Along Came a Fifer — R. Michael Phillips

Ernie Bisquets is a London pickpocket who was quite content with his station in life, until he put his hand in a pocket and pulled out a murder. It was this action that introduced him to the East London Adventurers Club. Murder and villainy seem to tug at the coattails of this unusual group. It's an ugly but acceptable byproduct of their business, but not something Ernie Bisquets was accustomed to. He just stepped off the bus on Conduit Street, after a short stay at Edmunds Hill Prison, and it was the last thing he imagined getting involved with. What confused him even more was why this group of Mayfair swells would require the services of a common pickpocket? In “Along Came A Fifer” this question quickly leads Ernie Bisquets, Patterson Coats and the East London Adventurers Club on a dangerous adventure through the streets of London and Paris, exposing the darker side of the art world. Phynley Paine is the beautiful but treacherous antagonist in the story. With ruthless determination she manages to stay one step ahead of the Police in her efforts to locate her accomplice, a known London forger. He's double-crossed her and Phynley Paine has made it very clear that she intends to locate him and retrieve her property at any cost. What she didn't count on was the intervention of the East London Adventurers Club.