Pirate detective

Let 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.