The Secret of the Red Flame

Book excerpt: JOZEF IS PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME After Jozef loses the earnings from his family's butcher shop to a gang of street urchins, he vows to recover the money. Refusing to heed the warnings of his brother, an embittered, disabled Civil War veteran, he and his friends form a secret society to infiltrate the gangs that have been victimizing the Polish-American community in 1871 Chicago. To his surprise, Jozef finds himself in an uneasy friendship with Bridget, a member of one of the gangs. When Bridget is falsely arrested for the murder of a parish priest, Jozef knows the only way to save her is to find the real killer. As tinder-dry Chicago threatens to erupt in flames, Jozef, with the help of an unlikely ally, pursues a foe far more dangerous -- and evil -- than the homeless waifs who stole his family's cash.