The book is based on a real murder that took place in Dublin in November 1856. The victim was the chief cashier of the city’s railway station, found dead in his office. The murder was extremely brutal, but the money in the cash register remained untouched, so the motive remained a mystery. A detective and a lawyer tried to solve the case, but the circumstances were so tangled that they couldn’t find any evidence. This intriguing case remained unsolved and kept society on edge.