The telephone murder: the mysterious death of Julia Wallace (2nd edition.)

One of a number of real life cases from an era when juries listened with rapt attention to evidence of exact times, distances, estimates of speed and even in some cases whether a clock was fast or slow-from witnesses whose recollections might be first-rate, mildly inaccurate, mistaken or wholly unreliable.

A reading of Old Bailey and other Assize court cases from the time suggests there may have been an entire industry centring on the creation of ambiguity, smokescreens and sometimes false alibis.

Advocates demonstrated skill, ingenuity and persistence in constructing explanations, favourable or unfavourable, according to whether they acted for prosecution or defence.