Showing results by author "David Donachie" in All Categories

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 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.

Privateersman Harry Ludlow and his partner and younger brother, James, find that murder and intrigue take up more of their time than the hunt for fat trading vessels. Arriving in the squalid, seething port of Genoa, they find it a tinderbox of tension, fed by the discovery of a hanged British sea captain and packs of English and French sailors at each other's throats.

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.

1796… The long-awaited return of the Bucephalas to the safety of Cinque Ports if interrupted by a disastrous engagement in the Channel. The looming shape of a merchantman becalmed in fog presents an almost irresistible allure. But for Harry Ludlow and his battle-weary crew, the pursuit of one last easy prize leads to a desperate fight. Yet, it is events closer to home that present the greatest danger.

1799: Having evacuated the King and Queen of Naples ahead of Napoleon’s advancing army, Nelson must now await developments in Sicily. In the meantime, he and Emma savour their passionate affair, and when Nelson travels back to Britain with the Hamiltons, he finds he is the toast of Europe. To the British elite, however, Nelson is a dangerous upstart, and his love for Emma is his weakness. With rising resentment, Nelson and Emma are forced to keep up appearances. As the war with Napoleon drags on, Nelson engages the Danish fleet at Copenhagen with stunning results.

It’s 1784, and Nelson is sent to the Caribbean to enforce the hated Navigation Acts. While there, he marries Franny Nisbet. Ordered next to the Mediterranean, he engages in a string of spectacular naval battles. The ravages of war take their physical toll on Nelson, even as he gains the fame and honour he craves. At the same time, Emma, mistress of Charles Greville, sits as an artist’s model....

Introducing George Markham, lately of the 65th Regiment of Foot, now Lieutenant of Marines on His Britannic Majesty’s frigate Hebe. Irishman, papist, reputed coward; he is a man with something to prove. As the winter of 1793 comes to the Mediterranean coast of France, so too does the chill wind of the Revolutionary terror. When the Hebe is sent to help the Bourbon city of Toulon, Markham will have to prove he is a worthy officer of Marines…or die in the attempt.

1794...Returning to England, Harry and James become embroiled in a vicious struggle between rival smugglers played out in the English Channel. Witnesses to a bloody confrontation, they flee to Deal - only to find that, behind its picturesque facade, the town is a haven for traders in contraband, seething with corruption and violence.

1787. Captain Edward Brazier is on a mission: recently paid off from his frigate and comfortably off with prize money, he is headed to Deal to propose marriage to the young and lovely widow Betsey Langridge. He must navigate the bustle of the town's narrow streets that are busy with legal, illicit and depraved business flowing from and around the ships at dock. But all does not go well; between Betsey's brother and guardian, Henry Tulkington, prohibiting the match and Brazier marked out for trouble by a local smuggling gang, his plans are in disarray.

On a Making Tide chronicles the fascinating early years of Horatio Nelson and Emma Lyon. Both determined to rise from obscurity, they set about making their ways through the world with corresponding recklessness and precocious ambition. Nelson enters the Royal Navy at the ae of twelve and is made a post captain at the age of 20 – his reputation as a daring yet benevolent officer secured in the American War of Independence.

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. 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 cross and double cross.

Edward Brazier is enlisted by Prime Minister William Pitt to assist his investigation into smuggling activity in Deal. However, with his love, Betsy, now locked into a loveless marriage with Harry Spafford, a useless drunk, and living as a prisoner, Brazier is distracted from his mission. Having foiled Spafford's plan to steal Betsy away to her family-owned plantation in the West Indies, Brazier finds himself taken captive. Only his ingenuity will help engineer his escape, and his cunning use of subterfuge will then allow him to infiltrate the smuggling gangs of Deal.

The French Revolution is turning in on itself even as the war with the English drags on. As the armies move towards Italy, George Markham and his Marines find themselves assigned to the sloop Sylphide under the impetuous Captain Germain. Set ashore in the midst of the French army, Markham is charged with escorting a group of loyalists on a secret mission and is soon wishing he was back in the thick of it at sea.

