Winter, 1666. A second war has broken out between the English and the Dutch...
Captain Matthew Quinton's fifth mission for King and country is to the Swedish court at Gothenburg.
Sweden is at the height of its military power, and Quinton is charged with securing crucial support in England's new war against her old enemy, the Dutch republic.
Accompanying him is the mysterious Lord Conisborough, who -- unknown to his captain -- is sworn to another, secret mission involving the notorious regicide John Bale, alone among peers of the realm to sign the death warrant of Charles I.
Gothenburg proves to be a hotbed of dangerously conflicting loyalties, and Quinton and crew find themselves needing help from the most unexpected quarters.
'Hornblower, Aubrey and Quinton -- a pantheon of the best adventures at sea!' - Conn IgguldenC
'Utterly impossible to put down . . . finely shaded characters, excellent plotting, gut-clenching action and immaculate attention to period detail . . . Superb' - Angus Donald, author of The Outlaw Chronicles
'J. D. Davies's depiction of Restoration England and the British navy is impeccable, his characters truly live and breathe, and the plot kept me in suspense . . . I could not recommend it more' - Edward Chupack, author of Silver
'Swashbuckling suspense, royal intrigue, and high seas naval action . . . an excellent series' - Publishers Weekly
J. D. Davies was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire. Educated at Jesus College, Oxford, he is one of the foremost authorities on the seventeenth-century navy and has written widely on the subject, most recently in Pepys’s Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare, 1649-1689, which won the Samuel Pepys Award in 2009.
Captain Matthew Quinton's fifth mission for King and country is to the Swedish court at Gothenburg.
Sweden is at the height of its military power, and Quinton is charged with securing crucial support in England's new war against her old enemy, the Dutch republic.
Accompanying him is the mysterious Lord Conisborough, who -- unknown to his captain -- is sworn to another, secret mission involving the notorious regicide John Bale, alone among peers of the realm to sign the death warrant of Charles I.
Gothenburg proves to be a hotbed of dangerously conflicting loyalties, and Quinton and crew find themselves needing help from the most unexpected quarters.
'Hornblower, Aubrey and Quinton -- a pantheon of the best adventures at sea!' - Conn IgguldenC
'Utterly impossible to put down . . . finely shaded characters, excellent plotting, gut-clenching action and immaculate attention to period detail . . . Superb' - Angus Donald, author of The Outlaw Chronicles
'J. D. Davies's depiction of Restoration England and the British navy is impeccable, his characters truly live and breathe, and the plot kept me in suspense . . . I could not recommend it more' - Edward Chupack, author of Silver
'Swashbuckling suspense, royal intrigue, and high seas naval action . . . an excellent series' - Publishers Weekly
J. D. Davies was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire. Educated at Jesus College, Oxford, he is one of the foremost authorities on the seventeenth-century navy and has written widely on the subject, most recently in Pepys’s Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare, 1649-1689, which won the Samuel Pepys Award in 2009.
