There is a gift inscription on the half title page and the pages are tanned, else clean and solid. "The Society Murders is the name given to the 4 April 2002 murders of husband and wife millionaire socialites Margaret Mary Wales-King, 69, and husband, Paul Aloysius King, 75, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, by Margaret's son, Matthew Wales. News media throughout Australia covered the crime and subsequent trial, which later became the subject of a book and a television film" (Wikipedia) Hilary Bonney, a Melbourne barrister, wrote the book without co-operation from the Wales-King family, based largely on court evidence and police documents.