VALLEY of the SHADOW: A Brefniverse Supernatural Noir Adventure

By Brefni O'Rourke

In 1927, a down-on-his-luck prizefighter must transport an elderly millionaire across the country, evading occultists, gangsters, and crooked prohibition agents, while protecting an ancient artifact from a sinister secret society.

Boxer Jimmy Tiernan is having nightmares. Of a past he can barely recall, or maybe it's a future he doesn't want to acknowledge... Either way, his world is crumbling. When awake, he's having spells... Too many punches to the head? Or something else?

After his next bout ends in a 3rd round KO, he's in debt bad to Gambino, a local Hell's Kitchen wise guy. All the while, his kid brothers in the hospital, the victim alcohol poisoning. The put-upon pugilist needs a break, big time.

Enter old friend Freddie, a jazz musician, with a tantalizing offer... Drive eccentric millionaire Monty McMoneagle cross country and collect twenty grand. Jimmy sees it as a chance of a lifetime, to get out from under the mob, get his brother the care he needs, and pave a new life with best girl Darla. But the trip's no sooner underway when Jimmy finds out he's got to be every bit the bodyguard that he is chauffeur. Somebody wants dear old Monty dead and fast.

But why?

Maybe it's Monty's unseemly past as a bootlegger or his unsavory associations with the Thule Group, a cult of German mystics... The latter, a troubled near Faustian relationship that has spanned decades and allowed him to come into possession of The Oracle, a supernatural artifact that can predict the future. Jimmy and Monty are soon dodging religious fanatics, hard boiled gangsters, and crooked prohibition agents at every turn, fighting to get away from a dedicated cabal of evil and across the seamy underbelly of Jazz Age America. Despite his best efforts, Jimmy loses his enigmatic employer to Deacon Rowe, a mysterious rum-runner claiming to be Monty's long-lost son.

Upon reaching Chicago, Jimmy must choose the lesser of two evils, turning to none other than a young Al Capone for help. The stage is set for a showdown of epic proportions as the devious Deacon has aligned himself with the wickedest man alive, Aleister Crowley, and seeks to use the Oracle and old man Monty for his own nefarious purposes.

It's a race against time, to Death Valley, on the eve of a solar eclipse. A race to stop an ancient prophecy from coming true before a fateful ceremony begins.

VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

Fear no evil...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GRZYXJH9
• ISBN13: 9798250392563
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"