The seventeenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas John Pearce discovers that Madrid plans to desert the British-led coalition and join the enemy. In company with Lord Langholm, he has taken a Spanish treasure ship. But a violent Atlantic westerly forces them into a deep bay overlooked by Spaniards, who have created a trap with cannon on the heights aimed at the narrow entrance. Pearce must take the lead, exposed to plunging fire, lucky the guns do not quite have the range. Then, having succeeded, he must get Langholm’s frigate and the damaged Santa Leocadia through the same bottleneck. Only quick thinking and an act of sheer inspiration make it possible. His orders take him via Gibraltar, then on to Admiral Jervis, who hates him, to warn of Spanish duplicity. Finally, Jervis sends him to Bastia in Corsica, where the Viceroy, Sir Gilbert Elliot, is seeking to hold the island for Britannia in the face of Napoleon’s successes in Italy. In night actions, outnumbered on land and sea, Pearce must fight the Francophile Corsicans, who are arming themselves for an insurrection. Will he succeed, or will he, HMS Hazard, and the Pelicans pay the ultimate price of failure?
July, 1793. Since being press-ganged into service in King George's Navy, John Pearce has endured a whirlwind few months of wild storms and bitter battles with the enemy. When the trio of Pearce's friends, the Pelicans, are shipped off to the Mediterranean, he vows to liberate the men who have stuck by him through thick and thin.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Harry and James Ludlow are aboard the Magnanime, a gunship under the command of Oliver Carter. Oliver and Harry are old rivals and when James is found near the dead body of the First Lieutenant, Carter assumes James is the murderer. Harry has to prove otherwise.
The fourteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas 1796: Lieutenant John Pearce is heading home aboard a hospital ship crammed with human cargo, yet the journey is far from plain sailing. Evading capture by an Algerine warship, Pearce attempts to save his disparate band of friends, the Pelicans, from being pressed into service on a British frigate—only for the group to risk being hanged for desertion once home. While using his cunning to protect his friends, his clandestine relationship with widow Emily Barclay becomes more complicated. In a whirlwind of forged wills, devious trades, contrived murders, and dangerous spy missions, Pearce does not know whom to trust. All he can hope to do is survive.
The fourth voyage into print for Harry and James Ludlow. Captain Toner illegally forces Harry's crew to work on his own frigate. Vowing revenge and determined to retrieve his crew, Harry pursues Toner to the West Indies where he is thrown into a maelstrom of piracy, lies, murder and corruption.
It wasn't quite the homecoming ex-privateer Harry Ludlow had anticipated. Having cheated death and made a handsome profit into the bargain, Harry and his brother James expected their return home to be quiet - until they become embroiled in a fierce contest between smugglers in the English Channel.
The fifteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas 1796: Lieutenant John Pearce is hiding in the smugglers’ hub of Gravelines with his mysterious companion, known only to him as Oliphant, trapped in French territory with no way out. Although they find a crew willing to take them to England, they discover on the journey that Pearce’s old enemies, the Tolland brothers, are still active on the route and danger may be lurking close to shore. While being in his homeland brings Pearce closer to Emily Barclay and their young son, Adam, the constant need for discretion is an additional strain on their already fragile relationship. Then, just as things may be looking up, it seems Henry Dundas has another role for him and Oliphant: a mission to north-east Spain.
Faced with a ship in need of repair, enemy attacks and the threat of wily Admiral Hotham, John Pearce is sailing into danger. Meanwhile Ralph Barclay is on his way to the Mediterranean. Thinking his wife still with Pearce and that he can repair his marriage by rescuing her, he sails in pursuit, Hotham half-hoping he suffers the same fate as the admiral has in store for Pearce. Can John Pearce fight to first save himself and his charges from captivity and then to be free from the enemy? It is a battle that will require all of his wits.
