The Long Dark Hall

Middle class Richmond businessman Arthur Groome implicates himself in murder when he flees from the Earls Court rooming house where showgirl Rose Mallory was killed. Groome wants to spare his faithful wife Mary Groome and their two preschool age daughters from the embarrassment of his infidelity. When questioned by the police he initially lies and denies knowing the girl and being in the area of her death. He later recants his story to the police and tells them the truth revealing that he did have a relationship with Rose. Witnesses who knew of him and Rose place him in her vicinity the evening of the murder including Rose's shrewish landlady, Mrs. Rogers, who admits she doesn't much like him. Knowing that Arthur truly does love her no matter what his and Rose's relationship was, Mary stands by Arthur's side through this ordeal and high profile trial. A conviction for murder would mean the death penalty. A man who has been following the trial approaches Mary saying he wants to provide her with his support and friendship. She is unaware that he is the true murderer, a serial killer who believes he is the arbiter of social morals and deliverer of social justice. Arthur's tribulations are told as a story within a story, that outer story concerning Leslie Scott, a researcher, telling Arthur's tale to a writer of a book who wants to include a chapter on an innocent man wrongly convicted.