Euphemia Bourhill had been touring fairs as a gingerbread and fruit seller when she suddenly disappeared. Last seen on October 15, 1847, on the outskirts of Edinburgh after the Mid Calder Fair, the 50-year-old’s badly mutilated body was found by Causewayend Bridge on the Union Canal 18 days later. She had been dead for some time. It is a case which offers up more questions than answers and despite authorities investigating her death at the time, no one was ever charged. This horrific crime is one of many tales from the banks of Scotland’s canals through history. For author Therese Stewart, writing under T A Stewart, it is this story and countless others where people met their grisly end due to their connections or lifestyles on the canals which sparked a fascination and a desire to know more.