An Element of Chance
Will be published approx. on 3. March 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
460 pages
978-1-4930-9524-7 (ISBN)
Description
The fourth volume in The Privateersman Mysteries
1795: As war spreads across the globe, Harry Ludlow joins the struggle for the richest trade in the world. When half his crew is illegally pressed into the Royal Navy by the vicious Captain Toner, Harry sets off in pursuit. Toner's ship reaches the West Indies with Harry close behind, and they sail into a maelstrom of piracy, corruption, and murder stirred up by a French privateer. Soon, the British officer in charge of the station calls upon each man to help as best he can. All the while, Harry's kidnapped crew fights for survival on a ship driven to the point of mutiny.
1795: As war spreads across the globe, Harry Ludlow joins the struggle for the richest trade in the world. When half his crew is illegally pressed into the Royal Navy by the vicious Captain Toner, Harry sets off in pursuit. Toner's ship reaches the West Indies with Harry close behind, and they sail into a maelstrom of piracy, corruption, and murder stirred up by a French privateer. Soon, the British officer in charge of the station calls upon each man to help as best he can. All the while, Harry's kidnapped crew fights for survival on a ship driven to the point of mutiny.
Reviews / Votes
"High adventure and detection cunningly spliced." * Times of London Literary Review * "Donachie has a masterful way of creating atmosphere and character . . . stunning impact." * Kent Messenger * "With vivid and accurate shipboard action, storm havoc and battle scenes, Donachie has made Ludlow the most compulsively readable amateur detective since Dick Francis' latest ex-jockey." * Cambridge Evening News * (Praise for David Donachie's other books) "Pure adventure with excitement and daring all the way . . . historical fiction at its very best." * Historical Novels Review Online * (Praise for David Donachie's other books) "High-speed epic from an ace storyteller." * Daily Sport * (Praise for David Donachie's other books) "Exciting and unpredictable." * The Bookbag *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Globe Pequot Press
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
531 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4930-9524-7 (9781493095247)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
David Donachie (1944-2023) was born in Edinburgh. He always had an abiding interest in military history, including ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the British navy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the clandestine services during the Second World War. He had more than fifty published novels to his credit, with over a million combined sales. David lived in Deal, the historic English seaport on the border of the English Channel and the North Sea.