Before Emmett Till was killed in Mississippi in 1955 for being black, and before Leo Frank was lynched in Atlanta in 1913 for being Jewish, two Irish Catholic immigrants in Boston, in 1805, were victims of an angry city. Dominic Daley and James Halligan were traveling from Boston to New York City. Around this time, a man named Marcus Lyon was robbed and murdered along the path traveled by Daley and Halligan. The two Irishmen denied any wrongdoing, but were swiftly arrested anyway and accused of murder. They spent five months in jail and were not allowed to see a lawyer until days before their murder trial began. This miscarriage of justice is the subject of a riveting new novel called The Garden of Martyrs by Michael C. White. White teaches at Fairfield University and is the author of three novels, including "A Brother's Blood," another historical novel revolving around murder which was named a New York Times "notable book" when it was released in 1997. In "The Garden of Martyrs," the trial of Daley and Halligan is depicted as a grave miscarriage of justice (it lasted only one day) which grew out of grave hatred of Irish immigrants in this Yankee stronghold. The men were sentenced to be hanged. The presiding judge wanted "their bodies dissected and anatomized." White (who lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children) sets the stage brilliantly, capturing the anti-Irish prejudices of the era, but not in the heavy-handed way of some historical novels. Equally important is the anti-Catholic nature of New England at this time. White uses the character of a tortured priest to explore this dimension of the story. Father Chervus was one of only two Roman Catholic priests in all of New England at the time, according to White. He had already faced persecution, having escaped the Terror of the French Revolution. Chervus sets out to comfort the wrongly accused and ultimately doomed Irishmen. Through this device we get to know more about the immigrants at the center of this American tragedy. Daley was a family man while Halligan was a more colorful, eccentric fellow. Despite their differences, however, they face their deaths bravely. All three of White's characters actually lived this nightmare. In fact, it was not until 1984 that the men were exonerated, by then Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. March 18 of that year was even proclaimed Dominic Daley and James Halligan Memorial Day. Michael White deserves credit for revisiting an episode in Irish American history which is disturbing and revealing, and one which might even seem relevant today, as issues of religion and immigration continue to dominate America's political culture. ($24.95 / 359 pages / St. Martin's)