[Joe Milo Private Eye 01] • The Bell of Girardius

**Tough, laconic Brit private eye Joe Milo is up against the forces of occult evil in this tense, witty and cold-blooded chiller by the author of KILL CITY USA and THE WHORE OF BABYLON.**

Private Eye Joe Milo’s hangover wasn’t improved by the clients waiting at his London office. The Russian madam’s sister was missing – sucked into a supernatural swamp by Satanists and the Forces of Darkness, Olga says. The claimed familial link to Rasputin didn’t help his mood either. Nor did Tanya, her ex-Spetsnaz minder with a Soviet attitude.

The first corpse turns up in Paris. He finds it. Actually – he pulled the trigger. The next victim, ritually mutilated, turns up in a garden square near his apartment, addressed to him. The cops aren’t impressed by Milo’s alibi, with an ex-Police Commissioner the Sergeant in the Occult Order, the Temple of Baphomet (the ungodly idol worshipped by the medieval Knights Templar).

The Sergeant’s buddy, Grigory Zeltin, is its Grand Master. And he needs a special bell cast for the upcoming carnal rite. Even then things might have been OK, but Milo falls for Zeltin’s daughter. And Joe and his enigmatic sidekick Jonah are about to enter the jaws of hell in this deliciously dark novel.