Gallows Thief (2001) is a historical mystery novel by Bernard Cornwell set in London, England in the year 1817, which uses capital punishment as its backdrop.

The story concerns an amateur investigator hired to rubber-stamp the death sentence of a condemned murderer.

Lord Sidmouth makes it clear that he has no doubts that Corday is guilty, and regards Sandman's job as an empty formality.

The Countess was sitting for Corday in her London house when she was brutally stabbed to death, and her clothes were torn off, suggesting that she had been raped.

Sandman's one-time fiancé, Eleanor Forrest, tells him that her maid saw Meg taken away from the house in a coach belonging to the Seraphim Club.

Lord Sidmouth writes a hasty pardon while ordering horses and a police escort to speed Sandman to Newgate.

Gatrell's book, "The Hanging Tree," a work of history on capital punishment in late 18th and 19th century England.