The Rumba of the Beast

Book excerpt: A modern-day Sherlock Holmes, Bernie Quist operates as a consultant detective from Baker Avenue in York. His assistant is Watson, although this Watson is a streetwise youth from the Grimpen housing estate and he's definitely no doctor. The mismatched duo take on bizarre cases which invariably lead into the realms of the supernatural, a shadowy world that, thanks to his dark secret, Quist is all too familiar with. It's almost Christmas and the ancient streets of York are filled with twinkling lights, bustling Yuletide markets and the occasional cloudburst of dismal British sleet. A mundane investigation leads Quist and Watson to an isolated village on the wintry Northumbrian coast, where two faces from the past await: an infamous practitioner of the black arts, and someone they were hoping never to see again. What begins as an intriguing mystery soon becomes the detective's most dangerous and horrific case, with Quist discovering the terrifying secret of the Mulgrave Ritual and his life hanging precariously in the balance. The Rumba of the Beast, a festive tale of gruesome murders, black magic and ballroom dancing. A dark and very peculiar game is afoot...