Free from jail, John Pearce is not free from the smugglers whose boat he stole. They want bloody revenge and are prepared to chase him to the ends of the earth to get it. The court martial papers that threaten to also damn Pearce are at risk due to the calculating schemes of Ralph Barclay. But the danger is only just beginning, for Pearce must undertake a dangerous mission in support of a massive revolt in the Vendée region of France. As high rebellious ambition turns to bloody disaster, Pearce faces real peril, climaxing in one of the greatest battles of the French Revolutionary Wars: the Glorious First of June.
July 1940: A month after the evacuation of the defeated and battered Allied forces from Dunkirk, a German invasion of England threatens. In this thrilling historical “what-if,” Prime Minister Winston Churchill has resigned without naming a successor and leaders of Parliament are calling for an armistice with Hitler. Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of Counter-Espionage at MI5, Adam Strachan, faces his own daunting task. During a botched burglary, the fugitive Billy Houston commits murder and discovers his victim was in possession of Britain’s plans to thwart the German invasion. No patriot, Houston is determined to get the information to the right people and help bring about a Nazi-run Britain. Strachan soon finds himself pursuing Houston through England, from London’s blacked-out streets and seedy narrow lanes to the thinly guarded Channel coast and the Isle of Wight, in a desperate bid to stop the missing defense plans from falling into German hands. The clock is ticking, and Britain’s immediate future is anything but secure.
The second volume in The Contraband Shore trilogy. 1787: Captain Edward Brazier is devastated to find Betsey, the woman he wants to marry, imprisoned in her own home by her brother, Henry Tulkington, and trapped in an illegal marriage. With Brazier suspected of acting as a spy for a prime minister seeking to halt smuggling activity on the coast and still posing a threat to Betsey’s increasingly deranged brother, he is walking a dangerously fine line. But Tulkington’s arrogance is making him enemies, even in his own family, and his actions are becoming increasingly violent towards everyone who thinks to defy him. Brazier's only option is to join with the darker denizens of Deal in the hope of constructing an alliance which will see his lady freed.
Following an encounter with a mystery vessel, the red flags fluttering from the top masts of the "Bucephalas" signal that His Majesty's Navy has reached a state of mutiny. However, Harry Ludlow soon finds himself back at sea and staking everything he owns in a bid to alter the course of history.
The fifth adventure for Harry Ludlow, privateer, and his brother James, which includes: a hazardous journey into the political intrigue of the city of New Orleans, a trek into the woods of the American Hinterland, and an escape up the Mississippi from under the guns of the Spanish forts.
Unbeknown to John Pearce, the private letter he is delivering on behalf of the prime minister carries the dismissal of the very man he is sailing to see. Politics intervene in matters of the sea and the need for a government majority to pursue the war with France means John Pearce must step down as Britain's best sailor, regretfully relinquishing the position to the incompetent Admiral Hotham. Hotham is equally less than pleased about John Pearce, as he is the one person who knows the truth about his dishonest and wicked naval career. Pearce knows Hotham will try and destroy him any way he can to keep from being exposed, so he must navigate the dangerous waters whilst trying to return to Emily Barclay, the woman he loves.
John Pearce, having negotiated the highly questionable sale of the two French prizes taken in The Devil to Pay, has left HMS Flirt, as well as the crew and the wounded Henry Digby, in Brindisi and is now headed for Naples to see his lover. In an uncomfortable journey he seeks to work out a way to best both Admiral Sir William Hotham and Captain Ralph Barclay, men who are his sworn enemies. All his calculations are thrown into turmoil when he discovers that Emily is pregnant which, while it is a cause for joy, is also a reason to worry; she is still married to Ralph Barclay and by the laws of the time he can claim the child as his own.
The sixteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas 1796: John Pearce is stuck with a difficult mission – a raw crew of Quota Men forced to enlist in the Royal Navy and four brand-new midshipmen as well as Samuel Oliphant, companion cum spy, whom he finds a constant irritant. In his favour he commands the sound and speedy warship HMS Hazard, a pair of competent officers and, of course, his trusty old friends the Pelicans. Their primary mission is to head for the Mediterranean Fleet and warn Admiral Sir John Jervis of impending danger he will face fighting a combined French/Spanish fleet. But there is a serious distraction: the imminent arrival of a Spanish vessel from South America carrying silver, for which the Spaniards are waiting before declaring war. Stop that and they will lack the funds to truly engage as an enemy of Britannia – but it is a distraction from Pearce's main task and specific orders. Can he resist the lure of such a valuable capture and risk his ship in a dangerous battle to gain it, or will his duty come first?
