Author Rachel Franks has written an intriguing biography of NSW's longest-serving executioner, "An Uncommon Hangman: the Life and Deaths of Robert "Nosey Bob" Howard.

She weaves a compelling and compassionate narrative of one man’s life, told through the deaths of condemned criminals.

Robert ‘Nosey Bob’ Howard used to be a household name. Today, the noseless hangman who sparked fear and fascination everywhere he went is largely forgotten, yet Howard is vital to understanding attitudes towards capital punishment in Australia. Howard’s story is a critical chapter in the history of how generally enthusiastic spectators at early executions were overtaken by campaigners for the abolition of the death penalty.