Barrister’s new mystery novel offers glimpse inside the Inner Temple

House
The Trendy Legislation Library
Barrister’s new thriller novel provides glimpse…

The Trendy Legislation Library

Barrister’s new thriller novel provides glimpse contained in the Interior Temple

By Lee Rawles

June 18, 2025, 11:00 am CDT

Because it was seized from the Knights Templar within the 14th century, the Interior Temple in London has housed acolytes of a distinct type: males (and ultimately girls) 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 Interior Temple, now one of many 4 Inns of Courtroom.

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 Interior Temple was the proper 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 Interior Temple lodgings together with his books or when making a compelling case in entrance of the Excessive Courtroom judges. A solitary, specific and cerebral man, Ward isn’t on the lookout 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 Interior Temple imply that no policeman is allowed to enter with out permission, and an aghast Ward is instructed that he’ll conduct the investigation or be susceptible to being kicked out of his lodgings. Unused to the world outdoors the Temple partitions or of conversing with girls aside from his outdated nanny or his mom, Ward should stretch himself to find who killed Lord Norman Dunning.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 concern involving the rights to a bestselling kids’s guide and should train all his abilities on behalf of his consumer, the writer of Millie the Temple Church Mouse. Written by a mysterious writer, the guide 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 writer 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 Trendy Legislation Library podcast, Smith and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles focus on the launch of this new collection, which can include not less than three books following Ward’s adventures. Smith describes her profession as a barrister and why she selected to set the collection firstly of the Edwardian period. She additionally discusses the problems of sophistication, gender and the complicated world inside the partitions of the Interior Temple.

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 Interior Temple. After writing a biography of the well-known Edwardian barrister, Sir Edward Marshall Corridor KC, she retired from the bar to write 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 Interior Temple through which she nonetheless lives and works and by the wealthy historical past contained within the Interior Temple archives. A Case of Mice and Homicide is the primary in a collection starring the reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC.

Write a letter to the editor, share a narrative tip or replace, or report an error.