The year is 1796 and the soil of Piedmont and Tuscany runs with blood, another battle takes shape on the mysterious Adriatic Sea. Alan Lewrie and his 18-gun sloop, HMS Jester, part of a squadron of four British warships, sail into the thick of it. But with England's allies failing, Napoleon busy rearranging the world map, and their squadron stretched dangerously thin along the Croatian coast, the British squadron commander strikes a devil's bargain: enlisting the aid of Serbian pirates.

Alan Lewrie is a scandalous young rake whose amorous adventures ashore lead to his being shipped off to the Navy. Lewrie finds that he is a born sailor, although life at sea is a stark contrast to the London social whirl to which he had become accustomed. As his career advances, he finds the life of a naval officer suits him.

The year is 1796 and the soil of Piedmont and Tuscany runs with blood, another battle takes shape on the mysterious Adriatic Sea. Alan Lewrie and his 18-gun sloop, H. M. S. Jester, part of a squadron of four British warships, sail into the thick of it. But with England's allies failing, Napoleon busy rearranging the world map, and their squadron stretched dangerously thin along the Croatian coast, the British squadron commander strikes a devil's bargain: enlisting the aid of Serbian pirates.

"Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." --Washington TimesDewey Lambdin presents a new short story starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie.Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story. "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." --Kirkus Reviews"Lewrie...

It is the spring of 1800. Captain Alan Lewrie, fresh from victory in the South Atlantic, is back in England and fitting out his new frigate, the HMS Savage. But true to fashion, Lewrie can’t stay ashore too long with out trouble arising. A Jamaican court has tried him in absentia and sentenced him to hang for the theft of a dozen Black slaves. The vengeful slaveowner has made his way to London to seek Lewrie’s end . . . with or without the majesty of the law! To complicate matters further, Lewrie must also deal with allegations that he is a faithless rakehell, his wife has informed through anonymous letters. Despite shoreside legal matters, Lewrie takes the Savage on King’s business to Sou’west France to plug the threat of enemy warships, privateers, and neutrals smuggling goods in and out of Bordeaux. It could be dull and plodding dreariness, but a bored Captain Alan Lewrie, safe in his post (for the moment), can be a dangerous fellow to his country’s foes . . . if only to relieve the tedium!

It's 1798, and Lewrie and his crew of the Proteus frigate have their work cut out for them. First, he has rashly vowed to uphold a friend's honour in a duel to the death. Second, he faces the horridly unwelcome arrival of HM Government's Foreign Office agents (out to use him as their cat's-paw in impossibly vaunting schemes against the French). And last, he must engineer the showdown with his arch foe and nemesis, the hideous ogre of the French Revolution's Terror, that clever fiend Guillaume Choundas!We know Lewrie can fight, but can he be a diplomat, too? He must deal with the newly reborn United States Navy, that uneasy, unofficial "ally", and the stunning, life-altering surprise they bring. For good or ill, Lewrie's in the "quag" up to his neck, this time. Can sword, pistol, and broadsides avail, or will words, low cunning, and Lewrie's irrepressible wit be the key to his victory and survival, as even the seas cry "Havoc"?

Dewey Lambdin has created one of the greatest characters in historical adventure fiction. Naval officer and rogue, Alan Lewrie is a man of his times and a hero for all times. His equals are Hornblower, Aubrey, and Maturin--sailors beloved by readers all over the world.In The King's Commission, Midshipman Alan Lewrie passes the examination for Lieutenancy and finds himself commissioned first officer of the brig o'war Shrike. There's time for some dalliance with the fair sex, and then Lieutenant Lewrie is off to patrol the North American coast and attempt to bring the Muskogees and Seminoles onto the British side against the American rebels. Then back to the Caribbean, to sail beside Captain Horatio Nelson in the Battle for Turks Island.

1780: Seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash, rebellious young libertine. So much so that his callous father believes a bit of navy discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding--rather unexpectedly--that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise.

