Death's Clenched Fist

Barred from his favorite bar!

Half Irish, half Italian, half-drunk through most of the 1890s, Paddy Moretti spent most of the hours he wasn't pursuing horse racing stories for The Spirit of the Times in his favorite New York alehouse, McSorley's Saloon. Now banished for six weeks for trying to smuggle in a woman, of all things, he had time on his hands.

An intrepid reporter without a place to drink could get into a lot of trouble in six weeks. Especially when a murder had been committed, the murder of Tim Kanady, one of Tammany Hall's most ruthless bosses. Marya Perlman seemed like the guilty party--she had, after all, said "We will kill you, Kanady!" in a public rally two days before the killing.

But Paddy was convinced Marya was innocent. He had no idea that he would become the fugitive, though, and have to chase through racetracks, bars, alleys, and whorehouses to unmask the real killer.