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Ormond Yard Romantic Adventures #3
Saving the Boxer
Silas Warner is a flighty sort of fellow, a butterfly in his attire and his jumps from one man to the next. But there’s something about boxer Ezra Curiel—first his incredible body, and then his emotional depth—that delivers a knockout punch to Silas’s heart.
But can love thrive between two men with such different backgrounds—a poor clerk from the English countryside and a French-born pugilist who has achieved fame and fortune as the Hammering Hebrew?
Their romance is tested when Ezra is arrested for murder. But Silas and his friends know Ezra must be innocent, because he was in their presence at a soirée at Ormond Yard as the murder was committed.
Can Silas gather the talents of the men of Ormond Yard to prove Ezra’s innocence? Or in the process will they ruin his reputation, and subject him and Silas to prison for sodomy?
Saving the Boxer is a tale of two wounded men finding each other and fighting for their true love match in a restrictive society. It is a 65,000 word story of found family, the warmth of accepting strays, and triumph over adversaries. Though it’s third in the Ormond Yard series of historical romances, it can easily be read as a standalone.
But can love thrive between two men with such different backgrounds—a poor clerk from the English countryside and a French-born pugilist who has achieved fame and fortune as the Hammering Hebrew?
Their romance is tested when Ezra is arrested for murder. But Silas and his friends know Ezra must be innocent, because he was in their presence at a soirée at Ormond Yard as the murder was committed.
Can Silas gather the talents of the men of Ormond Yard to prove Ezra’s innocence? Or in the process will they ruin his reputation, and subject him and Silas to prison for sodomy?
Saving the Boxer is a tale of two wounded men finding each other and fighting for their true love match in a restrictive society. It is a 65,000 word story of found family, the warmth of accepting strays, and triumph over adversaries. Though it’s third in the Ormond Yard series of historical romances, it can easily be read as a standalone.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 16, 2024
About the author
Neil S. Plakcy
518 books682 followersI’m Neil S. Plakcy, and I write mysteries and romances filled with humor, heart, loyalty, found family, complicated heroes, and, very often, dogs.
Readers may know me from the Golden Retriever Mysteries, featuring Steve Levitan and his clue-sniffing golden retriever Rochester; the Mahu Investigations, featuring Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa‘aka; the Have Body, Will Guard adventure-romance series with Aidan and Liam; the Angus Green FBI thrillers; and the Smiling Dog Café healing fiction.
I began writing seriously in high school after an inspiring assignment on A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I didn’t yet have the words for being gay, but I knew I was longing for deep emotional connection, friendship, and love. That longing still runs through my work, whether I’m writing mystery, romance, adventure, or suspense.
An MFA in creative writing helped me hone my technical skills and understand what kind of storyteller I am. Since then, I’ve written dozens of books, won a couple of treasured awards, and been lucky enough to find readers who care about my characters as much as I do.
I’ve also always believed that dogs make excellent detectives. They notice what humans miss: a faint scent, a subtle shift in body language, the hidden treat in your pocket. That belief helped inspire my Golden Retriever Mysteries, where Rochester helps Steve Levitan nose out the truth.
Every place I’ve lived has made its way into my fiction: the rolling hills of Bucks County, the neon heat of Miami, the beaches of Hawaii, and the cobbled streets of Europe. I love exploring how communities work, from a café where dogs help people heal to a police unit in Honolulu to a romance unfolding under the Mediterranean sun.
I write because stories helped me feel less alone growing up. Now I hope to give readers that same feeling: a companion, a puzzle, a sense of place, and maybe a laugh.
When I’m not writing, I’m probably walking one of my golden retrievers, teaching writing, reading, or daydreaming about my next story.
For free stories, bonus scenes, and new-release news, visit my website or join my newsletter at plakcy.substack.com. You can also follow my author page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy.
Readers may know me from the Golden Retriever Mysteries, featuring Steve Levitan and his clue-sniffing golden retriever Rochester; the Mahu Investigations, featuring Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa‘aka; the Have Body, Will Guard adventure-romance series with Aidan and Liam; the Angus Green FBI thrillers; and the Smiling Dog Café healing fiction.
