The Continental Risque: An Isaac Biddlecomb Novel

Nelson's exciting seafaring series continues. As cries for independence ring through the chambers of the Second Continental Congress, Captain Isaac Biddlecomb and his crew are called upon to engage the Royal Navy.

Isaac Biddlecomb, now captain of the converted merchantman Charlemagne, a newly commissioned brig-of-war in the Continental Navy of 1776, is being pursued by his archenemy, HMS Glasgow. Through a series of clever yachting maneuvers, Biddlecomb eludes the larger enemy ship, impresses the love of his life, Virginia Stanton, daughter of his old mentor, and makes himself a hero. After a brief and somewhat tedious stay on shore—during which the reader is treated to cameos of Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and other founding fathers—the captain and his ship join the fledgling Continental fleet and the salt breeze invigorates Nelson's tale as his hero sails through various adventures in the Bahamas.

James L. Nelson is the award-winning author of more than twenty works of maritime fiction and history. His books cover the gamut from Vikings to piracy in Colonial America to naval action during the American Revolution and the Civil War. His novel Glory in the Name was the winner of the American Library Association/William Young Boyd Award for Best Military Fiction and his nonfiction George Washington’s Secret Navy won the Naval Order’s Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature. He has lectured all over the country and has appeared on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and BookTV. He currently lives in Harpswell, Maine, with his former Golden Hinde shipmate and wife, Lisa.