A Trial in Three Acts

A trial is rather like a play. We wear our costumes. We perform to the audience. And on a good day no-one gets murdered.

Six nights a week, the cast of the smash-hit play The Washington Murders gathers in the chapel of All Souls Cemetery to perform to a sold-out audience, with thousands more watching the livestream around the world. But on this night, the dramatic finale of the third act ends not in applause but in death, as leading lady Alexandra Dyce is beheaded live on stage. What is at first thought to be a tragic accident is soon revealed to be cold-blooded murder.

Every cast member appears to have a motive, but it is the dead woman's co-star—and ex-husband—Leo Lusk who is charged with the crime. For defence barrister Charles Konig KC, this ought to be the case of a lifetime: a glamorous victim, a world-famous client, and the chance to defeat his greatest rival, who is leading the prosecution's case. But Lusk is not an easy client; a method actor, he has taken extreme steps to get into the character of George Washington, and his demand to plead presidential immunity is derailing the defence.

It becomes clear that Konig's only chance of victory may be to identify the real murderer himself. As he and his co-counsel, New York lawyer Yara Ortiz, sift through the evidence, they realise that clues lie in the play itself... but also that the murderer may be about to strike again.