Blue Dread — Richard Quarry

Do you thrill to tales of pirate treasure, ringing cutlasses, broadsides cutting through the salt breeze, and do-or-die romance? Come aboard aboard HMS Cygnet as she blazes a bloody course into the Golden Age of Piracy.Desperate to escape the vengeance of London's notorious Hellfire Club, high society courtesan Meg Eaton marries Elias Bramwell, bosun aboard a British frigate. The rough seaman holds less allure for her than the prospect of a quick and safe passage to India. But when mutineers condemn Elias and the other officers to certain death in a leaky boat a thousand miles from land, Meg must fend for herself.She wins a temporary reprieve with the promise of treasure buried on a remote island by the notorious pirate Ben Ringgold. But the treasure exists only in a sea tale Elias once heard during a long night watch.Now pirates, the crew tell Meg that Elias cannot possibly survive the sea, nor find his way without chart or quadrant. Yet no other hope remains.Wielding both her knowledge of men and a ready cutlass, Meg plays the pirates against each other, buying time as they descend ever further into savagery. But the treasure island draws close, and with it a reckoning even greater than she can know.