Kate Woodcroft

Kate Woodcroft is the novel's main protagonist, a Crown's prosecutor in the royal British court system specializing in sex crimes like pedophilia and rape. A member of the Inner Temple league of barristers with 20 years’ experience within the grand architecture and luxurious decor of Westminster's palace of justice, Kate admits the relish with which she still embraces the court's archaic traditions like her expensive powdered wig and gold-braided patent leather pumps. She feels at home in the elite world of the royal institution, having earned respected status as a brash female in the conservative, male-dominated culture of Britain's hallowed government palaces. Vaughan defines Kate's character from the opening pages as a tireless advocate for society's most vulnerable victims of male sexual violence, now mostly underclass women abused by their partners.

She has rejected her law professor's regard for the truth as a murky inconvenience, and is committed...