1782 First officer on brig o'war . . . Fresh from duty on the frigate Desperate in her fight with the French Capricieuse off St. Kitts, Midshipman Alan Lewrie passes his examination board for Lieutenancy and finds himself commissioned first officer of the brig o'war Shrike. There's time for some dalliance with the fair sex, and then Lieutenant Lewrie must be off to patrol the North American coast and attempt to bring the Muskogees and Seminoles onto the British side against the American rebels (dalliance with an Indian maiden is just part of the mission). Then it's back to the Caribbean, to sail beside Captain Horatio Nelson in the Battle for Turks Island. . . .Naval officer and rogue, Alan Lewrie is a man of his times and a hero for all times. His equals are Hornblower, Aubrey, and Maturin--sailors beloved by readers all over the world.

The fourth book in the Alan Lewrie series. 1783: His Majesty's secret agent... Back from war in the Americas, young navy veteran Alan Lewrie finds London pure pleasure. Then, at Plymouth he boards the trading ship Telesto to find out why merchantmen are disappearing in the East Indies. Between the pungent shores of Calcutta and teeming Canton, Lewrie—reunited with his scoundrel father—discovers a young French captain, backed by an armada of Mindanaon pirates, on a plundering rampage. While treaties tie the navy's hands, a King's privateer is free to plunge into the fire and blood of a dirty little war on the high South China Sea. Ladies' man, officer, and rogue, Alan Lewrie is the ultimate man of adventure, and Dewey Lambdin writes historical adventure fiction on par with C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian. In the worthy tradition of Hornblower, Aubrey, and Maturin, Lewrie's exploits echo with the sounds of crowded ports and the crash of naval warfare.

Pity poor Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy! He’s been wind-muzzled for weeks in Portsmouth, snugly tucked into a warm shore bed with lovely, and loving, Lydia Stangbourne, a Viscount’s daughter, and beginning to enjoy indulging his idle streak, when Admiralty tears Lewrie away and order him to the Bahamas, into the teeth of ferocious winter storms. It’s enough to make a rakehell such as he weep and kick furniture! At least his new orders allow Lewrie to form a small squadron from what ships he can dredge up at Bermuda and New Providence and hoist his first broad pendant, even if it is the lesser version, and style himself a Commodore. Lewrie is to scour the shores of Cuba and Spanish Florida, the Keys and the Florida Straits in search of French and Spanish privateers which have been taking British merchantmen at an appalling rate, and call upon neutral American seaports to determine if privateers are getting aid and comfort from that quarter. Lewrie is to be “Diplomatic.” Diplomatic? Lewrie? Not bloody likely!

December, 1801. The Peace of Amiens ends the long war with Napoleon Bonaparte’s France, but Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, is appalled by its consequences. What is a dashing and successful frigate captain to do with himself ashore on half-pay? And where will Lewrie twiddle his thumbs until the war begins again, as he’s sure it will? Rejoin his wife and in-laws who (mostly) despise him like the Devil hates Holy Water, on his rented farm in Surrey? Peace and domesticity are hellish hard on the rakehells! Yet by the spring of 1802, Lewrie and his Caroline have somewhat reconciled and are off to make a go of a second honeymoon-in Paris, France, of all places! There, Lewrie finds himself rubbing shoulders with soldiers, spies, and even First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte himself. When Lewrie can’t help spurring Napoleon into a “kick-furniture” rage, he and Caroline must flee for their lives. When war breaks out again in May of 1803, Lewrie has fresh orders, a new frigate, and a chance to punish and pursue the French, but it’s no longer for duty or king and country-now it’s personal!

Alan Lewrie works to get a leg over on Emma Hamilton, and comes face to face with the rising star in France, a guy called Napoleon, as well as the infamous Captain Bligh. Not a small feat!

THE SIXTEENTH TALE IN DEWEY LAMBDIN'S CLASSIC NAVAL ADVENTURE SERIESDecember 1801. The Peace of Amiens end the long war with Napoleon Bonaparte's France, but Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, is appalled by its consequences. First, he's been in the Navy since 1780 (most unwillingly, most of the time!) and at sea for the better part of nine years, since 1793, so what is a dashing and successful frigate captain to do with himself, if he's ashore on half-pay, and if so, for how long?Second, and even worse, is where will Lewrie twiddle his thumbs and be bored to death until the war begins again, as he's sure it will? Will he idle in expensive, exciting London, or go home to his rented farm in Anglesgreen in Surrey, and rejoin his wife and in-laws who (mostly) despise him like the Devil hates Holy Water, where he knows as much of agriculture and animal husbandry as his two pet cats do of celestial navigation?Peace and domesticity are...