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2025: A witch hunt of a very different kind…
Witch Trial
What you need to know before your trail
When 18-year-old Christian Shaw is found dead in an Edinburgh park, the city reels – and the shock only deepens when police charge her best friends, Eliza Lawson and Isobel Smyth, with her murder.
As social media explodes and headlines scream for justice, rumours of bullying spiral into something darker: whispers of rituals, obsession, and a teenage pact gone wrong.
Matthew Phillips, a respected heart surgeon, is reluctantly called for jury duty. But as the trial unfolds – and the girls reveal a chilling defence no one saw coming – he begins to question everything: the motives, the evidence, even his own judgement.
Who’s telling the truth? Who can be trusted?
Travel Guide
Edinburgh
Oh the city is well evoked but the main story takes place in the courtroom.
However, there is a very interesting historical nods to past witch trials: Christian Shaw (1685 – 1737) played a key role in the Bargarran witch trials, which took place in 1697. Shaw, then aged 11, accused over 20 people of witchcraft, 7 of whom were later hanged then burned.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Witch Trial
Destination/location: Edinburgh Author/guide: Harriet Tyce Departure Time: 2025
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