Philip Hankin was penniless, starving and exhausted. He had tried his luck at prospecting for gold in the streams of the Cariboo region of British Columbia, but had failed miserably. Only a few months before, he had been a lieutenant in the British Royal Navy. Now here he was, in the summer of 1864, at rock bottom. Yet within five years he was the colonial secretary for the Colony of British Columbia and, for a few months in the summer of 1869, the Administrator of its entire government. How could this meteoric change in his circumstances have happened?

Sperry Cline was a Hazelton old-timer.

A traveller on the trail between Hazelton and the telegraph cabin of Kuldo on a snowy day in the last days of December 1904, would have received a shock. There, hanging from a branch, was a corpse. Beneath it was a fire, being tended by a young man the traveler might have recognised as Sperry Cline, who now had some explaining to do.

From a review of Pinkerton’s by Bill Arnott in the Miramichi Reader on March 22, 2021.

“This book sheds light on a richly layered piece of history, challenges preconceived notions of right, wrong, justice and law, and provides an intriguing window onto a time and a place, surprisingly not far removed from where we are now. I applaud Geoff Mynett for his diligent work and commitment to share an important and riveting story from BC’s past and doing it exceptionally well.”