The Waxwork Corpse
A deadly crime has been dragged to the surface…
London, 1965
Charles Holborne, maverick barrister, will never fit in at the Bar; he is too working-class, too Jewish and too dangerous.
But that makes him the perfect outsider to prosecute a shocking murder case which has already made its way to the press.
By chance, a body was found, dumped in a lake. It had clearly been there for some time, but the conditions in the water have meant that it was nearly perfectly preserved.
The police have managed to match this ‘waxwork corpse’ to a missing woman and if her husband — a senior judge — was the one who killed her, the scandal threatens to rock the British justice to its foundations.
The waxwork corpse is not the only thing to be raised from the past. The investigation also dredges up a violent mistake made by Charles in his youth which, if revealed, could put his own life at stake…
THE WAXWORK CORPSE , based on a real Old Bailey case
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Simon Michael
Simon Michael, often referred to as “the British John Grisham”, is a barrister (trial attorney) and the author of the best-selling Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers.
The books are set primarily in London in the 1960s and 1970s, a period of huge social change, and they explore loyalty and prejudice and what happens when justice collides with a corrupt Establishment. They’re historical and legal crime novels, but they’re also about memory, moral compromise, and the long shadow history casts over the present.
At their centre is barrister Charles Holborne, born Charlie Horowitz, a former East End boxer and occasional criminal who is drawn into cases shaped by gangs, organised crime, political interference and institutional corruption.
Moving between London’s courtrooms and the criminal underworld, the novels explore the tension between professional ambition and personal integrity, and the fragile line between justice and expediency. The series does not shy away from the class tensions and prejudices embedded within the legal profession of the time, including the racist, antisemitic and classist attitudes faced by those entering the Bar in the middle of the last century, echoes of which still resonate today.
Combining legal authenticity with gritty urban realism, the series uses crime as a lens to examine how power operates within institutions, who the law ultimately serves, and what it costs to pursue truth when the system itself is under pressure.
Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers
Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers consists of eleven books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
