Motor Matt's Short Circuit; Or, The Mahout's Vow
1962
Motor Matt King lives for speed and spectacle. As the star driver of a traveling carnival show, he's got the nerves of steel and the engineering genius to handle anything from a sputtering motorcar to a rickety early aeroplane. But when a mysterious snake charmer named Dhondaram arrives with a hidden agenda and a massive elephant named Rajah goes on a rampage through the tents, Matt finds himself caught in a storm of danger he can't outdrive. The mahout who tends Rajah has sworn a vow, and the stakes extend far beyond the carnival's glowing lights. With his friends depending on him and something ancient and dangerous stirring beneath the tents, Motor Matt must figure out who's trustworthy before the chaos swallows them all. This is early 20th-century boys' adventure at its purest: mechanical ingenuity meets exotic mystery, wrapped in the adrenaline of a traveling show where anything can go wrong at any moment. Perfect for readers who want their thrills served with a side of old-world carnival atmosphere.
