Pity poor Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy! He’s been torn away from a warm shore bed--and the viscount's daughter who shared it with him--and ordered by Admiralty to the Bahamas, into the teeth of ferocious winter storms.
At least his new orders allow Lewrie to form a small squadron and style himself a commodore. He is to scour the shores of Cuba and Spanish Florida in search of French and Spanish privateers that 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.
The mission will put Lewrie in touch with old friends, old foes, and more frustration than a dog has fleas. As usual, though, Captain Alan Lewrie will find his own unique way to fulfill his duties, and in the doing, find some fun in his own irrepressible manner!
From Booklist
In the latest Alan Lewrie adventure, set in 1805, the British naval captain is issued new orders: take his ship, HMS Reliant, to the Bahamas, there to engage French and Spanish privateers that are preying on friendly convoys. The novel, as with previous entries in the series, is a hugely entertaining naval adventure (á la Forester and O’Brian) with a different kind of protagonist. Lewrie isn’t your typical career navy man but rather a bit of a gadabout, a womanizer, a lover of fine foods and warm clothes, whose naval career is based more on a love of adventure than any sense of patriotic duty to his country. The novel is written as though it were a contemporary account, with era-appropriate word spellings (“damme,” “fourty”), slang, and dialogue (“Cap’um’s on deck!”). Not merely a worthy entry in the very popular Lewrie series but a top-of-the-line naval adventure that can be thoroughly enjoyed by readers who’ve never met Captain Lewrie until now. --David Pitt
Review
_Praise for *Reefs and Shoals:
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_*"Check the log, shipmate: Dewey Lambdin has left Alexander Kent and C.S. Forester hull-down in an ocean of words and is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner during the age of sail." --*Washington Times
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_*"Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." --*Kirkus Reviews
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_*"Lambdin succeeds with high-seas action, bravado, and Lewrie’s characteristic antics, putting himself in good company with Julian Stockwin and Seth Hunter as worthy successors to the popular 18th- and 19th-century naval adventures of Forester, Kent, and Pope. ... Lewrie is a delightfully randy and irreverent character, the perfect man to walk the quarterdeck of a Royal Navy frigate." --Publishers Weekly(starred review)
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_"A hugely entertaining naval adventure (á la Forester and O’Brian) with a different kind of protagonist. ... Not merely a worthy entry in the very popular Lewrie series but a top-of-the-line naval adventure that can be thoroughly enjoyed by readers who’ve never met Captain Lewrie until now." --Booklist ___
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__"Naval adventures in the time of wooden ships and iron men form a distinct literary genre. Nashville novelist Dewey Lambdin has mastered it."*--Chapter 16
**Praise for the Alan Lewrie Series: *
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“The brilliantly stylish American master of salty-tongued British naval tales."--***Kirkus Reviews
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__"You could get addicted to this series. Easily."--__The New York Times Book Review
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_**“The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester.”--_Library Journal
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**“Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series.”--Bernard Cornwell
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“Lewrie is a marvelous creation, resourceful and bold.”--James L. Nelson, author of the Revolution at Sea Saga
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"Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision."__--_ Publishers Weekly*
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____ ___"Dewey Lambdin may well be the best author of Age of Sail fiction currently practicing the art."--** U.S. Naval Institute _**