Henry County’s most notorious unsolved murder case is the subject of a new book written by someone who lived here when it happened.

“May All of You and God Forgive Me” is the title of the book by Hans Broder, who announced its release within the past few weeks and is promoting it through various local appearances, including one scheduled for this weekend.

The story centers on the King-Hartsfield murders in 1974. Jerry Banks was convicted twice and sentenced to death row for the shotgun slayings of Marvin King and Melanie Hartsfield, serving six years before both convictions were overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court.

Banks died in 1981. The case remains unsolved.

Broder began writing the book in 2010 but set it aside upon learning of the work of Charles Sargent, who published “Sins of Henry County” in 2012 on the same subject. A longtime banker in the county, Broder focused on another book he wrote about the failure of community banks between 2008 and 2012 during a time of national economic crisis. He returned to the Banks saga a few years ago.

“I felt like this story was just too good not to tell or retell,” he said, noting that his approach is quite different from that of Sargent. “I wrote it from a personal perspective because I knew so many of the people involved.”

Broder came to Henry County as a small child in 1951 when his parents emigrated from Switzerland. His father began to work for some investors on the development of a farm on Flippen Road, just south of where I-75 now crosses the road. Eventually the family bought the farm, which is no longer in operation, although he and his siblings still live on a portion of the original land. A graduate of Henry County High School in 1965, the final year Stockbridge residents attended the school, he has lived all but a few years of his life on that same piece of property and spent his entire banking career in Henry County as well.

The book technically is in the category of historical fiction, although the major events are essentially true. “It is sort of a murder mystery the way I tell it,” he said, adding that even those who were around when the story unfolded will learn new things from the details he has uncovered in his research. He estimates that he has about a thousand pages of notes from transcripts of testimony from the trials and appeals. He also pored through more than a decade of newspaper accounts from the period.

“I deal with the politics of the time. I discuss the jail and death row,” he said. “I talk about the heroes who are in the story, such as the young defense team and what they did, how they did it and the information they obtained.”

Many of the attorneys who were involved in the case at the time were schoolmates of Broder’s and went on to become successful judges and/or district attorneys.

“I take the high road when talking about who was involved,” he said. “I don’t try to indict the police force and detectives. Obviously there will be some criticism, but I leave it up to the reader to decide.”

Broder is scheduled to discuss the book Saturday, February 19, from 10 a.m. until noon at the Henry County Regional Academic Center, 160 Henry Parkway in McDonough, at a meeting sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Henry and Clayton Counties, Inc.