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Author of ‘Boston Strong’ to take on Karen Read case in new book
Dave Wedge’s “Cop Town: Scandal, Corruption and Murder in Suburban America” is due for release in 2026.
The Karen Read murder case is coming to bookshelves in 2026, courtesy of a Massachusetts author whose 2015 book on the Boston Marathon bombings was adapted into a Mark Wahlberg film.
Dave Wedge’s “Cop Town: Scandal, Corruption and Murder in Suburban America” is due for release sometime in 2026, publisher BenBella Books announced earlier this month. Billed as a nonfiction thriller, “Cop Town” seems poised to dive into the fallout from Read’s mistrial last summer and the controversy and scandal that continues to plague her “explosive” case.
More on Karen Read:
Read, 44, is accused of drunkenly and deliberately backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, while dropping him off at another officer’s home in Canton after a night of bar-hopping. She’s pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
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While prosecutors allege Read left O’Keefe to die in a blizzard early on Jan. 29, 2022, her lawyers contend she was framed in a coverup. They’ve offered a theory that O’Keefe entered the home for an afterparty and was severely beaten, his body planted outside in the snow.
Read’s second trial is due to begin in April.
Her story has long captivated mainstream media outlets, true crime fanatics, and internet sleuths alike.
A New York Times bestselling author and former investigative reporter for the Boston Herald, Wedge has been “closely monitoring” the case since 2022, according to BenBella.
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“Can’t wait to dig into this one!” he said of “Cop Town” in a recent Instagram post.
Wedge’s book is “pitched as a Grisham-esque whodunit about a Boston cop found dead in the snow and the girlfriend accused of mowing him down in a jealous rage, exposing the dark underbelly of police corruption, local politics, and misogyny in Boston, and the enduring fascination when a woman stands accused of murder,” according to a brief shared by Waxman Literary Agency, which represents Wedge.
The author recently indicated in an interview with The Enterprise that “Cop Town” won’t focus on whether or not Read is guilty. He told The Patriot Ledger his goal is to chronicle the case as fully and accurately as possible.
“I’m not going to armchair sleuth it or try to presume that I know what happened,” he told the Ledger. “I want to report the outcome and if I’m able to find nuggets of truth, I’ll put those in. My mission is to tell the complete story of what happened.”
Wedge has co-written several books with author Casey Sherman, including “Boston Strong: A City’s Triumph Over Tragedy,” which served as the basis for Wahlberg’s 2017 movie “Patriots Day.” Other past subjects include Tom Brady, James “Whitey” Bulger, John Lennon, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis activist Pete Frates.
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Wedge also has a book about middleweight boxing champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler due for release in June. “Blood & Hate: The Untold Story of Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s Battle for Glory” is already in development as a feature film, as is 2022’s “Riding With Evil: Taking Down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Gang,” according to BenBella.
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