Part naval swashbuckler, part mystery story, "The Dying Trade" tells the story of smuggling and death in the Mediterranean at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Harry Ludlow and his brother James find themselves in Genoa where Harry is commissioned to investigate a British officer's death.
Fourteenth-century Italy: The Hundred Years' War is over, and the country is in upheaval as desperate cities struggle against both each other and venal Papal rule. Unable to rely on their own citizens to fight their battles, the cities and popes are forced to pay vast amounts of money to mercenary forces to fight on their behalf. Newly knighted Sir John Hawkwood is headed for France to make his fortune. A valiant Englishman, shrewd and relentless on the battlefield, he soon finds himself fighting for and against any state of Italy prepared to pay handsomely. If none will pay, he and the White Company brutally seize what they desire. It is a world of massacre and pillage in which life is less than cheap and no one can be trusted. To survive, a man has to be quick-thinking, fleet of foot, and strong in his sword arm . . . and Hawkwood is such a man.
1794. In the wake of the Glorious First of June, an equivocal success for the British naval fleet against the French Revolutionary forces, Lieutenant John Pearce has pressing matters to attend to. He must undertake an urgent commission from Lord Hood, track down Midshipman Toby Burns, and placate Emily Barclay who, estranged from her husband, is now under Pearce’s protection. Meanwhile, smugglers whose ship Pearce inadvertently stole are on his tail, determined to get their money or kill him in revenge – possibly both. And it is not only John Pearce who has his fair share of trouble. The triumphant Channel Fleet returns, with Ralph Barclay limping from a musket ball in the thigh, Cornelius Gherson fuming at the jokes about his cowardice, and bully-boy Devenow sporting a wounded shoulder and a cauliflower ear. But the battle is already the subject of controversy – both the French and British claim victory, and Barclay is accused of holding back from the action. Pearce turns the tables on his enemies with the aid of his crew, conjures up a trick to free his friends and sets off for the Mediterranean with Emily Barclay. He must fight a ferocious sea battle on the way to aid an old friend, and can only hope that his troubles will end along with his mission. But are they only just beginning?
Revolution. Bloodshed. Glory. 1793. Returning triumphant from Corsica, Lieutenant John Pearce receives a mixed welcome. But with the siege of Toulon escalating in violence and the French Revolutionary Army preparing to attack, all thoughts of revenge must be put on hold as Pearce is entrusted with a dangerous mission. When their assignment goes awry, it is up to Pearce and his comrades to prevent the inevitable bloodshed, but challenging the Revolutionaries as well as their navy could be a fatal mistake - Set against the backdrop of the bloody French Revolution, A Flag of Truce brilliantly combines a gripping adventure with intricate historical detail, to explosive effect.
The second volume in the powerful Republic trilogy Rome has lost its greatest warrior; Aulus Cornelius is dead. Although he is hailed as a hero, the stench of betrayal by cowardly governor Flaminus lingers heavy in the air. And the death of their father has left Aulus’s sons, Quintus and Titus, with new and grave responsibilities. While Titus swears vengeance against Flaminus and aims to be as great a general as his father, Quintus chooses to pursue politics—under the guidance of Lucius Falerius, now the most powerful senator in Rome. Despite his fortune, Lucius is still haunted by the prophecy that binds his fate to that of Aulus. And as he trains his son, Marcellus, in the ways of wielding their immense power, he manipulates the Cornelius family in an attempt to achieve his own goals. Meanwhile, the young Aquila broods over his mother’s deathbed revelation. With only memories and a mysterious eagle amulet left to him, Aquila joins a band of mercenaries. Unknowingly he heads straight into the heart of a slave uprising and takes a step closer to a destiny entwined with the fate of the great Roman Republic.
