Leon Labuschagne's livelihood depends on death. Atnineteen, he is a warder on Death Row: a shepherd whocares for the condemned - and a butcher who escorts themto the gallows. After a gruelling two-week stint in whichthirty-two men were hanged, Leon loses control, with tragicresults. And now he's the one facing the death penalty. Only the most precarious line of legal argument standsbetween Leon and the gallows. Chasing a defence, hisadvocate trawls the deepest recesses of life in the Pot - thetwilight world of Death Row. A gripping courtroom drama steeped in the factual,Shepherds & Butchers begins in 1987, a year in which 164people were executed. Two years later, the last man wentto the gallows in Pretoria, after more than four thousandhangings that century. This novel portrays legal executionin unprecedented detail, revealing its devastating impact onall those involved.