The hand of God

About the book

On a suffocating night, a mob gathers outside the county jail to lynch Sam Blake for a killing that seems supported by decisive evidence. The sheriff is not initially persuaded of the prisoner's innocence, and local opinion, expense, and electoral pressure all offer reasons to let the crowd have its way. Yet his responsibility requires something different from surrendering a man to collective certainty. As he considers the circumstances of the shooting, apparently settled details become worth examining again. Leinster makes the physical pressure of the waiting mob inseparable from the detective problem. The title reflects how people interpret a seemingly providential discovery, while the story tests whether that interpretation can survive patient attention to what actually happened.

• Due process and mob violence
• Evidence and certainty
• Public responsibility

Why read it

The investigation matters immediately because a mistaken assumption could become an irreversible act before the night is over.

English crime short story