Fox's book is based around a notorious real-life crime of early 20th Century Britain - the Scottish Dreyfus Affair - which consumed Arthur Conan Doyle in the last decades of his life.
It was essentially the murder of a Glasgow widow in 1908 which saw German Jew Oscar Slater accused and imprisoned - an obvious frame up. Slater spent 18 years behind bars, and when released in 1927, the "case for the defence" began in earnest (Slater managed to smuggle a please out of prison to Conan Doyle two years previous).
However, Slater was not the "unimpeachable character" that we would expect but an "affable rascal", who was already known to police. This was not a case of proving who did it rather than who didn't. It was a very real lesson in bigotry versus reason, for Slater proved the perfect patsy for a high profile crime that needed an immediate resolution.
The book is broken down into four parts: the narrative of the murder; the diagnostic methods of ACD's investigation; Slater's trial, conviction and imprisonment; and ACD's meticulous analysis of Slater's case and his liberation.
It is a compelling tale of the evolution of the judicial system in Scotland, and a stark reminder of how the justice system could quite easily make guilty an innocent man as Slater was " ... too guilty to be released yet not guilty enough to be hanged ...". It is also a tale of a very real travesty of justice - regardless of how despicable the man.
Well researched and annotated - a lengthy read.
What I am struck by, is that some time prior, Conan Doyle tried his hand a solving another murder - which was very similar to this one - emphasis on tried, as he never did find resolution. This formed the basis of Sinclair McKay's The Mile End Murder
See also:
The Debatable Case of Mrs Emsley by Arthur Conan Doyle
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