Pressed into King George's navy for the second time in a month, John Pearce finds himself working aboard HMS Griffin, sailing the Channel in search of the numerous French privateers preying on English merchant ships. Pearce, however, has other things on his mind. He must find a way off the ship in order to rescue his ailing father from the dangers of revolutionary Paris. By inciting mutiny, he hopes to escape the ship unnoticed. But travelling to France, John Pearce discovers that his worst fears have become reality. All he can do is return to the Griffin -- and exact his revenge.
It is 1793. John Pearce and his Pelicans are going home - to gain their freedom and put the treacherous Captain Ralph Barclay in the dock. Emily Barclay discovers Pearce has papers that would ruin her husband’s career and her future security. And then comes that dread thing: a fire aboard a wooden ship of war! Cast adrift, Pearce and his Pelicans find help from an unlikely source. Finally, back on British soil, they hope they have reached the end of their troubles, but with the documents missing, the real concerns have only just begun. Emily Barclay holds the key, but where do her loyalties lie?
1787. Captain Edward Brazier is wounded and in desperate need of medical attention, but those from whom he could seek help have no idea where he is - although neither do his enemies. With his beloved Betsey currently imprisoned by her brother Henry, who is considering committing her to an asylum to take her off his hands, time is running out for Brazier to rescue her and end the tyranny of the local smuggling ring of Deal once and for all.
London, 1793: In this first installment of the popular high-seas nautical adventure series, young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican Tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on its way to war. Shipboard life is hard, brutal, and dangerous—that anyone chooses it suggests that life ashore is even worse. But Pearce is not alone; he is drawn to a disparate group of men pressed alongside him who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader. The Pelicans find solidarity in facing together the cruelty of their hard-nosed captain, Barclay, and the daily threat of bullying, flogging—even murder. The one light on the horizon is the captain's wife, Emily, who is also aboard and new to life at sea. During an action-packed two weeks, as HMS Brilliant chases a French privateer across the English Channel, Pearce discovers the British Navy is a world in which he can prosper, and he and the Pelicans form friendships that will last a lifetime.
The second volume in the Markham of the Marines trilogy With his fiery Irish blood and well-known reputation for trouble, Lieutenant George Markham leads his embattled Royal Marines against the French in Corsica. His mission: to seize the island. His problem: not just the French, but also spies, traitors, and jealous rivals—including jealous husbands. As the bastard son of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, Markham has a lot to prove. But as a scarred veteran of the war in America and against the French, Markham is battle-hardened in a way too many of his senior officers aren't. His hardness wins over his men, and with their help Markham ventures across the island to persuade the veteran war hero Pasquali Paoli to unite the Corsicans behind him. But their loyalty remains torn by a heritage of vendettas, French bribery, and crossing and double-crossing. Enemies abound, in both French blue and British red, and the only men Markham can rely on are the grim, taciturn Sergeant Rannoch and a man who owes Markham his life: Bellamy, the educated, Black Marine. Brimming with violent action and an energetic, pulsating plot, Honour Redeemed is a worthy successor to A Shred of Honour in the gripping Markham of the Marines series.
The thirteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas 1795: Just as Lieutenant John Pearce feels that he has been freed from an old foe, a new one takes his place. In the face of fresh antagonism, and with complications in his relationship with the recently widowed Emily Barclay, Pearce must juggle personal difficulties with the call of service. Aboard HMS Flirt, Pearce and his Pelicans soon join the squadron led by Horatio Nelson on a reconnaissance which results in the destruction of a key French battery – though the success is short-lived. In raids ashore, split loyalties, and bloody sea fights, Pearce must show bravery and resource to ensure his survival and return to Emily. Only luck and Pearce’s fierce appetite for battle can save them from the perils ahead.
