Peter Wickham

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A Close Run Thing

A Close Run Thing

John Pearce is hiding in Gravelines with his mysterious companion, known to him as Oliphant. Although they find a crew willing to take them back to England, they learn on the journey that Pearce’s old enemies, the Tolland brothers, are still active on...

A Divided Command

A Divided Command

Unbeknown to John Pearce, the private letter he is delivering on behalf of the prime minister carries the dismissal of the very man he is sailing to see. The need for a government majority to pursue the war with France means John Pearce must step down...

A Flag of Truce

A Flag of Truce

Firebrand John Pearce has been promoted to lieutenant and is in a position of command on board HMS Faron when he returns to Toulon from his successful mission in Corsica. But although he returns with a prize in tow, he receives a mixed welcome from...

A Game of Bones

A Game of Bones

1796…The long-awaited return of the Bucephalas to the safety of Cinque Ports if interrupted by a disastrous engagement in the Channel. The looming shape of a merchantman becalmed in fog presents an almost irresistible allure. But for Harry Ludlow and...

A Hanging Matter

A Hanging Matter

1794...Returning to England, Harry and James become embroiled in a vicious struggle between rival smugglers played out in the English Channel. Witnesses to a bloody confrontation, they flee to Deal – only to find that, behind its picturesque facade,...

A Sea of Troubles

A Sea of Troubles

1794. In the wake of the Glorious First of June, Lieutenant John Pearce has pressing matters to attend to. He must undertake an urgent commission from Lord Hood, track down midshipman Toby Burns, and placate Emily Barclay. Meanwhile smugglers whose...

A Tale of a Tub

A Tale of a Tub

Swift's allegorical satire about religion and politics follows the lives of three brothers, Martin, Peter and Jack, who each represent a faction of the Christian faith - Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism and the Dissenting faiths respectively. Each...

A Treacherous Coast

A Treacherous Coast

1796. Pearce and his wife Emily are in living in Bath when Minister of War Henry Dundas turns up and suggests a second mission to the Vendée, this time as a liaison between the French emigres intending to land in Brittany and the British naval and...

An Awkward Commission

An Awkward Commission

John Pearce’s recent promotion means that he is finally free to follow his own wishes – but the same can’t be said for his trio of closest friends. Whilst Pearce is indulging himself in London, they are shipped off to the Mediteranean. Riddled with...

An Element of Chance

An Element of Chance

1795…As war spreads across the globe, Harry Ludlow joins the struggle for the richest trade in the world. When half his crew is illegally pressed into the Royal Navy by the vicious Captain Toner, Harry sets off in pursuit. Toner’s ship reaches the...

It is 1793. John Pearce and his Pelicans are going home - to gain their freedom and put the treacherous Captain Ralph Barclay in the dock. Emily Barclay discovers Pearce has papers that would ruin her husband’s career and her future security. And then...

An Introduction to Giacomo Casanova's The Story of My Life

An Introduction to Giacomo Casanova's The Story of My Life

Peter Wickham talks about the infamous libertine Giacomo Casanova, and his explosive autobiography, The Story of My Life. Perhaps best known for his serial womanising, Casanova led an extraordinary life with many wild and incredible adventures, many...

By the Mast Divided

By the Mast Divided

London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on her way to war. In the first few days, Pearce discovers the Navy is a...

Calamity in Kent

Calamity in Kent

In the peaceful seaside town of Broadgate, an impossible crime occurs. The operator of the cliff railway locks the empty carriage one evening; when he returns to work next morning, a dead body is locked inside – a man who has been stabbed in the back....

Critique of Pure Reason

Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is a core text of modern philosophy. Presenting an examination of the nature of human reason, its central argument is that the way in which man perceives his environment is a direct consequence of the mind’s...

Death of an Airman

Death of an Airman

George Furnace, flight instructor at Baston Aero Club, dies instantly when his plane crashes into the English countryside. People who knew him are baffled – Furnace was a first-rate pilot, and the plane was in perfect condition – and the inquest...

Democracy in America

Democracy in America

Sent by the French government to examine the American prison system, Alexis de Tocqueville spent nine months touring the United States between 1831 and 1832. However, fascinated by the success of America’s democratic system, de Tocqueville took...

Written in 1916 against the backdrop of the First World War, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism explains the flaws and power of capitalism, which inevitably lead to monopolies, imperialism and colonialism. Lenin develops Marx’s theories of...

Born out of the political turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan stands out as one of the most in influential political and philosophical texts of the seventeenth century. It argues for the restoration of the monarchy, in light of the Republic,...

Maxwell's Academy

Maxwell's Academy

The end of civilisation, as Peter Maxwell knows it, is just around the corner. It comes in the form of Fiona Braymarr, the new superhead. She is a new broom, and she sweeps good people along the way. And the odd thing about her? She has no past. And...

Maxwell's Chain

Maxwell's Chain

As Head of Sixth Form at Leighford High and a new father, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell is a very busy man. Despite this, he still finds time for some amateur sleuthing, even though his policewoman “Significant Other”, DS Jacquie Carpenter, has decided that...

Maxwell's Curse

Maxwell's Curse

Maxwell’s Millennium is not quite like other people’s – for a start, it is a year later. After much quibbling with the maths department, everyone calls it an honourable draw and he celebrates as only he can: with his cat, his model soldiers, and his...

Maxwell's Flame

Maxwell's Flame

Peter Maxwell didn't want to attend the GNVQ course. He didn't want to get mixed up in murder either - but perhaps it was all part of death's rich tapestry. And while a disparate gathering of teachers was breaking ice upstairs at the Carnforth Centre,...

Maxwell's Grave

Maxwell's Grave

When Peter "Mad Max" Maxwell takes his kids from Leighford High on an archaeological dig, they uncover a grave. But the corpse was not Saxon and it wasn’t a king, this was an altogether more recent death. Then a policeman on the case is found dead at...

Maxwell's House

Maxwell's House

The derelict house on the edge of the sleepy seaside town was a haven for courting couples, down-and-outs - and someone with altogether more sinister intentions. It was there that they found the corpse of 17-year-old Jenny Hyde. She'd been strangled....