The Dead Alive

Perhaps Wilkie Collins' editor thought "John Jago's Ghost" sounded too much like an exciting tale of cursed, swashbuckling pirates for the alternate title of this novella to end up on the cover and instead settled for "The Dead Alive" – arguably the most balderdash title for a piece of fiction until the Sean Penn movie "Dead Man Walking" (1995). In the end though, the current title is somehow the more appropriate for this piece based on the infamous 1819 "Boorn Brothers" murder trial. An Englishman's fictional account of the first case of wrongful convictions in the history of The United States, the story centers around two brothers sentenced to death and life in prison respectively, for murdering their brother-in-law. However, the evidence is circumstantial, no body is found and how much does one brother's fiancée really know? The first legal thriller according to author and foreword writer Scott Turow, "The Dead Alive" serves you up a digestible platter of courtroom drama seasoned with that most delicious of spices: Based on true events.