Peter and the Sword of Mercy

Peter and the Sword of Mercy is a children's novel that was published by Hyperion Books, a subsidiary of Disney, in 2009. Written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the book is an unauthorized prequel to the original Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie, and tells the story of an orphan named Peter. It was illustrated by artist Greg Call. It is a sequel to the three earlier books in Barry and Pearson's Starcatchers series, best-sellers released in 2004-2007, and said at the time to be a trilogy. This book was released on October 13, 2009. A fifth novel, The Bridge to Neverland, takes place in the present.

Plot summary
The story is set in 1901, 23 years after the events of Secret of Rundoon. Molly Aster, now Mary Darling, is married to George and a mother of three: Wendy, John, and Michael. Her mother Louise has been deceased for a while and her father Leonard is ill. One evening, she is visited by one of the orphaned boys: James, who now works for Scotland Yard. He informs Molly about his suspicions with Baron von Schatten, an advisor to Prince Albert Edward. James thinks von Schatten is being controlled by Lord Ombra, but Molly brushes it off as foolishness, saying that Ombra was destroyed at Rundoon. Along with this, the Starcatchers have been few since the incident.

Meanwhile on Mollusk Island, four men known as McPherson, O'Neal, Kelly, and DeWulf wash up on shore in a boat. They claim to have been lost at sea for a few weeks, but Chief Fighting Prawn becomes suspicious when he says that they look like they were out at sea for a few days. He and Peter keep a close eye on the four men, especially O'Neal.

Back in London, Molly decides to talk with James, only to be told by his employer Blake that he is on vacation. Puzzled, Molly returns home and is almost grabbed by a bobby on the Underground. George is not too pleased when she tells him her story; he fears that he could lose his job due to a minor incident like this. Molly decides to talk to Wendy about the Starcatchers, knowning that her daughter is the only one who could understand.