Casey Sherman

Last updated
Casey Sherman
CaseySherman.jpg
Sherman in 2010
Born
Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States
Occupations

Casey Sherman is an American author, journalist and screenwriter most famous for his 2009 book The Finest Hours, which was adapted into the Disney Studios 2016 film of the same name, and Boston Strong, which was adapted into the 2016 film Patriots Day .

Contents

Biography

Sherman was born in Hyannis, Massachusetts. He attended Barnstable High School and graduated from Fryeburg Academy in 1988. He studied at Boston University, graduating in 1992.

Producer and author career

As a television news producer for WBZ-TV, Sherman led a high-profile re-investigation of his aunt's murder, which he later chronicled in his 2003 book, A Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Real Boston Strangler. Sherman's work suggests that his aunt, 19-year old Mary Sullivan, might not have been a victim of the Boston Strangler, as commonly believed. Sherman wrote The New York Times Best-seller The Finest Hours in 2009, co-authored with Michael J. Tougias. The book was developed into the 2016 motion picture of the same name. It was filmed in Quincy, Massachusetts, and Chatham, Massachusetts, for Walt Disney Pictures. The Craig Gillespie-directed film stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Eric Bana. Sherman's other books include Bad Blood, Black Irish, Black Dragon, and Boston Strong: A City's Triumph Over Tragedy . The latter, about the city's response to the Boston Marathon bombing, was adapted as a feature dramatic film, Patriots Day (2016), starring Mark Wahlberg, Nina Dobrev, Jake Picking, Candice King, Alyssa Diaz, Kat Graham, James Harvey Ward, Stephen Amell, Paul Wesley and Alex Mckenna directed by Peter Berg.

Sherman also co-wrote The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS and the New York Times Best-seller 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady's Fight for Redemption with Dave Wedge. Both books are now in development as major motion pictures, as is Sherman's 2013 true crime drama, Animal: The Bloody Rise and Fall of the Mob's Most Feared Assassin with 20th Century FOX. In 2018, Sherman reunited with Michael J. Tougias to write the Cold War drama Above & Beyond: John F. Kennedy and America's Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission .

In 2020, Sherman co-wrote the true-crime thriller Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of Capture & Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss with Dave Wedge and partnered with James Patterson to write The New York Times Best-seller The Last Days of John Lennon with Dave Wedge.

In 2022, Sherman wrote the best-selling true crime thriller Helltown: The Untold Story of A Serial Killer on Cape Cod , chronicling the Tony Costa murders. Helltown is now in development for a limited television series with Amazon Studio starring Oscar Isaac and directed by Edward Berger.

In 2024, Sherman published his 18th thriller, A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime , which was published in 2024 and became a USA Today best-seller and a Los Angeles Times best-seller. The book re-examined the story of Lana Turner and the death of her gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato. Sherman's book received a nomination for the 2024 Clue Award's Book of the Year.

In 2025, Sherman published, Blood in the Water, a true crime thriller that chronicled the infamous Nathan Carman case. Publishers Weekly called the book, "a riveting true crime tale and a chilling examination of money's corrosive power." Blood in the Water was featured in a 2025 episode of ABC's 20/20. [1]

In 2025, Sherman wrote & produced a true crime stage play titled, A NightMARE with Casey Sherman, which premiered at Boston's historic Wilbur Theatre. [2]

In 2025, Sherman was featured in The Boston Strangler: Unheard Confession on Oxygen & NBC Peacock, which chronicled his work on the Boston Strangler case. [3]

Sherman is represented by the United Talent Agency in Los Angeles. He has appeared as a guest analyst on CNN, Fox News, NBC's Today Show , Discovery, History, Travel Channel, Dateline NBC , CBS Evening News , ABC World News Tonight , and others. Sherman is a contributing writer for The Washington Post , Esquire, Fox News, Boston Magazine , Boston Common, The Huffington Post and worked as a weekly featured columnist for The Boston Herald. In 2018, Sherman and Dave Wedge announced the formation of Fort Point Media, a film/TV/streaming content production company based in Boston and Los Angeles.

Whydah Gally

Sherman is also a member of the Whydah Gally investigative team. In 2018, Sherman led an expedition to Devon, England, to locate a blood relative of pirate captain Samuel Bellamy and obtain their DNA for comparison to a human bone discovered in the shipwreck by Barry Clifford. The bone was examined by forensic scientists at the University of New Haven and deemed not a match. The sample of Bellamy's DNA has been preserved for future analysis of at least six new skeletal remains recently found in the shipwreck.

Awards

Works

Novels

Non-fiction

Articles

  • "The Way Back" (2014, with Dave Wedge), in Esquire
  • "President Trump Needs to Learn Something about Diplomacy - and Fast" (2018) in The Washington Post
  • "Blood in the Water" (2019) in Boston
  • "Cape Fear" (2020) in Boston

Biographies

True events

History

  • Above & Beyond: John F. Kennedy and America's Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission (2018, with Michael J. Tougias)

Adaptations

References

  1. "Blood in the Water: The Untold History of a Family Tragedy by Casey Sherman". Publishers Weekly. 21 Jan 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-07.
  2. Wild, Stephi. "True Crime Master Casey Sherman Will Debut New Stage Show at Boston's Wilbur Theatre". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2025-12-07.
  3. "Casey Sherman on the Importance of Traveling "100s of Miles" in Boston Strangler Case". Oxygen. 2025-10-24. Retrieved 2025-12-07.