"Tension and suspense are maintained on high with L.J. Ganser's narration of this Chicago mystery.... He gets inside the motley characters who carry a major part of the plot, portraying each personality distinctly." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner)

Thirty years ago, a superhero tried to save Chicago. Now, the city is again under siege, in this gritty, suspenseful, and beautifully written story from award-winning debut author T.J. Martinson.

Somewhere in Chicago, a roomful of people has been taken hostage. The hostages will be killed one by one, the masked gunman says on-screen, unless the police will admit they faked the death of the legendary superhero called the Kingfisher and helped him to give up his defense of the city 30 years ago.

Retired reporter Marcus Waters made his name as a journalist covering the enigmatic superhero’s five years of cleaning up Chicago’s streets. Then the Kingfisher died, Chicago resumed its violent turmoil, and Marcus slid back into obscurity.

But did the Kingfisher really die? And who would take hostages connected to the Kingfisher's past attempts to clean up the streets?

With the help of disgraced police officer Lucinda Tillman and a young hacktivist named Wren, Marcus will explore the city's violence, corruption, and chaos to figure out if the vigilante hero died tragically or gave up hope and abandoned the city - and for the hostages, the clock is ticking.

"The Reign of the Kingfisher is an extraordinary novel. Martinson's prose is so stunning, and his characters so indelible, that I'd suggest you read it even if you don't read comic books and have little interest in superheroes." (Emily St. John Mandel, best-selling author of Station Eleven)