The Gun Ketch

Although we're accustomed to more rollicking tales about the Royal Navy's Lt. Alan Lewrie than Lambdin offers here--in the first scene our hero is being married, ``quaking but not completely in terror of his bachelorhood's demise''--this followup to The King's Privateer is still a grand, satisfying yarn. Newlyweds Alan and Caroline set sail in 1786 for the Bahamas, where he'll captain HMS Alacrity to enforce the Navigation Acts. The handsome young Lewries are rapturously, carnally happy and Alan's occasional sea tours only hone their appetites for each other. But there are snakes in Eden. Alan finds himself in trouble with authority when he tries to fight smugglers honorably, and simultaneously to suppress jealousy about Caroline. Lambdin throws in a lot of ripping sea and land battles, a slew of vicious pirates and smugglers, a couple of nasty nemeses and one very dangerous corrupt official. Alan's triumph is only one of many things to cheer about--series fans as well as newcomers will relish Lambdin's unerring depiction of Navy politicking, the niceties of Nassau society (including the hierarchy of color among natives) and, in fact, all the rich details of late-18th-century life at sea and shore. (Apr.)