Captain Sparkle, Pirate

America's greatest detective meets the high seas in this rollicking adventure from the Nick Carter vaults. When wealthy yachtsman Maxwell Kane sends an urgent summons, Nick arrives to find his friend and his guests held captive by pirates who've commandeered the vessel at anchor. What begins as a straightforward rescue mission quickly deepens into something more sinister: the pirates aren't simple raiders, and among the captives lies a traitor whose betrayal enabled the attack. Nick must identify the mole, outwit the pirates, and save Maxwell's party before the ship sails into darkness. This is vintage dime-novel adventure at its finest: fast-paced, full of narrow escapes and verbal sparring, with a hero whose intellect is as formidable as his courage. The Nick Carter stories sold millions of copies and defined American popular fiction for decades. This swashbuckling installment offers pure, unpretentious entertainment: a detective story wrapped in pirate adventure, where the only thing more dangerous than the enemies on deck is the betrayal hiding in plain sight.