When barrister Gabriel Ward steps out of his rooms one sunny May morning in 1901, his mind is filled with his latest case: the disputed authorship of the bestselling children’s book Millie the Temple Church Mouse. He barely notices the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep—except for the judge’s dusty bare feet, starkly contrasting his flawless evening dress, and the silver carving knife lodged in his chest. In the shaded courtyards and ancient buildings of the Inner Temple, the heart of London’s legal world, murder has long been confined to casebooks.
Until now. With no police authority in the Temple, Gabriel is the natural choice to investigate. But he soon discovers that murder is more complex outside the courtroom and that behind the Temple’s heavy oak doors lie stranger secrets than he ever imagined.