The riveting story of Charles Stielow and Nelson Green, farmhands in the rural area of Orleans County, western New York who were accused of the double murder of their employer Charles Phelps and housekeeper Margaret Wolcott in 1915 and set in motion a criminal case which made history.

I'd never heard of Charles Stielow before so it was fascinating and a real page turner. It just shows that real life can be just as fascinating as anything fiction can come up with. I can't attest to the accuracy of the historical facts so have to rely on Colin Evans' painstaking research, but he certainly fills in all the background details of the criminal and legal investigations but also encompasses the conditions in Sing Sing, Charles Stielow's fellow prisoners and the desperate fight to prevent his execution in the electric chair. Colin Evans sets the scene and the atmosphere of the period and pulls into the story many of the larger than life characters that fought valiantly to save Charles including Thomas Osborne (Warden at Sing Sing) and Grace Humiston (lawyer) and those who were "convinced" of his guilt and relentlessly argued to ensure that Charles Stielow met his fate using any methods at their disposal both legal and illegal to achieve that goal. Special mention should go to David White, Charles Stielow's first lawyer who never gave up on his client despite insurmountable odds.

A reading a book like this is both heartbreaking, infuriating and absorbing at the same time. It makes you angry at injustice. Highly recommended.