A real historical figure, the British surgeon Dr. William Palmer was accused in 1856 of murdering fourteen people by means of poison. The Dr. Kevorkian trial of the 19th century, with a bit of O.J. Simpson mixed in for good measure, the scandal entranced nearly the entire population...
Graves recounts the life of William Palmer: surgeon, racehorse owner, a confessed forger who got girls into trouble, doped horses, robbed a few people . . . but was he a poisoner? Based on an actual trial that took place in 1856, this novel is told through interviews with Palmer's...