'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 the 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. AUTHOR: J D Davies was born in Wales and now lives in Bedfordshire. He is the foremost expert on the seventeenth-century navy and has just published Pepys' Navy which won the 2009 Samuel Pepys Award. SELLING POINTS: ? From the winner of The Samuel Pepys Prize 2009 ? A well-written historical novel with great period detail, a strong plot and likeable characters ? Davies is a leading authority on the Restoration and naval history in general ? For readers of CJ Sansom's Shardlake series and Patrick O'Brian THE QUINTON SERIES THUS FAR: 9781906964290 Gentleman Captain 9781906964269 The Mountain of Gold 9781908699268 The Blast that Tears the Skies 9781908699275 The Lion of Midnight
