Peril of the Brutal Dark An Ezra Cain Mystery (2025)

CHRIS CONDON AND JACOB PHILLIPS INTRODUCE A NEW NOIR ICON! New York City, 1941. Ezra Cain is a private investigator with a reputation for taking it on the chin if it means solving a case. But it’s his former life as an archaeology student that makes him the only man to track down an artifact that’s gone missing from the Museum of Natural History...an ancient anvil said to hold the power of the Greek god Hephaestus. If someone could harness that power, they could bend nations to their will. Science fiction quickly becomes Cain’s reality when a shadowy sect calling themselves the Brutal Dark appears in the city wielding resources that defy human logic. Now Ezra is the only thing that stands between them and their plot to overthrow America! Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips, creators of the hit series That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre, introduce us to a private eye whose business is exposing our deepest secrets...but on this job, he’ll learn that some mysteries are better off buried!

THE NEW NOIR SERIES FROM CHRIS CONDON AND JACOB PHILLIPS! Karl Meyer is missing, and an anvil with occult powers has been stolen, and only Ezra Cain sees the connection. But a visit with his old professor, Dr. Morris, comes with a caution: the anvil’s power is more dangerous than Ezra realizes. After a tip sends Ezra to the Clockworkers’ Union in Brooklyn, he’ll come face to face with the mechanical menace that wields that power!

THE BRUTAL DARK CLOSES IN! Ezra Cain meets face-to-face with the Brutal Dark...but it ain't on his terms! His snooping around the Clockworkers' Union has finally put his investigation on the shadowy sect's radar. But a dash of good fortune comes Ezra's way when reporter Sandy Williams gets a lead on the Brutal Dark's agenda. She's an old flame, though...is working together really in the cards for these two?

AMBUSH ON THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE! The Brooklyn Bridge is as good a place as any for Ezra to take a clandestine meeting with Karl Meyer, the man who could help him bust this case wide open. But mechanical monsters lie in wait, and Ezra's life is put right on the line. He knows too much now, and the only way to stay alive is to act fast. What he finds at the Clockworkers' Union might mean he's already too late!

EZRA TAKES TO THE SKIES! The Brutal Dark has taken to the sky, its plan has been put into action...and all of New York is in danger! With Ezra Cain literally hanging by a thread, he'll have to rely on his old skills as a flying ace to have any chance of bringing its machinations to the ground!

THE FIRST EZRA CAIN MYSTERY CONCLUDES! Terror rains from the sky! The anvil of Hephestus crackles with unfathomable power! Will the Brutal Dark finally unleash the power of the gods and reduce New York City to rubble? Witness the heart-stopping finale of the very first Ezra Cain mystery!