A Hangman for Ghosts

We are transported. We are consigned to the ends of the Earth. And we are therefore as good as dead to the realm and its judges. There can be no hope of reprieve...Gabriel Carver the convict hangman of Sydney Prison knows that none of his kind may depart Australias penal colony without the systems leave. Then three people are murdered seemingly to protect the Rats Line an illicit path to freedom that exists only in the fevered imaginations of transported felons. But why kill to protect something that doesnt exist?When an innocent woman from Carvers past is charged with one of the murders and faces execution at his hands she threatens to reveal an incriminating secret of his own unless he helps her. So Carver must try to unmask the killer among the convicts soldiers sailors and fallen women roaming 1829 Sydney. If he can find the murderer he may discover who is defying the system under its very nose. His search will take him back to the scene of his ruin--to London and a past he can never remake nor ever escape not even at the edge of the world.Baltakmens echoing the voices of 19th-century masters like Conrad and Melville combines adventure and mystery in a high-stakes tale of class morality and justice. --Kirkus ReviewsA page-turner a savory treat to be devoured. --Foreword Reviews