Mercer’s Law
A Spectral Detective mystery
By C.J. Charles
Mercer’s Law
Washington, D.C., August 1945.
The war is ending, but Detective Sam Mercer has a mystery on his hands.
A woman has disappeared from a Columbia Heights boarding house, leaving behind her clothes, her luggage, a substantial amount of cash—and documents bearing more than one name.
Mercer has dealt with grifters before. False identities, forged papers and invented lives are nothing new. As the Baird said, …the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.
Mercer’s routine missing-person case unravels. The War might be as good as over, but dark forces are still fighting.
Pulled into line by veteran detective Walter Hennessy, Mercer meets a former OSS operative Arthur King, blinded on a mission earlier in that year.
Mercer has a law about coincidences:
One happens. Two deserve attention. Three probably aren’t.
Table of Contents
Mercer’s Law is being serialised here on Substack. Published chapters will be linked below as they appear. Bookmark this page to follow the story.
Chapter 5: Jana Ricke
Chapter 6: Confirmation
Chapter 7: King, Arthur R.
Chapter 8: Gate Keepers
Chapter 9: Accident
Chapter 10: Emergency
Chapter 11: Revelations
Chapter 12: Falling Dominoes
Mercer’s Law exists within The Spectral Detective series, following the strange cases, and stranger conspiracies and unexplained mysteries that only Arthur R. King can unravel using his unique Extra Spectral Perception, helping and helped by those drawn into his orbit.
A.R King and Associates’ story continues in the forthcoming novel, The Iron Circle: Part One — Ghost Line.
Follow the adventure: post-war investigations lead King and company deeper into a world where espionage, history and the supernatural refuse to stay neatly separated.
Read King in the Dark, either as e-books or as a collected print edition.
