Bullet Catch Showdown

By I.J. Parnham

Hale, September 2014

The stage magician Malachi Muldoon is the world’s most dangerous practitioner of the arcane arts with his performance of the notorious bullet catch. And his show in Bear Creek draws the interest of Adam Clements, and Deputy Hayward Knight, although for very different reasons. While Clements is keen to join Malachi on stage and become part of his act, Haywood is out to try and solve an old mystery: it seems that wherever Malachi Muldoon performs, a trail of bodies is left behind.

Before long, Adam and Haywood are embroiled in Malachi’s web of deception. Can they unmask the guilty when they are forced into a showdown with a man who hides the truth in plain sight?

Misdirection is often used by magicians to fool their audiences and here Ian Parnham proves that writers have perfected that art too. Parnham manages to easily lead the reader into believing they know who the killer is yet manages to conceal the motive until he is ready to expose the truth. Even then there are more surprises waiting.

Filled with terrific characters this twisting tale cannot fail to grab the readers’ imagination. As well as the dramatic and tense bullet catch performances there are more deadly exchanges of gunfire. Then there’s the mystery of why one man is trying to bring an end to Muldoon’s show and why does he keep telling Clements that if he becomes part of the act he will die?

Ian Parnham has once again written a gripping book that is extremely hard to put down. With many unforeseen twists and turns I’m sure most readers will enjoy Bullet Catch Showdown immensely.