On a 1997 book tour stop in Natchez, Michael Llewellyn said he was so intrigued by the city’s rich history that he hoped to write a book some day.

Twenty years later, the book is finished and the historical fiction writer is returning with his account of one of the area’s most sensational crimes.

Llewellyn first heard about the 1932 Goat Castle murder in 1998, and while he found the story interesting, the writer dismissed it as a routine story crime story with some mildly interesting twists.

A talk with the late Maggie Burkley, a Natchez antiques dealer and psychic, changed his mind.

“I told her I thought it was just a story about the murder of spinster woman and her crazy next-door neighbors,” Llewellyn said. “Maggie said to me, ‘You have no idea.’”

With those words, Llewellyn began a two-decade journey into what the writer calls “an enormous fall from grace.”

The characters of the story, Jennie Merrill, the victim, and her neighbors Richard Dana and Octavia Dockery each had their own captivating stories, Llewellyn said.

Merrill had been presented to Queen Victoria and had previously lived on New York’s Washington Square.

Octavia Dockery was a published journalist and was to be the only woman on America’s first expedition to Antarctica.

Richard Dana was a promising concert pianist who was as Llewellyn described, “rocked in the cradle of Robert E. Lee.”

“Octavia and Richard were promising young things at the time,” Llewellyn said.

Jennie Merrill’s murder made headlines in newspapers all over the country.

“This was the age before television. America was totally captivated,” Llewellyn said. “The more I dug the more amazing the story became.”

The same year the annual Natchez Spring Pilgrimage was born, the Goat Castle murder attracted tourists from all over. Cars regularly lined the street leading to Glenwood, where the Danas lived.

“The media flocked to Natchez,” Llewellyn said.

With the help of the late Sim Callon, who wrote “The Goat Castle Murder: A True Natchez Story that Rocked the World” with Carolyn Vance Smith and Natchez resident Beth Boggess, Llewellyn started to piece together the events of 1932.

“Sim gave me great references for historical detail. Beth showed me the sites,” Llewellyn said.

As a writer of historical fiction, Llewellyn said he tries to be as accurate as he can when depicting events from the past.

“I said, ‘I need to make this a  work of fiction and let people draw their own conclusions,’” he said.“Sometimes the details are not there. I try to fill in the blanks.”

Writing fiction allows him to both entertain and educate, Llewellyn said.

The story is about much more than the crime, he said.

“I would love for this novel to do for Natchez what ‘The Garden of Good and Evil’ did for Savannah,” Llewellyn said.

“I hope it intrigues people to come to Natchez.”

Llewellyn will be signing his new book published by Water Street Press Books from 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday at Turning Pages Books & More on Franklin Street in downtown Natchez.

The writer of 19 published books, Llewellyn comes from a long line of writers, including James Agee, a cousin that won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, “A Death in the Family.” Llewellyn is a native of Fountain, Tenn. He has lived in New York City and New Orleans and now lives in Fredericksburg, Va.