Dick Harpootlian launches Dig Me a Grave book tour

Tour begins Dec. 16 in Columbia, SC, the city where Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins, South Carolina’s most prolific killer and the book’s protagonist, was put to death nearly 35 years ago

Richard “Dick” Harpootlian, the prosecutor who brought Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins to justice, is launching a tour of his book Dig Me a Grave: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer who Seduced the South on December 16, 2025 in Columbia, South Carolina. The launch event on the official release date of this compelling true crime story and personal introspection on the death penalty begins a tour that will take Harpootlian across South Carolina with additional stops in New Orleans and Washington, D.C.

Harpootlian will be signing copies of Dig Me a Grave at the following locations:

• December 16 Launch Event: 6:30 pm, 701 Whaley Street, Columbia, SC

(event includes a moderated conversation featuring a very special guest)

• December 17: 6:00 pm, Buxton Books, Charleston, SC
• December 18: 11:00 am, Jack’s Books, Florence, SC
• December 19: 5:00 pm, The Garden District Book Shop, New Orleans, LA

(event includes a moderated conversation featuring Jonathan Martin, Politico political bureau chief)

• December 22: 10:00 am, All Good Books, Columbia, SC
• January 23: 7:00 pm, Politics and Prose Bookstore at the Wharf, Washington, DC (event includes a moderated conversation with Josh Dawsey, Wall St. Journal political investigations reporter)
• February 20: 10:30 am, Litchfield Books, Pawley’s Island, SC

Published by Kensington Books, Dig Me a Grave is drawing rave reviews from industry insiders and New York Times bestselling authors. Publisher’s Weekly calls it, “a fascinating firsthand account of tangling with a monster.” Jonathan Martin, Politico politics bureau chief and moderator of the New Orleans book tour event, describes it as “a gothic crime tale” about “murder, corruption, and the underbelly of Southern justice.” Bestselling author of Down to the Bone, Caitlin Rother, says Harpootlian’s book is “lively, personal, insightful and compelling.”

Dig Me a Grave tells the chilling story about a serial killer who terrorized the South, and the prosecutor who pursued him to the electric chair despite his personal objections to the death penalty. Its pages chronicle the life of “Pee Wee” Gaskins, a charismatic con man who sprung from the swamps of the Carolinas to lead a cult of runaways, drifters, and misfits. The gruesome discovery that he killed them one by one — and then dumped their bodies in a private graveyard — set off a national furor in the mid-1970s.

But as a young prosecutor, Harpootlian discovered even a life sentence in a maximum-security prison couldn’t keep Gaskins’ from killing again.

With Gaskins’ most horrific murder yet to come, the killer and the prosecutor are put on a collision course that result in a death penalty trial that raises haunting questions of ethics and morality. “You’re like me,” Gaskins tells Harpootlian. “You like to kill.”

For the first time, Harpootlian details his campaign to put the legendary serial killer in the electric chair, and how he did not feel safe until the final switch was thrown.

About the Author

Richard “Dick” Harpootlian is a distinguished attorney, public servant, and leader, known for his work on high-profile cases and his contributions to both law and public policy. A graduate of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina School of Law, Harpootlian has built a reputation as a fearless prosecutor, a political strategist, and a steadfast advocate for justice.