Penny Dreadful, is the second novel by American novelist Will Christopher Baer

Will Christopher Baer

Will Christopher Baer is an American author of noir fiction, often delving into sex, violence, mystery and erotica. Currently published works include Kiss Me, Judas, Penny Dreadful and Hell's Half Acre, all of which have since been published in the single volume Phineas Poe...

. It is written in the grim style of hardboiled

Hardboiled

Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...

 fiction. First published by Viking Press

Viking Press

Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...

.

Plot summary

To play the game of tongues, you must first understand the caste system….Phineas Poe, antihero of Kiss Me, Judas, returns to Denver from harrowing adventures in Mexico to find that reality has been rewritten and the laws of reason redrawn. When Poe is enlisted by his old ally, Detective Moon, to find a missing cop named Jimmy Sky, he finds himself perilously drawn into the game of tongues, a violent fantasy game played out by disaffected college drones, hacker kids, and goth refugees in underground punk clubs, on rooftops, and in sewers. Everyone he meets has multiple personalities, and before long Poe begins to lose track of his own various identities. If he can hang onto his sanity long enough to find Jimmy Sky, he might just beat the game.

Characters in "Penny Dreadful"

Phineas Poe/Ray Fine: The main character. A former policeman suspected of murdering his wife, Phineas is an detached and (in many ways) unbalanced individual who changes personalities the way that other people change clothing.
Detective Moon/Jimmy Sky : A member of the Denver Police Department who used to work with Poe. He is the one who sends Phineas on his mission to find Jimmy Sky, who is King of the Freds" and a figure in the Game of Tongues.
Eve/Goo: A recent friend of Poe's from his adventures in "Kiss Me, Judas". Eve plays the Game of Tongues as her alternate persona, Goo, who is the girlfriend of Chrome.
Christian/Chrome: A cruel Mariner in the Game of Tongues, Chrome is a self-envisioned master of French and the beau of Goo.
Griffin/Major Tom: A high-profile Denver lawyer who went to college with Poe. Some time during a break in their friendship, he was drawn into the Game of Tongues to become Major Tom, a Mariner.
Lot McDaniel/Theseus the Glove: An officer in the Denver Police Department, and the head of the Game of Tongues in the city.
Matthew Roar/Mingus the Breather: A Breather in the Game of Tongues, and a close friend to Chrome, Goo, and Dizzy Bloom.
Dizzy Bloom: A Breather in the Game of Tongues.
Crumb/Gulliver: A Redeemer in the Game of Tongues, and an old friend of Poe's.
Lady Adore: A mysterious but powerful figure in the Game of Tongues, who seems to stand almost on par with Theseus the Glove. Goo is her apprentice in a series of torture shows.

External links

• Official site of Will Christopher Baer