I began writing seriously in high school after an inspiring assignment on A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I didn’t yet have the words for being gay, but I knew I was longing for deep emotional connection, friendship, and love. That longing still runs through my work, whether I’m writing mystery, romance, adventure, or suspense.
An MFA in creative writing helped me hone my technical skills and understand what kind of storyteller I am. Since then, I’ve written dozens of books, won a couple of treasured awards, and been lucky enough to find readers who care about my characters as much as I do.
I’ve also always believed that dogs make excellent detectives. They notice what humans miss: a faint scent, a subtle shift in body language, the hidden treat in your pocket. That belief helped inspire my Golden Retriever Mysteries, where Rochester helps Steve Levitan nose out the truth.
Every place I’ve lived has made its way into my fiction: the rolling hills of Bucks County, the neon heat of Miami, the beaches of Hawaii, and the cobbled streets of Europe. I love exploring how communities work, from a café where dogs help people heal to a police unit in Honolulu to a romance unfolding under the Mediterranean sun.
I write because stories helped me feel less alone growing up. Now I hope to give readers that same feeling: a companion, a puzzle, a sense of place, and maybe a laugh.
When I’m not writing, I’m probably walking one of my golden retrievers, teaching writing, reading, or daydreaming about my next story.
For free stories, bonus scenes, and new-release news, visit my website or join my newsletter at plakcy.substack.com. You can also follow my author page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 26, 2024
One would expect some M-M action for a romance (even the period/historical ones) but the action begins literally within the first pages and recurs over and over through the rest of the book. And some of the bedroom-talk proved - how can I put it nicely - hokey? The plot pacing got mired after a few chapters and whilst I was expecting some 'drama' to threaten the burgeoning relationship between MCs Silas and Ezra, the author reinserts characters from the previous two books of the series and thereby diluted my reading focus by getting chapter POVs from these as well! I resorted to jumping to the ending chapters to prevent a DNF result. Whilst I love the author's Mahu titles, I think I'd be giving his historical romances a miss from now on.
January 23, 2024
4.5 Stars Rounded Up
There's a bit too much perhaps understandable but repetitious angst for me in Neil S. Plakcy's Saving the Boxer. Still the story is a well researched, enjoyable read with a satisfactory happy for now ending.
Saving the Boxer is the third volume in Plakcy's 'Ormond Yard Romantic Adventures' series. The author has asked readers who should be featured in volume #4. For me, that's an easy call - Luke, the new junior clerk working with Silas Warner, one of the two well developed protagonists in this novel.
There's a bit too much perhaps understandable but repetitious angst for me in Neil S. Plakcy's Saving the Boxer. Still the story is a well researched, enjoyable read with a satisfactory happy for now ending.
Saving the Boxer is the third volume in Plakcy's 'Ormond Yard Romantic Adventures' series. The author has asked readers who should be featured in volume #4. For me, that's an easy call - Luke, the new junior clerk working with Silas Warner, one of the two well developed protagonists in this novel.
January 31, 2024
A Joyfully Jay review.
3 stars
This is the third volume in the Ormond Yard Romantic Adventures series and features a large cast of people, among them John and Raoul, and Magnus and Toby and several barristers and doctors who know one another thanks to Magnus and Toby’s soirées. While the blurb of the book hints at this being a romance between Silas, a law clerk, and Ezra, the boxer arrested for murder, the two of them are merely a framing device and the relationship between the two men is rather invisible.
While the writing is decent, and the plot and pacing solid, this one didn’t fully work for me. I don’t suggest this book if you’re looking for a romance, but if you like historical fiction with LGBT+ characters, then you might enjoy this one.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
3 stars
This is the third volume in the Ormond Yard Romantic Adventures series and features a large cast of people, among them John and Raoul, and Magnus and Toby and several barristers and doctors who know one another thanks to Magnus and Toby’s soirées. While the blurb of the book hints at this being a romance between Silas, a law clerk, and Ezra, the boxer arrested for murder, the two of them are merely a framing device and the relationship between the two men is rather invisible.
