Virginia City in 1862 is a mining camp sitting above a rich vein of silver in America's Wild West. It's a dangerous place, full of gamblers, hurdy girls and gunmen - all of them on the make! When twelve year-old P.K. Pinkerton arrives there, homeless, penniless and hunted, things don't look good. But P.K. soon finds allies in Sam Clemens, a newspaper reporter, Poker Face Jace, a gambler who can tell when someone is bluffing, and Ping, a Chinese photographer's apprentice. With the help of these friends - and armed with a Smith & Wesson seven-shooter and a knack for disguises - P.K. takes on the tricksters and desperados and tries to become a detective. Fast, furious and funny - an utterly entertaining mystery adventure from an author who knows exactly how to grip and thrill her readers.

P.K. Pinkerton is back in the second book of this whip-crackingly brilliant series set in America's Wild West. The death of sadistic desperado Whittlin Walt has created an opening for 'Chief of the Comstock Desperados'. Several young gunfighters are battling it out in the saloons and streets of Virginia City, and against this backdrop of gunmen, gamblers and cowboys, P.K. Pinkerton, Private Eye, is having trouble drumming up business. Nobody seems to take a 12-year-old detective seriously! Then a servant girl named Martha begs P.K. for help. She witnessed the murder of her mistress - a hurdy girl - and the killer knows it. Now he is after her. Martha gives P.K. a description of the killer and a cryptic clue, but then she disappears. Can P.K. solve the case and find Martha before the killer does? About the Author Caroline Lawrence is American. She lives with her husband by the river in London and is active as a speaker in schools and at book festivals. She is the winner of the 2009 CLASSICS ASSOCIATION PRIZE for 'a significant contribution to the public understanding of Classics'. In addition to the 17 novels in The Roman Mysteries sequence, Caroline Lawrence has written five spin-off titles, all of which have contributed to total UK sales in excess of 1 million copies. She has now embarked on her exciting new series, The P.K. Pinkerton Mysteries.

Winning hearts and rave reviews, master-of-disguise P.K. Pinkerton returns to the Wild West in the best adventure yet! P.K. Pinkerton’s detective agency is thriving in Virginia City—until the evening P.K. is abruptly stuffed into a turnip sack and tossed into the back of a wagon! Surfacing in Chinatown, P.K. is forced into taking a job trailing the abductor’s fiancé in Carson City. Danger lurks at every turn. P.K. must battle quicksand, escape the despicable former Deputy Marshall, Jack Williams, and save Poker Face Jace from certain death at the hands of the fatal “Black Widow,” who is courting P.K.’s friend and mentor. Master-of-disguise P.K. Pinkerton has almost perfected the art of staying hidden in plain sight, but when the stakes become life or death, the only thing that can save the young detective is to give away the biggest secret of all.

When P.K's father, Robert Pinkerton, suddenly appears in Virginia City, P.K.'s life turns upside down. Suddenly she's having to learn how to be a 'girly-girl' in a cunning plot to outwit silver thieves. But it seems the thieves are one step ahead! Has P.K. finally met her match or can she use her detective skills to turn the situation on its head and impress her private-eye pa? A gripping rollercoaster ride of a tale packed with Wild West authenticity and atmosphere from this bestselling author.