The chilling tale of one of Scotland's most infamous villains, including new details and previously unpublished informationHe was a respected cabinet-maker and councilman by day--but Deacon William Brodie changed into a sinister, thieving monster when darkness fell on the old city of Edinburgh. Cleverly employing his respectable reputation to access the richest members of society before stealing from them as a masked burglar, he used the resulting illicit money to fund yet another life--with five children and two mistresses. But Brodie--whose chilling story inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to create the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde about a century later--came fatally unstuck when a captured accomplice informed on him. Then neither his ill-gotten gains nor his steel collar designed to cheat the hangman could save him. Author Rick Wilson offers a warts-and-all biography of Brodie, from his relatively innocent young years through to his public disgrace and execution--hanging on the very gallows he conceived himself.