The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 - shot and beaten to death, his body set on fire and left smouldering in his own glebe field - gripped everyone from the Home Secretary in London to newspapermen across the country. It was a strange and stubborn case. The investigation lasted twenty-four years and involved inquests, judges and coroners, each more determined than the last to solve Oddingley's most gruesome crime - or crimes, as it turned out.

With a cast of characters straight out of Hardy,Damn His Bloodis a nail-biting true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness which brings an elusive society vividly back to life.

Peter Moore is a writer, journalist and lecturer. He teaches creative writing at City University and the University of Oxford. His first book,Damn His Blood, reconstructed a rural murder in 1806. His second,The Weather Experiment, aSunday Timesbestseller, traced early efforts to forecast the weather. He lives in London.

Pining for the next thing after Kate Summerscale's Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Mrs Robinsons Disgrace? Look no further. Mr Whicher's Victorian inheritor: this is pacy true crime at its very best - a gripping read with a twist in the tale on a story that has never been told before. This is Squire Haggard meets Midsomer Murders.