The smear

In Dawson, the Malamute Saloon blazes with lamplight, music, whisky, and gambling as the first breath of Yukon winter sweeps in from the north. Finn Charley arrives flush with gold and ready to celebrate, but his triumph turns to dread when two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police enter with news of a robbery and murder on the Klondike Trail.

The investigating corporal studies the gathered men and recounts the victim’s final clue: the killer bore a large black smear on his left cheek. As the room falls silent, every glance becomes significant, and Finn Charley struggles to keep his fear concealed. This tightly plotted mystery is built around a tense confrontation, a seemingly impossible clue, and a police officer whose calm ingenuity puts a guilty man under unbearable pressure.