Ebook275 pages3 hours
The Bloody Black Flag: A Spider John Mystery
By Steve Goble
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Agatha Christie meets Patrick O'Brian in the first book in a new series of swashbuckling historical mysteries featuring Spider John Rush, a most reluctant pirate. 1722--aboard a pirate ship off the American Colonial Coast. Spider John Rush never wanted to be a pirate, but it had happened and he'd learned to survive in the world of cut and thrust, fight or die. He and his friend Ezra knew that death could come at any moment, from grapeshot or storm winds or the end of a noose. But when Ezra is murdered in cold blood by a shipmate, Spider vows revenge. On a ship where every man is a killer many times over, how can Spider find the man who killed his friend? There is no law here, so if justice is to be done, he must do it. He will have to solve the crime and exact revenge himself. One wrong step will lead to certain death, but Spider is determined to look into the dying eyes of the man who killed his friend, even if it means his own death.
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A Spider John Mystery
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Titles in the series (4)
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Reviews for The Bloody Black Flag
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
2 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not bad for a first effort. A unique premise: two men forced into the life of piracy and hoping to escape. One is murdered and the other vows to discover his killer. Meanwhile, the ship is pursued by a British frigate , the Captain is eccentric if not completely mad, and there is a secret artifact aboard that may make all their fortunes if sold to the right party.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let me say upfront that this review of Steve Goble's first novel, “The Bloody Black Flag,” is biased. I have known him and his wife, Gere, for many years, worked with both of them and been a guest in their home. I am delighted he finally finished his book and found a publisher, and I wanted very much to like it when I started page one.But just because you are biased does not necessarily mean your opinion is either dishonest or wrong. I genuinely enjoyed the novel, and I'm convinced other readers, at least those open to murder mysteries involving bloodthirsty pirates, will as well.I can recall Goble speaking in glowing terms some years ago about Rafael Sabatini (“Captain Blood,” etc.). That influence shows in this wild tale, the first in a projected series, about a reluctant pirate named Spider John Rush whose talents include carpentry, fighting with a knife and, as it turns out, solving mysteries.To elude British authorities in the fall of 1722, Spider John and his much larger friend, Ezra, join the crew of the pirate ship Plymouth Dream. One night Ezra is found dead, and the assumption is that he got drunk, fell and hit his head on the way down. Spider does buy it, not the least because Ezra was not a heavy drinker. He vows to find Ezra's killer and avenge his death.Soon other mysteries complicate matters. A British frigate keeps pursuing them but, despite superior speed, never manages to catch them. Then a crew member steals a mysterious brass gadget from the ship's captain, who threatens to kill off his crew one by one until he finds it.As a lifelong newspaperman, Goble knows a thing or two about deadlines. His hero (everything is relative on a pirate ship) faces a deadline of his own: Can he find and kill the murderer before he himself faces the gallows?“The Bloody Black Flag” offers plenty of adventure and violence, especially when Plymouth Dream encounters another pirate ship whose crew is no less bloodthirsty than its own.
Book preview
The Bloody Black Flag - Steve Goble
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