A Case of Life and Limb

"A thoroughly appealing yuletide mystery" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and the second installment in The Trials of Gabriel Ward series--now in paperback. Christmas Eve, 1901. Gabriel Ward KC is hard at work on a thorny libel case involving London's most famous music hall star, Topsy Tillotson, and its most notorious tabloid newspaper, the Nation's Voice, but the Inner Temple remains as quiet and calm as ever. Quiet, that is, until a severed hand arrives in the post. While the hand's recipient, Temple Treasurer Sir William Waring, is rightfully shaken, Gabriel is filled with curiosity. Who would want to send such a thing? And why? But as more parcels arrive--one with fatal consequences--Gabriel realizes that it is not Sir William who is the target, but the Temple itself. Someone is holding a grudge that has already led to at least one death. Now it's up to Gabriel, and Constable Wright of the City of London Police, to find out who, before an old death leads to a new murder.

Sally Smith is the author of A Case of Mice and Murder, winner of the 2026 British Book Award: Crime & Thriller. A Case of Life and Limb is the second book in the series starring the reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC. Having spent all her working life as a barrister and later King's Counsel, Smith was inspired by the historic surroundings and rich history of the Inner Temple in London where she still lives and writes.