When Ethel Griggs dies suddenly in the Victorian country town of Omeo in January 1928, rumours about her husband's blatant affair with Lottie, the lovely 20-year-old daughter of local grazier and Methodist elder, Jack Condon, are rife. So rife that despite a doctor's certificate suggesting natural causes, police order Ethel Grigg's body to be exhumed and the young mother of 11-month-old baby Alwyn is found to have died from arsenic poisoning. Her husband, the Rev Ron Griggs, the district's Methodist minister, is charged with her cruel and heartless murder.Based on a true story, Reg Egan has recreated the town and its people, the atmosphere and the love affair that intrigued and shocked the whole of Australia. This is a true crime story that is as brutal and shocking today as it was in 1928.