1940. Dunkirk is over? Will Britain fight on or talk peace? Fugitive and Hitler admirer, Billy Houston, craves a Nazi-run Britain. Needing money and intent on burglary, it ends in murder. But he’s in luck, his victim has in his possession the entire anti-invasion plans for Southern Britain, this while Armistice talks are slated to take place on the Isle of Wight. A desperate Billy makes contact with Rudi Graebner, a German naval officer and spy embedded in the Spanish Embassy. The two have nothing in common - they instinctively take a dislike to each other and trust is at a premium.

It’s the perfect Special Forces snatch, kidnapping the Vice President of the USA and killing three of his Close Protection Team? For Brit Jamie Strachan, ex-SAS soldier and long-time friend of Vice-President, Phil Beekman, it looks too perfect. The Veep is ex-Delta Force so he knows how to survive. With the help of feisty New Yorker, Clare Holman, Jamie Strachan is able to access the investigation trying to find him. He is soon mystified and damned curious... Beekman is vying for the Presidential Nomination; he needs to be at the convention.

In the bleak days of 1942, Countess Elisabeth von Trecheim, Berlin-born and city-raised, runs her husband’s family estate in isolated Silesia, while her Panzer officer spouse, Hans-George, confronts the horrors of Stalingrad. Meanwhile, Gideon Rokesby, an English mining engineer, is captured by the Germans in North Africa and endures brutal internment, showing determination to escape. As fate links these characters within a chaotic, war-torn world, a dance of survival, loyalty, and forbidden connection unfolds against the looming collapse of the Third Reich.

Der Golf von Mexiko im Jahre 1795. Als sie vor der Küste ein verlassenes spanisches Handelsschiff entdecken, wittern der Freibeuter Harry Ludlow und sein Bruder James leichte Beute. Doch was eine einfache Kaperung werden sollte, entpuppt sich schon bald als raffinierte Falle: Angeheizt von Machtgier und Patriotismus wird ihr Schiff, die stolze "Bucephalas", vor dem spanischen Fort von New Orleans festgesetzt. Schnell wird klar, dass der erfahrene Seemann keine Hilfe vom hiesigen Gouverneur zu erwarten hat.

Der mitreißende dritte Teil der Serie um die Freibeuter-Brüder, die niemals zur Ruhe kommen. Während im Jahre 1794 die Schrecken der französischen Revolution ganz Europa in Brand zu stecken drohen, spitzt sich auch auf See die Situation zu: Im Ärmelkanal geraten der erfahrende Freibeuter Harry Ludlow und seine Mannschaft in den erbitterten Kampf zwischen rivalisierenden Schmugglern. Zwar gelingt es ihnen, sich in Sicherheit zu bringen, doch die ist trügerisch: Hinter der Fassade der idyllischen Hafenstadt Deal herrschen Korruption und Gewalt.

Die französische Küste im Jahre 1795. Während die Feuer des Krieges sich auf dem Festland immer weiter ausbreiten, tobt auch auf See ein Kampf um die Vorherrschaft. Doch nicht alle kämpfen mit so fairen Mitteln wie der ehrenhafte Freibeuter Harry Ludlow und sein Bruder James: Als der skrupellose Kapitän Toner von der Royal Navy ihn unrechtmäßig zwingt, ihm die Hälfte seiner Crew zu überlassen, schwört Harry, seine Männer zu retten – und nimmt allen Widrigkeiten zum Trotz die Verfolgung von dessen Fregatte auf.

Der Ärmelkanal im Jahre 1796. Nach zwei Jahren auf hoher See und vielen geschlagenen Schlachten will Harry Ludlow, der "Detektiv der Meere", mit seiner stolzen Fregatte "Bucephalas" wieder im sicheren Heimathafen einlaufen. Doch bevor der erfahrene Kapitän die Cinque Ports erreichen kann, werden sie im Englischen Kanal in eine tödliche Falle gelockt: Als die Freibeuter inmitten des dichten Nebels das Donnern von Kanonen vernehmen, können sie nicht anders, als diesem Lockruf zu folgen. Doch was als Jagd nach einer letzten Beute beginnt, wird bald zu einem erbitterten Kampf auf Leben und Tod.