Golden Lion

The western Indian Ocean in the later seventeenth century. Hal Courtney commands the Golden Bough south from Ethiopia with Judith Nazet and a crew hardened by war. An uneasy truce between England and the Dutch offers little protection when another vessel closes during the night and forces the Courtneys into hand-to-hand combat. The attack reveals that Hal’s old enemy, the Buzzard, has survived and has rebuilt his power through piracy, trafficking and alliances along the East African coast.

Hal’s pursuit carries him through Zanzibar, slave markets, coastal settlements and dangerous sea routes linking Africa, Arabia and India. Capture and enslavement strip him of command and force him to rely on Judith and the loyalty of men who may be tempted to abandon him. The novel continues the maritime world of Birds of Prey while shifting attention from formal European naval war to the commercial violence that endured during peace. Revenge drives the plot, but the larger setting is an Indian Ocean economy in which ships, weapons and human beings are traded for political advantage.