Deptford, England, 1888 ... Richard Stokes - one half of a tag-team carnival boxing duo - has vanished, leaving his loving wife, pugilist Eby Stokes, homeless and penniless with only questions and no answers. A mutual friend asks Holmes to look into the disappearance. Watson believes the matter to be a common case of abandonment, and Holmes' interest merely an excuse to try his hand in the boxing booths of a visiting circus. However, when they are almost killed, Holmes and Watson's only remaining clue to Stokes disappearance harkens back to a boxing club disbanded in shame more than sixty years earlier.Why did Stokes abandon his wife? What possible significance could the long extinct Pugilistic Club have in the matter? Who is behind the fire that almost took the lives of Holmes and Watson? Joining forces with Eby Stokes, Holmes and Watson are determined to find the answers. The kaleidoscope lights of the carnival hide many secrets, including a threat to the foundation of the British Empire. The game's afoot and, this time, it's a matter of life and death in and out of the ring...
Author Biography:
Andrew Salmon (writing as Jack Tunney) is also the author of Fight Card Sherlock Holmes: Work Capitol. His other Sherlockian tales have appeared in five volumes of Airship 27's award winning Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series. A multiple Pulp Factory Award winner with numerous other nominations for Ellis, Pulp Ark, and Pulp Factory awards, Andrew lives and writes in Vancouver, BC. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Pro Se Presents, Masked Gun Mystery, Storyteller, Parsec, TBT, and Thirteen Stories. He has published or appeared in twenty-four books: The Forty Club ("A good solid little tale you will definitely carry with you for the rest of your life." - Midwest Book Reviews), The Dark Land, the first of a series ("A straight out science-fiction thriller that fires on all cylinders" - Pulp Fiction Reviews), The Light Of Men, ("A book of such immense significance that it is not only meant to be read, but also to be experienced...a work of grim power" - C. Saunders), Secret Agent X (Volume One and Three), Ghost Squad: Rise of the Black Legion (with Ron Fortier), Jim Anthony Super Detective (Volume One), Black Bat Mystery (Volume One), Mars McCoy Space Ranger (Volume One), Mystery Men & Women (Volume Two), Moon Man (Vol. One), The Ruby Files (Vol. One), Ghost Boy (Vol. 1), Lance Star (Vol. 4). The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade, The New Adventures of Major Lacy, and Box Thirteen Adventure Wanted .
