The Gathering Storm

'Salute a new master of the sea' Daily Express

Once aboard a frigate, Peter Smalley can be guaranteed to hold his reader a willing captive. This time the adventures of William Rennie and James Hayter take Hayter ashore for much of the time, testing him to almost breaking point, and Smalley's ability to involve proves just as strong there as it is at sea. He is a most powerful story-teller.

What these books are about are old-fashioned concepts such as duty, honour and standing by your friends and knowing what bravery is. They are not demanding, but they are typically exciting, compulsive action adventures. Take one on holiday this year.

Peter Smalley was born in Melbourne, Australia, and hails from a seafaring family. After an early career in advertising he became a screenwriter, broadcaster, and novelist. He lives in London with his wife, Clytie.

Spring 1791 
 
Though deeply disturbed by a terrible incident during his previous commission, James Hayter is nevertheless on the verge of taking command of HMS Sloop Eglantine as Master and Commander when personal tragedy shatters his life. The twin blows convince Hayter that he is not fit to command and he must turn his back on the sea forever. Even the intervention of his friend and former captain, William Rennie cannot not dissuade him from derelicting his duty. 
 
Though repenting in the end of his decision, Hayter's career in the Navy appears to be over until the intervention of an agent, Mr Brough Mappin, working for Hayter's old nemesis, the British Secret Service Fund. 
 
Mappin's plan offers Hayter a chance to revive his career on a special mission, with the promise of reinstatement in the Royal Naval List if he is successful. But it is also the single most dangerous mission of his life. He must sail for France with Rennie in HMS Expedient and there rescue some persons of interest from the grasp of the French Revolutionary forces searching for them. 
 
What no one mentions is that the rescue will bring to bear on Expedient and her crew, a force so fierce and mighty that, if it can, it will wipe all trace of the incident, Hayter and the ship from the memory of everyone involved in the forthcoming struggle.

The Hawk

The fourth book by highly acclaimed naval author, Peter Smalley.

1790 and England is on the cusp of war with Revolutionary France. The night-time Channel is the scene of intense smuggling activity and the passage of spies from one coast to another. 
 
Lieutenant James Hayter has achieved his heart's desire -- his first independent command, His Majesty's 'Hawk' cutter, 10 guns. She is swift enough to out sail even the fastest of the French contraband runners and she is Hayter's pride and joy. But his happiness is tempered by the knowledge that his former captain and friend, William Rennie, has been left on the beach after the failure of the Rabhet expedition the previous year. 
 
But it is not long before spymaster Sir Robert Greer disturbs Rennie's imposed retirement with a sinister and irrefutable offer that will see Rennie hastening to join his former subordinate in Portsmouth. Together they will have to tackle one of the most sensitive and dangerous missions of the phoney war, to intercept a contraband runner, the cutter 'Lark' and capture her captain, a disgraced Navy lieutenant. 
 
But as with all matters orchestrated by Greer, the mission is about a lot more than capturing a few barrels of brandy and a wanted criminal. In fact, it is soon evident that the very security of the nation depends on Rennie and Hayter's success.

Barbary Coast

Praise for Peter Smalley: 
 
'Salute a new master of the sea. Smalley is intending to appropriate the capacious mantle of the late Patrick O'Brian and, on the strength of this book, it should prove a snug fit. Smalley has written a real page-turner, engrossing and enthralling, stuffed with memorable characters. Highly recommended.'

Following in the wake of Hornblower and Patrick O Brian ... there is enough to satisfy the most belligerent armchair warrior: cutlasses, cannibals, as well as a hunt for buried treasure. All this plus good taut writing gets Peter Smalley's series off to a flying start

Breathtakingly exciting, magnificent. He captures the stench of brutal conflict in a series of scenes which at once thrill and horrify and which propel readers along at breakneck speed, leaving them gasping for breath. There can be no doubt that Port Royal represents storytelling at its very best

Smalley picks up a fair clip in this third outing for Hayter...swift and bloody engagements, locations by turns stormy or exotic and a fluency with maritime detail all assist Smalley's pursuit of the late Patrick O'Brien mantle

Well written, with good periodic dialogue, a nice feeling for the attitudes and behaviour of officers and men, and plenty of knowledge about sailing ships. The cliffhanger ending it a sure hook for the next book.

It is the eve of the French Revolution and England awaits with trepidation the news from the Continent that will propel her into war again after six years of peace. But Lieutenant James Hayter's orders from the Admiralty do not at first involve the sea. He must go inland to seek out his friend Captain William Rennie, who has disappeared into the wilds of Dartmoor. 
 
When he finds Rennie alone and broken down in an isolated farmhouse, Hayter fears the Captain will be unable to make the journey to London. Hayter has his own hopes of a command, but these are cruelly dashed when they reach the capital, where they find the sinister spymaster, Sir Robert Greer is once more behind their deployment. They are to sail in HMS Expedient to the Mediterranean, to assist Britain's ally Rashid Bey of Rabhet, with Hayter yet again Rennie's second in command. 
 
So, unprepared for what they will find on the dangerous Barbary Coast, Expedient and the ten gun cutter Curlew sail into treacherous waters. The odds are daunting. They must make a show of defiance against the mighty corsair fleet of Rabhet's enemy the Dey of Tunis. Murky politics, threatened mutiny, desperate sea actions and imprisonment follow on the sweltering North African Coast, where the rules of European warfare no longer apply and the victor will take everything.

HMS Expedient

'Salute a new master of the sea' Daily Express

Peter Smalley was born in Melbourne, Australia, and hails from a seafaring family. After an early career in advertising he became a screenwriter, broadcaster, and novelist. He lives in London with his wife, Clytie. 
For more information please see www.tallshipbooks.com or www.sea-room.com

1786: Captain William Rennie is on the beach and on half pay when he's given a prime commission: HMS Expedient is a 36 gun frigate; she is to be sent to the South Seas on a scientific expedition. 
For Lieutenant James Hayter, in Dorsetshire, whose career had barely begun when the peace came, his own commission in Expedient out of the blue is equally surprising and exciting. 
 
But for these two sea officers there is something odd and disturbing about the nature of their task. They sense that they are not being told the whole truth about the forthcoming expedition, and the shady, powerful figure of Sir Robert Greer is always at their backs. Is someone trying to sabotage their mission? Why is their progress dogged by a mysterious man of war? And what are the secret orders locked in Rennie's cabin which may only be opened once they round the Cape of Good Horn? 
 
The answers lies on a beautiful uncharted island, in the remotest corner of the Pacific immensity, to which the storm-battered Expedient limps for desperately needed repairs. Soon the dangers of the voyage will pale in comparison with what they discover there, across the limpid waters of the lagoon...

Peter Smalley

Spring 1792. 
 
Captain James Rennie is anxious to be active again after a year on the beach. And this time he longs for regular service with the Fleet as opposed to the extraordinarily dangerous detached missions he has been assigned by Britain's shadowy spy masters in the last few years. His friend, Lieutenant James Hayter, is haunted by his past and he too longs for the sea. 
 
Both will find their escape, but not in the circumstances they would have wished. Once more the summons comes for a secret voyage, in pursuit of a heavily armed neutral vessel. Aboard the ship lies a secret that could change the course of the coming war for Britain, and the loss of which could tip the balance irrevocably in favour of Revolutionary France. Rennie and Hayter must play a deadly game involving sea battles, mutiny and breathtaking deception. And, of course, the only stakes in the game are victory or death.

Peter Smalley

The Pursuit

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