1970: Ein geistig zurückgebliebener Mann wird beschuldigt, seine Großmutter brutal ermordet zu haben. Er wird verurteilt. 30 Jahre später kommen Zweifel an seiner rechtmäßigen Verurteilung auf ...
In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded, reclusive twenty year-old was convicted on disputed evidence and a retracted confession of brutally murdering his grandmother -- the one person who understood and protected him. Less than three years later he is dead, driven to suicide by isolation and despair. A fate befitting a murderer, perhaps, but what if he was innocent? Jonathan Hughes, an anthropologist specialising in social stereotyping, is determined to re-examine this case. There were alarming disparities in the evidence and Hughes has little doubt that there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice. But there is also something else pushing this half-Iranian, half-Libyan outsider to reach for the truth . . . This is more than a mere expose of corruption, it is a dark tale of solitude and the relentless need to contain aberration and section evil.
In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded, reclusive twenty year-old was convicted on disputed evidence and a retracted confession of brutally murdering his grandmother -- the one person who understood and protected him. Less than three years later he is dead, driven to suicide by isolation and despair. A fate befitting a murderer, perhaps, but what if he was innocent? Jonathan Hughes, an anthropologist specialising in social stereotyping, is determined to re-examine this case. There were alarming disparities in the evidence and Hughes has little doubt that there has been a terrible miscarriage of justice. But there is also something else pushing this half-Iranian, half-Libyan outsider to reach for the truth . . . This is more than a mere expose of corruption, it is a dark tale of solitude and the relentless need to contain aberration and section evil.
Minette Walters arbeitete lange als Redakteurin in London, bevor sie Schriftstellerin wurde. Seit ihrem Debüt, das 1994 auf Deutsch veröffentlicht wurde, zählt sie zu den Lieblingsautoren von Millionen Leserinnen und Lesern in aller Welt. Viele ihrer bisher erschienenen Romane wurden mit wichtigen Preisen ausgezeichnet und in zahlreiche Sprachen übersetzt. Minette Walters lebt mit ihrem Mann und ihren beiden Söhnen in Dorset, England.
? Jerry Bauer