While the writing is decent, and the plot and pacing solid, this one didn’t fully work for me. I don’t suggest this book if you’re looking for a romance, but if you like historical fiction with LGBT+ characters, then you might enjoy this one.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
January 28, 2024
I kinds screwed up a little bit here, this is number 3 in a series, they really can be read alone but I've discovered it would've helped make thing a teeny bit clearer to have read them all in order. I've read number 1 and absolutely loved it, but I missed the middle one and here in number 3 all couples are on page, frequently, and talk of their lives, so it would've help a tad to have read 2 before this, but it's doable. That being said, this one was a good tale, didn't impress me quite as much as #1 but a nice read none the less. This one can get a touch political, especially when the couples all get together for their soirees, it can be interesting on an historical note but at times it flew over my head. The second half became very intense as disaster occurs and its all hands on deck to 'save the boxer'. A very involved but amazing tale. I learnt a new word while reading this. Another word used to describe a homosexual, 'invert'. This story is Victorian set and I once used to read historically set stories exclusively and I've never come across this word, you live and learn, even at my old age.
January 20, 2024
Saving the Boxer (Ormond Court 3)
By Neil Plakcy
Published by the author, 2023
Five stars
I’ve enjoyed Neil Plakcy’s foray into historical romance, but this book, the third installment in the Ormond Court series, resonated in particular for me. One of the two protagonists here is Silas Warner, a young man of working class roots from Sheffield, making his way in the legal world of London’s Inns of Court. The other is French-born Ezra Curiel, a Sephardic Jew who has become a celebrity in the world of professional boxing in Great Britain.
A lifelong fan of both Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope, I particularly thought of Trollope’s late novel, “The Way We Live Now,” set in 1875, the same year in which Plakcy sets “Saving the Boxer.” It is a story focused on social climbing and financial fraud at the height of the rising nouveau riche in English society. Both of these great Victorian novelists dipped into issues of class, poverty, and crime at a time when it was still a daring thing to do. Dickens himself was accused of antisemitism by London’s Jewish community for his portrayal of Fagan in “Oliver Twist,” and later sought to correct that with the kindly old Jewish merchant in The Old Curiosity Shop.”
Rare was the novelist in the 19th century who really dealt with the relationship between Jewish Britons and the rest of society. Of course, the very notion of same-sex love was such a powerful taboo that it was simply ignored. Plakcy tackles both of these themes, side by side.
Silas Warner is among the denizens of Ormond Court, and counts himself a friend of the two titled gentlemen who oversee a carefully vetted social circle of like-minded men. Silas is a very lucky boy, as we are reminded more than once, since public discovery of “sexual inversion” could still lead to life imprisonment in the period in which the book is set.
The action is triggered when Ezra Curiel is publicly arrested in the boxing ring and accused of a heinous crime. It is not a simple matter of guilt or innocence, but deeply tied up in his identity as a Jew, and his secret personal life with Silas. The little community of Ormond Court must step in to see what they can do.
The gift of Plakcy’s book for readers like me is in creating a world where people actually cared about gay people (who, technically, didn’t exist yet) and Jews. He has done his homework, and the result is to present us with a world that probably existed—surely existed—in some way, but which has been consistently erased from the literature of its time. I’m very grateful that he made the effort.
By Neil Plakcy
Published by the author, 2023
Five stars
I’ve enjoyed Neil Plakcy’s foray into historical romance, but this book, the third installment in the Ormond Court series, resonated in particular for me. One of the two protagonists here is Silas Warner, a young man of working class roots from Sheffield, making his way in the legal world of London’s Inns of Court. The other is French-born Ezra Curiel, a Sephardic Jew who has become a celebrity in the world of professional boxing in Great Britain.
