Killigrew R N

1847: Despite the best efforts of the Royal Navy, Transatlantic slavers continue to make vast profits from the illegal trade. Idealistic young naval officer Kit Killigrew believes the Navy will always be fighting a losing battle while loop-holes in a complex system of international law protect those who deal in human flesh.

With the aid of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, Killigrew hatches a daring plan to infiltrate the slavers and discover the whereabouts of the biggest slave market in West Africa, owned by shadowy megalomaniac Francisco Salazar. But by far the most dangerous part of Kit's mission will be to find out the identity of the British Establishment figure whom Napier is convinced is one of the slave trade's major investors.

Already the veteran of campaigns in Syria and China, Killigrew sets out on a perilous adventure which sweeps him from the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair to an explosive climax in the jungles of the Guinea Coast.