It is the autumn of 1864 and the Confederate raider Palmetto is in Far Eastern waters, where an encounter with Malay pirates and an attack by hostile islanders have left her seriously undermanned.Thomas Grover, Palmetto’s captain, must continue to elude the US warships hunting for his ship, while somehow finding a way of recruiting replacements for his crew. Failure to accomplish this will compel him to undertake a hazardous, return voyage to the American coast, where the overwhelm...

It is the summer of 1853 and Commander James Rutherford leaves Calcutta once more to renew his campaign against organised Oriental piracy. The principal pirate leader Liang Ziu is dead, but Rutherford obtains intelligence that his criminal organisation continues to operate from a heavily fortified base, secure from conventional attack. Beset anew by intrigue and treachery, Rutherford must somehow confront and destroy this final stronghold, a task which poses difficulties and trials unlike ...

It is the late summer of 1863 and the third year of the war in North America. In the wake of the defeat at Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee has returned, with his Confederate army, to Virginia. But a further crisis to the west, in the Tennessee theatre of the war, compels the general to detach a part of his army, to journey west to north Georgia in order to reinforce the beleaguered southern forces there. Daniel Ryan and his comrades of The Ogeechee Volunteer Rifles are among those making this jo...

It is 1861 and Thomas Grover has resigned from the US Navy to go with his native state of South Carolina which has left the Union.For two years his career in the new Confederate Navy is tedious and unrewarding. He is posted to Britain as a naval attaché, again denied his wish for active service, until he is transferred to Liverpool where he is offered command of a new warship.Grover must get to sea on the ship and see her armed and commissioned as CSS Palmetto, whose missio...

HARD PASSAGE NORTH continues the story of Irish immigrant Daniel Ryan, who has left his adopted Georgia home to serve in Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. It is the summer of 1862 and, following the campaign to save their capital city of Richmond, Lee and his men are moving north to confront the threat posed by the Union army of General John Pope.The story follows the experiences of Ryan and his Ogeechee Volunteer Rifles as the campaign of Second Manassas follo...

It is the autumn of 1852 and the British warship Spartan, commanded by James Rutherford, continues her mission for the East India Company, to destroy a criminal consortium led by the Scorpion, a Chinese criminal named Liang Ziu, who controls an alliance of ruthless pirates, complicit local rulers and corrupt western traders.Attack is followed by counter-attack, including an attempt on Rutherford’s own life, with treachery, extending to the higher echelons of the company, an additio...

The box, skillfully fashioned from wood and with a pattern of stars inlaid on its side, was clearly very old.Intrigued by its age and craftsmanship, David Molloy bought it at the car boot sale in a Glasgow school playground, an acquisition that led to a series of nightmares which grew to exert an increasing influence upon relationship with his partner and his life.It would lead him into a quest into his ancestry and, in doing, alter his understandings and attitudes forever....

It is May of 1863 and the Civil War in North America has entered its third year. Facing a range of enemy threats, southern commander General Robert E. Lee proposes an invasion of the northern states to supply his army, relieve pressure on other imperilled fronts and to seek decisive victory on enemy territory that could end the war. Irish immigrant Daniel Ryan serves with his comrades of a Georgian regiment as the campaign unfolds, with Lee's army manoeuvring northwards through Virginia an...

It is early 1854 and war looms with Tsarist Russia. James Rutherford and his ship Spartan are transferred to Royal Navy service and given a role patrolling Oriental waters in search of a powerful enemy warship which seeks to prey upon allied shipping. Reluctant to be confined to such tedium, Rutherford adopts a more proactive approach but this will lead to grave risks for Spartan’s crew.********Martin Hicks lives in Fraserburgh in Scotland and began writing after a career i...

The Rappahannock Line continues the story of Irish immigrant Daniel Ryan who serves in Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. As the year 1862 draws to its close, the powerful Union army gathers its strength on the Rappahannock River in Virginia to renew its advance on the Confederate capital. Lee's army confronts it there bringing on a further bloody collision. Ryan and his comrades endure the Winter that follows the brutal battle of Fredericksburg, as the Confederate army...

Bond of Blood tells the story of two Irish brothers, each of whom makes the life-changing journey to the new world as the second half of the 19th century draws on. Thomas and Michael Casey are linked by blood, but find themselves on opposite sides of the US Civil War conflict.Martin Hicks lives in Fraserburgh, Scotland and began writing after a career in education. He has published a series of US Civil War books, and “Bond of Blood” is his eighth title.By the same author:

It is the Spring of 1864 and the Confederate raider Palmetto is off the Philippines, pursuing her campaign against US shipping. For her captain, Thomas Grover there is much to consider, for with the ship’s previously sustained engine damage not fully repaired, he learns that these seas are now patrolled by a new Union warship that vastly overmatches his own ship. As the war turns increasingly against the south, Grover must redouble his efforts against the enemy, but the hidden threats faci...