Firewater

In the shadow of Chicago's grandest buildings, evil takes root. Pinkerton detective Josiah Sutton thought he'd left the worst behind him when he closed his first case in Kansas. But when he arrives in Chicago to investigate the theft of a whiskey shipment from the Fitzwilliam Distillery, he discovers something far more sinister than simple robbery. The city's most powerful alderman, Victor Calhoun, has built an empire on corruption, extortion, and murder. His criminal organization—The Talons—controls judges, police, and politicians through a web of bribes and blackmail. Workers who resist are beaten or killed. Witnesses disappear. And those who get too close to the truth end up floating in the Chicago River. When Clara Fitzwilliam offers to help expose Calhoun's crimes, Josiah wants to trust her. But Clara's betrayed him before to protect her father's secrets. Can he rely on her when the stakes have never been higher? As Josiah digs deeper, he uncovers connections to The Serpent—the same shadowy figure whose network he's been fighting across the territories. Bodies pile up. Allies fall. And Josiah realizes that taking down Calhoun might be exactly what The Serpent wants. In a city where corruption wears a respectable face and justice is bought and sold like commodities on the Board of Trade, Josiah must risk everything to expose the truth. But The Serpent is playing a longer game, and Josiah's greatest enemy may be the secrets buried in his own family's past. Justice has a price. In Chicago, that price is paid in blood.