The Hanging Tree

#4 in series: ‘The old crossroads used to run by here,’ Sam told Rafferty. ‘Legend has it that this was the originald Hanging Tree.’

When Inspector Rafferty first hears the report that a bound and hooded body has been seen hanging from a tree in Dedman Wood, he dismisses it as a schoolboy hoax. But then, the witness turns out to be a respectable local magistrate, who identifies the corpse as Maurice Smith, a man once accused of four child rapes. Thrown out on a legal technicality, Smith’s case had become a cause-celebre which generated much ill-feeling in the town. Rafferty and Sergeant Llewellyn visit Smith’s home, to learn he has disappeared, but they find a threatening letter, and fresh bloodstains.Then the body turns up again in the woods. Could there be a self-appointed executioner at work, meting out his own form of justice on the legendary Hanging Tree?