WHAT CHILD IS THIS? Less than a week before Christmas 1938, ten-year-old Billy Hanover-scion of the wealthiest family in Union City-is abducted from his schoolyard and held for ransom. Making the nightmare even more perilous is young Billy's heart condition, which turns his rescue into a race against time. Local police and federal agents are on the case, but with the clock ticking toward Christmas Eve, The Midnight Guardian sidesteps conventional law enforcement channels and joins in the search. His journey takes him from a house of worship at the heart of Union City to the rough-and-tumble shipping docks at the river's edge, and along the way he forges an alliance with an unlikely combination of Good Samaritans and forgotten souls. On a cold winter's night in the season of miracles, can desperate kidnappers on a dark path find their way back to the light, and can The Midnight Guardian help a lost boy find his way home? Writer John C. Bruening returns to Union City for the newest adventure in the continuing saga of his two-fisted hero, The Midnight Guardian, which Blackgate.com has called "the creative construct of a first-rate storyteller." Cover Illustration: Douglas KlaubaCover Design: Maggie Ryel