A lifelong fan of both Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope, I particularly thought of Trollope’s late novel, “The Way We Live Now,” set in 1875, the same year in which Plakcy sets “Saving the Boxer.” It is a story focused on social climbing and financial fraud at the height of the rising nouveau riche in English society. Both of these great Victorian novelists dipped into issues of class, poverty, and crime at a time when it was still a daring thing to do. Dickens himself was accused of antisemitism by London’s Jewish community for his portrayal of Fagan in “Oliver Twist,” and later sought to correct that with the kindly old Jewish merchant in The Old Curiosity Shop.”
Rare was the novelist in the 19th century who really dealt with the relationship between Jewish Britons and the rest of society. Of course, the very notion of same-sex love was such a powerful taboo that it was simply ignored. Plakcy tackles both of these themes, side by side.
Silas Warner is among the denizens of Ormond Court, and counts himself a friend of the two titled gentlemen who oversee a carefully vetted social circle of like-minded men. Silas is a very lucky boy, as we are reminded more than once, since public discovery of “sexual inversion” could still lead to life imprisonment in the period in which the book is set.
The action is triggered when Ezra Curiel is publicly arrested in the boxing ring and accused of a heinous crime. It is not a simple matter of guilt or innocence, but deeply tied up in his identity as a Jew, and his secret personal life with Silas. The little community of Ormond Court must step in to see what they can do.
The gift of Plakcy’s book for readers like me is in creating a world where people actually cared about gay people (who, technically, didn’t exist yet) and Jews. He has done his homework, and the result is to present us with a world that probably existed—surely existed—in some way, but which has been consistently erased from the literature of its time. I’m very grateful that he made the effort.
May 15, 2024
Not as successful as his two previous Ormond Yard novels. The lead characters this time were not as compelling.
But it was great to see previous Ormond Yard characters come to the defense of a fellow traveler facing a trumped up murder charge. Unfortunately a resolution happened abruptly and 'off-stage' and didn't involve their efforts.
As always, I enjoyed the historical setting and challenges faced by the characters because of that. A fourth novel following the character Luke O'Shea would be interesting, especially if it follows the first two novels and involves a relationship across social classes..
But it was great to see previous Ormond Yard characters come to the defense of a fellow traveler facing a trumped up murder charge. Unfortunately a resolution happened abruptly and 'off-stage' and didn't involve their efforts.
As always, I enjoyed the historical setting and challenges faced by the characters because of that. A fourth novel following the character Luke O'Shea would be interesting, especially if it follows the first two novels and involves a relationship across social classes..
July 2, 2025
This book was so exciting and entertaining. Silas works as a clerk in a legal office. In his spare time, he hooks up with various men, never seeking a relationship. One day, his connections lead him to a boxing event. There, he spots Ezra, a boxer. The two men meet and begin something that seems more than a casual one-off meeting.
From there, they are drawn into a family issues, the criminal world, possible espionage, and fear of exposure. A supportive group of influential friends (MCs from other books in the series) help them get to the truth and avoid prosecution. The research and details of the time lend authenticity. I look forward to reading more from this world!
From there, they are drawn into a family issues, the criminal world, possible espionage, and fear of exposure. A supportive group of influential friends (MCs from other books in the series) help them get to the truth and avoid prosecution. The research and details of the time lend authenticity. I look forward to reading more from this world!
February 5, 2024
3.5 stars. Great idea to look at Victorian Britain through the perspective of a Jewish athlete, who is a celebrity yet faces prejudice in society. However, I cringed at the constant objectification of his body (particularly his circumcised member) by all the characters, which he implausibly never found offensive. The atmosphere was vividly re-created and the political background was interesting. Some problems with pacing - the ultimate resolution of the murder mystery didn't have anything to do with the character development.
September 19, 2025
Great character development and crossover
The is book 3 of this series. Mr Neil Plakcy descriptions of 1870 Victorian England are very accurate. The author has created a detailed atmosphere of this era.
The crossover of the main characters is wonderful. It has helped deepen the appreciation of each person.
The is book 3 of this series. Mr Neil Plakcy descriptions of 1870 Victorian England are very accurate. The author has created a detailed atmosphere of this era.
The crossover of the main characters is wonderful. It has helped deepen the appreciation of each person.
April 11, 2024
What a journey of a read
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews