Dewey Lambdin
The fourteenth tale in Dewey Lambdinâ€™s classic naval adventure series,Spring of 1800, and Captain Alan Lewrie, fresh from victory in the South Atlantic, is reckoned a hero on a par with Nelson in all the papers. Back in England, heâ€™s fitting out his new frigate, HMS ,Savage, ,the fruits of that victory, the largest and best-armed frigate heâ€™s ever commanded. But you canâ€™t leave Lewrie ashore too long without trouble arising.,A Jamaica court has tried him ,in absentia ,and sentenced him to hang for the theft of a dozen Black slaves to man his old ship, HMS ,Proteus,. A crime, or was it liberation, as his London barrister argues? The vengeful slaveowner, Hugh Beauman, has come to London to seek Lewrieâ€™s end . . . with or without the majesty of the Law!,Then thereâ€™s the matter of those anonymous letters sent to his wife, Caroline, portraying him as a faithless rakehell and serving up the most florid lies . . . along with some unfortunately florid truths. Lewrie appeals to the â€œretiredâ€ Foreign Office spy, Zachariah Twigg, to â€œsmoak outâ€ the hand that guides the poison pen, even while wondering why Twigg seems so eager to help his legal case, of a sudden. Is the devious old devil ready to sacrifice him for some motive of his own?,A fortunate legal ruling, which only delays the matter of Lewrieâ€™s utter ruin, leaves him free to take ,Savage ,to sea upon the Kingâ€™s business, to join the close blockade of the Gironde River in Souâ€™west France, and plug the threat of enemy warships, privateers, and Â neutrals smuggling goods in and out of Bordeaux. It ,could ,be a dull and plodding dreariness, but . . . a ,bored ,Captain Alan Lewrie, safe in his post for the moment, can be a ,dangerous ,fellow to his countryâ€™s foes. If only to relieve the tedium!Â Â Â ,Â 
Historical,Historical Fiction,Fiction,Historical,War,Military Fiction
Troubled Waters