"John Pearce is going home. But he has to avoid capture by an Algerine warship and having his Pelicans pressed into a British frigate, and that's before they are at risk of being hanged for desertion once home. Then there is the problem of his relationship with Emily Barclay. Through cunning and bluff he can protect his friends, but not his troubled love life. In a whirlwind of action, there are forged wills, devious trades, contrived murders, and dangerous spy missions, with so much deceit that Pearce does not know whom to trust. All he can hope to do is survive"--
