A word of explanation: In London, “inns of court” are professional organizations of barristers (lawyers) and judges. To practice as a barrister in England or Wales, one has to belong to one of these four inns. These are also physical places, with offices, chapels, libraries, dining halls, gardens, and in the past, accomodations. Inner Temple is one of the four inns.
The odd and particular Gabriel Ward is a fastidious barrister at Inner Temple. He is currently working on a strange case of ownership and provenance for a wildly popular children’s book, Millie the Temple Church Mouse. It imagines a meek mouse that attends services at the inn’s church and practices good deeds. Edwardian parents of a certain class are all too glad to have their children read this instructive book. Of course, it has also greatly increased the number of celebrants at the Temple Church, gaggles of restive kids look for a glimpse of a mouse. Now that there are stuffed mouse toys and merchandising everywhere, a woman has come forward to claim authorship of the book that had been published anonymously.
At the end of his work day, Gabriel is so focused on his case (and what book he will be enjoying that evening) that he nearly trips over the dead body of the Lord Chief Justice of England. In life, he never would have been overlooked. Now, he is stabbed dead, on the floor, and without his shoes – decidedly plebeian. Owing to its ancient rules, and the fact that Inner Temple is even older than London itself, police authorities need permission to enter the grounds. Gabriel’s superiors decide he is the man for the job and give him the task of investigating the crime himself.
Day in, day out, winter and summer, three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, the Temple porters guarded the Inn from the outside world and all its wickedness and manifestations, as set out in the Regulations. Ensconced in their small gatehouse a short way down the lane from the Great Gate, or strolling around the precincts of the Temple, their vigilance disguised by an elaborate show of deference, the porters reigned supreme.
Accordingly, no street music was ever allowed to play there. The muffin man could not ply his trade within the Temple gates, welcome though his wares may have been on a cold winter Sundays. … All idle wanderers and suspicious persons must be barred from entrance and all unknown women must be excluded after six o’clock in the evening. The enforcement of the Temple’s sacrosanct peace prevailed over all other demands. ~Pg. 89
Author Sally Smith, herself a barrister and King’s Counsel, is able to bring a level of verisimilitude around daily life at Inner Temple by researching real figures and cases in the inn’s archives. She recalls in an interview, “When I turn off Fleet Street at night and the gate at the top of Middle Temple Lane closes behind me, I feel I am home in every sense of the word.”
A few photos I took at Lincoln’s Inn, London, October 2023. The chapel undercroft had recently been renovated and reopened.
It’s a world that few will ever experience, let alone understand, so this glimpse for the curious readers like myself is very welcome, fictional though it may be. Smith has managed to write a cozy mystery that is still sophisticated. The plotlines are clever and thoughtful. The character of Gabriel Ward is particularly ingenious and I was thrilled to learn this is only the first in a series with Ward at the bar. I can’t wait to visit Inner Temple again.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury/Raven Books for the review copy.
Publisher: Raven Books (June 17, 2025)
Language: English
Hardcover: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 1639736921