The Devil’s Own Luck

David Donachie sails into a breach in the naval line, firing as he bears, with an exciting twist on the chronicles of the Age of Fighting Sail. Blending seagoing adventure with the mystery and twists of a whodunit, his Privateersman Mysteries series re-invents the genre.

1793: The onset of Britain’s conflict with Revolutionary France. Harry Ludlow, forced out of the Royal Navy, becomes a privateer in partnership with his younger brother James. But for the Ludlows, murder and intrigue take more of their time than hunting fat trading vessels. Harry and James find themselves aboard the Navy’s 74-gun Magnanime. In command is a captain with whom Harry has crossed swords in the past. But when James is found standing over the body of a dead officer, Harry’s feud shifts into the background. From the dark bowels of this troubled ship of the line, where perversity hides in the shadows, secrets start to surface on all sides.

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.