★2026 The British Book Award Winner-Crime & Thriller‘A delight from first page to last’ SUNDAY TIMES‘I loved it! ... A whiff of Shardlake and a pinch of Rumpole ... a joy’ S.J. BENNETT, author of THE WINDSOR KNOTWhen barrister Gabriel Ward steps out of his rooms at exactly two minutes to seven on a sunny May morning in 1901, his mind is so full of his latest case – the disputed authorship of bestselling children’s book Millie the Temple Church Mouse – that he scarcely registers the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep.But even he cannot fail to notice the judge’s dusty bare feet, in shocking contrast to his flawless evening dress, nor the silver carving knife sticking out of his chest. In the shaded courtyards and ancient buildings of the Inner Temple, the hidden heart of London’s legal world, murder has spent centuries confined firmly to the casebooks. Until now…The police can enter the Temple only by consent, so who better to investigate this tragic breach of
