The Bishop's Pawn — Don Gutteridge

Lurid gossip surrounds the distinguished barrister Dick Dougherty who fled to Toronto from New York in 1838 with his two wards. But calumny mixes with politics, and a fiery sermon by Bishop John Strachan incites his murder. Dougherty is found dead in an alley with a note pinned to his back, scrawled with the word, “Sodomite.” Marc Edwards, Dick's dear friend, travels to New York to plumb the secrets of his exile and perhaps discover who killed him. The investigation leads Marc into the shocking enclaves of a “gentleman's club” which is a front for a pedophile ring populated by prominent citizens with too much to lose. Marc rushes back to Toronto to unmask the murderer and restore his friend's reputation.