An outrageous Victorian adventure in the spirit of The Vesuvius Club and Glass Books of the Dream Eaters Dr Marvello's Travelling Circus brings a touch of magic and wonder each time it comes to town, but when a series of gruesome murders coincides with their arrival the performers find themselves caught up in some rather sinister goings on. It falls to ringmaster and master conjuror Cornelius Quaint, ably assisted by his Eskimo valet Butter, to investigate the killings and to clear the name of the circus strongman who is being held on suspicion of murder. But Quaint soon finds that these seemingly random killings are inextricably linked and, what is more, that they all point back to a dark secret in his own past. The Equivoque Principle is a fantastic romp which never takes itself too seriously and toys playfully with all the cliches of Victorian adventure stories. It was originally published as a limited edition of 1,000 signed and numbered hardbacks which have quickly become collector's items with copies on sale for up to $125 on the internet. / A great buzz generated online by the collector's edition. / Simultaneous publication with a limited edition hardback of the sequel, The Eleventh Plague. / The title refers to a conjuring move in which a magician forces the unsuspecting audience member to choose a particular card, a trick the author repeats with the plot of the novel itself.

/ 'Boisterous comedy and hairpin plot twists' - The TImes

Darren Craske began his career writing comic books and lives in the south of England. The Equivoque Principle is his first novel and the start of the Cornelius Quaint adventures.