Open Verdict

When John MacLennan invaded the life of Aileen, a radio talk show host, in 1980 he was already dead. He was on a dissecting table with a pathologist cutting out his heart. Police Inspector MacLennan was found dead in his locked Hong Kong flat. At first glance, his death appeared to be suicide; there was a note. But there were also five bullet wounds in his chest-seemingly too many to be self-inflicted. Rumours swirl about his suspicious death. Maybe MacLennan had upset the gangsters by hounding them. Perhaps he had angered the police by digging too deeply into their culture. He may have offended the Hong Kong government by straying from the party line. The Inspector's death was discussed daily on Aileen's show, debating the question of whether it was suicide or murder. Aileen was threatened with a criminal libel suit for broadcasting and causing open discussion on such a sensitive issue. Based on actual events, Open Verdict offers a fictionalized account of MacLennan's case written by Ken Bridgewater, who lived in Hong Kong at the time. In this real-life mystery, Bridgewater seeks to reveal the facts of this mysterious case.