Book excerpt: It's 1793 and Alan Lewrie is now commander of HMS Jester, an 18-gun sloop. After handily thrashing the French at the Battle of the First of June, Lewrie sails into Corsica only to receive astonishing orders. He must lure his archenemy, French commander Guillaume Choundas, into battle and personally strike the malevolent spymaster dead. With Horatio Nelson as his squadron commander on one hand and a luscious courtesan who spies for the French on the other, Lewrie must pull out all the stops if he's going to live up to his own reputation and bring glory to the British Royal Navy.