The title of the book explains it all — for this is in an account of what was called The Gun Alley Murder. The incident is precipitated by the rape and murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in Melbourne, Australia, in 1921. She was a schoolgirl who attended Hawthorn West High School and had last been seen alive close to a drinking establishment, the Australian Wine Saloon; under these circumstances her murder caused a sensation. In the 2000s, the case has become well known as a miscarriage of justice, since Colin Campbell Eadie Ross, the Australian wine-bar owner convicted of the murder of a child was executed despite evidence of his innocence — a perspective that this book's author concurs with, even though it was published in 1922.
