Traces the 19th century murder of Helen Potts by Carlyle Harris and Harris's subsequent trial, highlighting what has been overlooked - the decisive role that the second-class status of women in Victorian Era culture played in this tragedy.

George R. Dekle Sr. served as a legal skills professor at the University of Florida, where he directed the Prosecution Clinic. His most recent book, Prairie Defender: The Murder Trials of Abraham Lincoln, won a Superior Achievement Award for Scholarship from the Illinois State Historical Society and Gold Medals for Biography and Politics from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association.