Spider John Mystery

Agatha Christie meets Patrick O'Brian in the first book in a new series of swashbuckling historical mysteries featuring Spider John Rush, a most reluctant pirate. 1722--aboard a pirate ship off the American Colonial Coast. Spider John Rush never wanted to be a pirate, but it had happened and he'd learned to survive in the world of cut and thrust, fight or die. He and his friend Ezra knew that death could come at any moment, from grapeshot or storm winds or the end of a noose. But when Ezra is murdered in cold blood by a shipmate, Spider vows revenge. On a ship where every man is a killer many times over, how can Spider find the man who killed his friend? There is no law here, so if justice is to be done, he must do it. He will have to solve the crime and exact revenge himself. One wrong step will lead to certain death, but Spider is determined to look into the dying eyes of the man who killed his friend, even if it means his own death.

Spider, a decent man forced into the violent pirate life years ago, is finally on the verge of leaving all that behind and reuniting with his wife, Emma, and the son he last saw as a baby. He and his friends—Odin the ancient buccaneer and Hob the young swashbuckler—are working as honest seamen aboard Minuet when the calm journey from England to Nantucket takes a dark turn. A shipmate is murdered while working aloft, and Spider can’t help but try to figure out who the killer is—even as his friend Odin warns him that getting involved might lead authorities to discover Spider’s own piratical past. Ruth Copper, a beautiful and dangerous recent addition to Spider’s crew, offers some warnings too. Spider John, however, hates unanswered questions. The investigation reveals more than simple murder, and Spider and his friends find themselves fighting against a shipboard conspiracy that explodes into violence. That encounter, along with unexpected developments at home while Spider was away at sea, sets the stage for another killing and a manhunt that sends Spider back into hiding and fighting for his life against cutthroats and thieves. By the time Spider is done thinking and fighting his way through all the obstacles to reach the truth, he finds himself confronted with more difficult life decisions—and wondering whether the pirate life is perhaps the only place left for him.

A historical mystery that blends nautical adventure in pirate waters with a locked-room murder mystery, featuring a pirate sleuth whose wits are as sharp as his blade. 1723-Spider John, longing to escape the pirate life he never wanted, has an honest seafaring job at last, aboard a sailing vessel, and is returning to his beloved Em and their child. But when Captain Brentwood is murdered in his cabin, Spider's plans are tossed overboard. Who killed Redemption's captain? The mysterious pirate with a sadistic past? The beautiful redhead who hides guns beneath her skirt? One of the men pining for the captain's daughter? There are plenty of suspects. But how could anyone kill the captain in his locked quarters while the entire crew was gathered together on the deck? Before he can solve the puzzle, Spider John and his ex-pirate friends Hob and Odin will have to cope with violence, schemes, nosy Royal Navy officers, and a deadly trap set by the ruthless pirate Ned Low.