With barbarians at the gate and enemies within, two men must fight for the soul of the great Roman Republic. History and adventure, brutality and courage combine to powerful effect, making The Pillars of Rome an outstanding opening to the Republic trilogy. In a dark cave lit by flickering torches, two young boys, Aulus and Lucius, appeal to the famed Roman oracle for a glimpse into their future. The Sybil draws a blood-red shape of an eagle with wings outstretched: an omen of death. As the boys flee from the cave in fear, they make an oath of loyalty until death. Thirty years on, Aulus is Rome’s most successful general and faces his toughest battle. Barbarian rebels have captured his wife and are demanding the withdrawal of Roman legions from their land in return for her life. Meanwhile, Lucius has risen to high rank in the Senate, a position he uses and abuses. But when Lucius is suspected of arranging a murder, the very foundations of the Republic are threatened. Lucius and Aulus soon find themselves on very different sides of the conflict – perhaps the prophecy of the eagle will come true after all.
The first volume in The Contraband Shore trilogy. 1787: Captain Edward Brazier is on a mission. Recently paid off from his frigate and comfortable with prize money, he is headed to Deal to propose marriage to the lovely young widow Betsey Langridge. And while there, he must navigate the bustle of the town’s narrow streets busy with illicit and depraved business flowing from and around the ships at anchor. But all does not go well; between Betsey’s brother and guardian, Henry Tulkington, prohibiting the match and Brazier being marked out for trouble by a local smuggling gang, his plans are in disarray. And when it slowly emerges that there may have been a decades-old injustice closer to home, Brazier is caught up in more than he’d bargained for.
The second volume in The Last Roman trilogy, set in the final years of the Roman Empire Sixth-century Constantinople: Flavius Belisarius is barely eighteen and already commander of the cavalry patrolling the Persian frontier. A brilliant soldier but a poor schemer, Flavius needs to be both in order to survive the febrile politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. When his friend Petrus Sabbatius uses trickery to elevate himself to the position of co-emperor, Flavius finds himself embroiled in an explosive venture of machinations and warfare. As the valiant leader sets out to reconquer the Western Empire from the hands of the Vandals and Ostrogoths, Flavius is unaware that his wife, joining him on the campaign, has been secretly charged to spy on him. The brave general must battle against the deadly Sassanids and protect the co-emperor from his own subjects – who are out for blood.
1794: In the wake of the Glorious First of June, Lieutenant John Pearce has pressing matters to attend to. He must undertake an urgent commission from Lord Hood, track down midshipman Toby Burns, and placate Emily Barclay. Meanwhile smugglers whose ship Pearce inadvertently stole are on his tail. And it is not only John Pearce who has his fair share of trouble. The triumphant Channel Fleet returns, but the battle is already the subject of controversy—and Ralph Barclay is accused of holding back from the action. Pearce turns the table on his enemies and sets off for the Mediterranean with Emily Barclay. He can only hope that his troubles will end along with his mission. But are they only just beginning?
1794. Lieutenant John Pearce is caught between a feuding trio of admirals. One puts him in a position of danger while another asks him to undertake a hazardous commission in order to protect his friends, the Pelicans. Meanwhile, Pearce is also trying to construct a perjury case against Admiral Ralph Barclay. Barclay's own wife has turned against him, but by law she cannot testify against her husband. Her cowardly nephew has become a pawn in the Admiral's game, the objective of which is to finally silence Pearce.
The first volume in The Last Roman trilogy, set in the final years of the Roman Empire Sixth-century Byzantium: Corruption is rife and the empire is in turmoil when Flavius Belisarius is expected to join his father’s cohort to help protect the border of the Eastern Roman Empire. Flavius’s father, Decimus, is the governor of Dorostorum city and has two goals: to keep out the Sklaveni barbarians across the Danube and to expose the deep roots of corruption. Seeking to prevent a barbarian raid, Decimus asks the powerful magnate Senuthius Vicinus for help. But when treachery leads to death in the Belisarius family, Decimus’s reputation is damaged. With his life changed forever, Flavius swears vengeance on the man who betrayed his father and begins a journey from which there is no way back.
This narrative tells the story of our greatest military genius, Horatio Nelson and his long-running love affair with Emma Hamilton; a love that transgressed class, position and social convention and which threatened them both with ruin.
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