Barrister's new mystery novel offers glimpse inside the Inner Temple
Like her Edwardian era hero, Sir Gabriel Ward KC, Sally Smith lives and works on the grounds of the Inner Temple in London. (Photo courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing)
Since it was seized from the Knights Templar in the 14th century, the Inner Temple in London has housed acolytes of a different sort: men (and eventually women) who serve as advocates of the law. Sally Smith spent her legal career—and now is spending her retirement—inside the 15 acres that comprise the Inner Temple, now one of the four Inns of Court.
Smith has previously written nonfiction books about historical crimes and legal figures. When she decided to turn her hand to writing fiction, the familiar setting of the Inner Temple was the perfect setting for her new mystery novel, A Case of Mice and Murder: The Trials of Gabriel Ward.
Set in 1901, mere months after the death of Queen Victoria, A Case of Mice and Murder introduces a new (and very reluctant) sleuth to the literary scene. Sir Gabriel Ward KC is happiest either when holed up in his Inner Temple lodgings with his books or when making a compelling case in front of the High Court judges. A solitary, particular and cerebral man, Ward is not looking for excitement beyond the intellectual. But he finds it early one morning when he trips over the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England, which has been left on the doorstep of his professional chambers.
The ancient privileges afforded to the Inner Temple mean that no policeman is allowed to enter without permission, and an aghast Ward is told that he will conduct the investigation or be at risk of being kicked out of his lodgings. Unused to the world outside the Temple walls or of conversing with women apart from his old nanny or his mother, Ward must stretch himself to discover who killed Lord Norman Dunning.
All the while, Ward is also wrestling with a knotty legal issue involving the rights to a bestselling children’s book and will have to exercise all his skills on behalf of his client, the publisher of Millie the Temple Church Mouse. Written by a mysterious author, the book has been a runaway success, bringing throngs of children to the Temple Church and spawning toys, games and an American publishing deal. Now that the author has reportedly surfaced and is demanding her share of the money and control of the intellectual property, what will happen to Millie the Temple Church Mouse?
In this episode of The Modern Law Library podcast, Smith and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles discuss the launch of this new series, which will contain at least three books following Ward’s adventures. Smith describes her career as a barrister and why she chose to set the series at the beginning of the Edwardian era. She also discusses the issues of class, gender and the complex world within the walls of the Inner Temple.
Updated on July 7 to fix a misspelling of the title.
In This Podcast:
Sally Smith. (Photo courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing)
Sally Smith spent all her working life as a barrister and later king’s counsel in the Inner Temple. After writing a biography of the famous Edwardian barrister, Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC, she retired from the bar to write full time. A Case of Mice and Murder: The Trials of Gabriel Ward, her first novel, was inspired by the historic surroundings of the Inner Temple in which she still lives and works and by the rich history contained in the Inner Temple archives. A Case of Mice and Murder is the first in a series starring the reluctant sleuth Sir Gabriel Ward KC.
