"On a drizzly Monday morning, 16 August 1886, the inhabitants of Timaru woke to astounding news. Tom Hall junior, a well-known local businessman and man about town, nephew of former New Zealand Premier Sir John Hall, had been arrested for attempting to murder his wife, Kitty, by poison. Also charged was Meg Houston, Kitty Hall's lady-help. It was without doubt the most extraordinary thing that had ever happened in Timaru, if not in the whole colony. . . So begins Vile crimes, a riveting and fast-paced examination of one of New Zealand's most sensational court cases. Shortly afterwards, Hall was charged with the murder of his father-in-law, Captain Henry Cain, whose body was exhumed for evidence. Lawyer Peter Graham has pored through hundreds of pages of evidence and delved into legal and other contemporary accounts of the two cases to present a fascinating portrait of this scandal and its effects on a newly emerging colonial society, and of the man at its centre."--Back cover.