This week, Laura looks at a 180-year-old murder mystery that served as inspiration for Margaret Atwood’s novel ‘Alias Grace’.

When Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery (his housekeeper and mistress) are found dead in the basement of Thomas’ grand mansion, suspicion immediately falls on his two young servants, Grace Marks and James McDermott. But when Grace and James are caught crossing the border from Canada to America, their conflicting confessions leave the authorities completely confused.

Murder They Wrote with Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling is available weekly on BBC Sounds. Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Email us at lauraandiain@bbc.co.uk