The Fashionable Legislation Library
Barrister’s new thriller novel presents glimpse contained in the Internal Temple
Like her Edwardian period hero, Sir Gabriel Ward KC, Sally Smith lives and works on the grounds of the Internal Temple in London. (Picture courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing)
Because it was seized from the Knights Templar within the 14th century, the Internal Temple in London has housed acolytes of a special kind: males (and finally ladies) who function advocates of the legislation. Sally Smith spent her authorized profession—and now could be spending her retirement—contained in the 15 acres that comprise the Internal Temple, now one of many 4 Inns of Court docket.
Smith has beforehand written nonfiction books about historic crimes and authorized figures. When she determined to show her hand to writing fiction, the acquainted setting of the Internal Temple was the right setting for her new thriller novel, A Case of Mice and Homicide: The Trials of Gabriel Ward.
Set in 1901, mere months after the loss of life of Queen Victoria, A Case of Mice and Males introduces a brand new (and really reluctant) sleuth to the literary scene. Sir Gabriel Ward KC is happiest both when holed up in his Internal Temple lodgings together with his books or when making a compelling case in entrance of the Excessive Court docket judges. A solitary, specific and cerebral man, Ward isn’t searching for pleasure past the mental. However he finds it early one morning when he journeys over the physique of the Lord Chief Justice of England, which has been left on the doorstep of his skilled chambers.
The traditional privileges afforded to the Internal Temple imply that no policeman is allowed to enter with out permission, and an aghast Ward is informed that he’ll conduct the investigation or be liable to being kicked out of his lodgings. Unused to the world exterior the Temple partitions or of conversing with ladies other than his outdated nanny or his mom, Ward should stretch himself to find who killed Lord Norman Dunning.
All of the whereas, Ward can also be wrestling with a knotty authorized problem involving the rights to a bestselling kids’s e-book and must train all his expertise on behalf of his consumer, the writer of Millie the Temple Church Mouse. Written by a mysterious creator, the e-book has been a runaway success, bringing throngs of youngsters to the Temple Church and spawning toys, video games and an American publishing deal. Now that the creator has reportedly surfaced and is demanding her share of the cash and management of the mental property, what’s going to occur to Millie the Temple Church Mouse?
On this episode of The Fashionable Legislation Library podcast, Smith and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles talk about the launch of this new sequence, which can include a minimum of three books following Ward’s adventures. Smith describes her profession as a barrister and why she selected to set the sequence in the beginning of the Edwardian period. She additionally discusses the problems of sophistication, gender and the advanced world throughout the partitions of the Internal Temple.
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In This Podcast:
Sally Smith. (Picture courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing)
Sally Smith spent all her working life as a barrister and later king’s counsel within the Internal Temple. After writing a biography of the well-known Edwardian barrister, Sir Edward Marshall Corridor KC, she retired from the bar to jot down full time. A Case of Mice and Homicide: The Trials of Gabriel Ward, her first novel, was impressed by the historic environment of the Internal Temple by which she nonetheless lives and works and by the wealthy historical past contained within the Internal Temple archives. A Case of Mice and Homicide is the primary in a sequence starring the reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC.
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