Cirrus@Austlit

'1864. On a hot summer night in Daylesford, Victoria, pretty young Maggie Stuart, recently married to a local miner, is found brutally murdered in her bed. An ugly, uncivilised vagrant by the name of David Rose has recently been seen lurking near her house. The townsfolk, appalled by so gruesome a murder of so innocent a girl, are certain of his guilt.To catch him, the Daylesford police chief reluctantly calls on the services of an assiduous German-born detective, Otto Berliner. Berliner arrives in town and is quick to catch the suspect. But it is only when he does, and Rose is convicted, that he realises how flimsy the case against Rose really is. With the help of his new friend Thomas Chuck, a local photographer, Berliner begins to urgently pursue the threads that will lead him to the real killer and prove Rose's innocence. But as the days and hours count down to Rose's execution, Berliner and Chuck find themselves thwarted at every turn. Will they be in time to save an innocent man?' (Publication summary)