During a visit to the theatre, Thomas and Charlotte Pitt witnessed a tragedy: right before their eyes, the Stafford Court of Appeal judge died suddenly. A hip flask with whisky was found on the deceased… with a horse-dose amount of opium tincture. Immediately ruling out suicide, Pitt began investigating the circumstances of the judge’s death. And he found that days earlier, Stafford had been interested in case materials from five years ago. Thomas remembered that notorious crime—one that stirred all of English society because it was so unusual and so cruel. The killer was unanimously convicted and hanged.
But why had the judge dug up that old case again? Could his death be connected to the fact that he uncovered new circumstances that fundamentally changed the picture of the crime? And if so, perhaps the true murderer is still free…