From the author of The Missing Bishop and Monastery Nightmare comes Birch Kirby, one of the most memorable heroes since the eponymous protagonist of Fletch.In Kirby's Last Circus, Birch Kirby is a middle-aged private eye with a penchant for drinking too much, singing Irish barroom songs, and befriending $25-a-night ladies-of-the-night. He is not exactly the smoothest private eye in Chicago. But the CIA has noticed Kirby. They like his style. Nobody can be as genuinely inept as Kirby pretends to be, and they need someone with his imagination. After all, strange things are going on in the town of Grizzly Gulch, Illinois. The KGB keeps transmitting secret messages that, when decoded, read "SAMD+23." The CIA has been scratching their heads over that one, but they expect Kirby to break the case. Three months behind in his rent, Kirby answers the call of duty and goes into deep cover as the bullpen catcher for the Grizzly Gulch No Sox, only to end up fighting off the No Sox's nymphomaniac owner, Matilda Richwell, instead of the KGB. But through bumbles and accidents that would make Chevy Chase blush, Birch Kirby learns the meaning of SAMD+23. The struggle to save the world from ultimate catastrophe becomes the dramatic mainspring of this crisply written, crackingly entertaining novel of high jinks and serious conniving. Author Bio: Ross H. Spencer was born in Hughart, West Virginia and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. During World War II, he served with the 37th Infantry Division on New Georgia, on Bougainville, and in the Philippines. Following the war, he moved to Chicago to be near the Chicago Cubs, the ball club of his choice since 1932. He served again, this time with the Air Force during the Korean Emergency or "whatever it was." Ross H. Spencer was the father of three wonderful daughters and the proud husband of "the most beautiful lady on earth." In 1987 he returned to Youngstown, Ohio, where he spent the remaining 11 years of his