An Honorable Conspiracy

A Founding Father dies under suspicious circumstances—and an idealistic lawyer seeking justice encounters forces with vastly different priorities.

Richmond, June 1806. Judge George Wythe—signer of the Declaration of Independence and mentor to Thomas Jefferson—dies in agony. Rumors swirl throughout the entire city that his grandnephew and heir has poisoned him, a crime so vile Jefferson himself calls it “an instance of depravity…hitherto known to us only in the fables of the poets.”

When idealistic young lawyer Henry Martin investigates, he expects justice to be clear-cut. But within the shadow of Virginia’s classical Capitol, powerful men convene in secret. They fear that a guilty verdict followed by the grandnephew’s public hanging will forever taint the reputation and legacy of one of the nation’s most revered Founding Fathers, as well as undermine their own fragile social order.