal defense attorney, former Georgia legislator and author of Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom (Citadel, 2024). He represented Alvin Ridley, a reclusive North Georgia TV repairman accused of murdering his wife after keeping her captive for 30 years, and won Ridle’s acquittal. Dealing with a challenging client, McCracken found evidence that turned the case into a national sensation. More than two decades later, Ridley was diagnosed as autistic, casting new light on a case shaped by how others interpreted a life they did not understand. Drawing on that experience, McCracken speaks about the human stories behind courtroom verdicts, and about autism at its dangerous intersection with criminal justice.

More than a true-crime account, Zenith Man explores questions of justice, family, community, love, redemption and the search for truth behind a story that captivated Catoosa County and the nation. The book went on to become a multi-award-winner: the 2026 International Impact Book Awards (Biography/Legal); 2025 American Writing Awards (General Nonfiction); and the 2025 Georgia Spotlight Award (Nonfiction) given by the Georgia Independent Authors Association (GIAA). It was also a finalist as the 2025 Book of the Year (Nonfiction) at the American Writing Awards and for the 2024 Clue Award, True Crime Book of the Year, at CrimeCon. Zenith Man also earned McCracken GIAA’s 2025 Georgia Independent Author of the Year award (Memoir) and the 2026 International Impact Book Award’sTrue Crime Author of the Year.

Born and raised in northwest Georgia’s Catoosa County, McCracken has deep personal ties to the community where the extraordinary story of Alvin “The Zenith Man” Ridley unfolded. His connection to the people, places and history of the region gives him a unique perspective on one of the most remarkable criminal cases in Georgia. A graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served as president of his graduating class. Before entering private practice, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit.

His career has extended well beyond the courtroom. McCracken served four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1989 to 1997. Throughout his legal career, he has handled numerous high-profile and nationally recognized criminal cases. His cases and legal work have received national television coverage, including appearances and features on CNN Presents, Dateline NBC, A&E’s American Justice, Forensic Files, Extra and NPR's Snap Judgment.

Suggested Topics

• The Intersection of Autism and Criminal Justice Systems 

  While autism is not a defense to criminal behavior, it does create, especially prediagnosis, a barrier of understanding and communication that could and does lead to misunderstanding and misjudgment. Poston has lived representing several persons with autism and has been instrumental in getting several adults their initial diagnoses. 

• Southern Gothic: What Makes the South so Unusual, and Appealing?

The literary world has always found the American South interesting, whether in tragedy or triumph. McCracken Poston Jr. has lived his whole life in northwest Georgia, and knows a vast catalog of these characters personally. His stories evoke a time before the modern advances that threaten to blur these regional distinctions.

Video Samples

See McCracken Poston’s appearance on Good Day Atlanta, “True crime book examines unusual Georgia case.”