Gentleman Captain is the first in a series of naval adventure books set in the seventeenth century. Charles II has been restored to the English throne for one year. He presides over a court swirling with intrigue, where friends and enemies mingle and conspire. Our hero, 22-year-old Matthew Quinton, is from a family loyal to their monarch. Pressed for time and facing evidence of yet another plot against his person, the king gives Quinton command of a ship and tasks him with a delicate mission: to sail to the western isles of Scotland, intercept a cargo of weapons destined for the king's sworn enemies and blow the conspiracy apart. Matthew is not an experienced seaman ? his last ship was lost with all hands. Dreading another failure, he is determined to master the sea and overcome his own fear and ignorance. But he has other difficulties to face on the voyage north: a resentful crew, a suspicion of murder, and the growing conviction that betrayal and treason lie closer to home than he thought. SALES ? A well-written historical novel with great period detail, a strong plot, likeable characters and a nautical setting ? ?The Journals of Matthew Quinton' series takes in a great sweep of history from Elizabethan times to the Hanoverians ? There's a huge potential market for quality historical naval fiction ? The Stuart period was truly fascinating and makes a great backdrop ? This was the period that saw the establishment of the modern navy under Samuel Pepys (who will appear in the series) ? Readers of Patrick O'Brian, C S Forrester, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels and C J Sansom's Shardlake series should enjoy ?The Journals of Matthew Quinton' AUTHOR J D Davies was born in Wales and now lives in Bedfordshire where he teaches part-time at Bedford Modern. He is the foremost expert on the seventeenth-century navy and has just published a non-fiction book, PEPYS'S NAVY.
