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The Blighted Cliffs: Book One of the Reluctant Adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Disappointed by Flashman comparison
  • Not Like Flashman
  • There Was Hornblower, Aubrey/Maturin, Now Jerrold
The Blighted Cliffs: Book One of the Reluctant Adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold
Edwin Thomas
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:
  1. The Chains of Albion
  2. Any Approaching Enemy: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars
  3. Sails on the Horizon: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars
  4. No Quarter: A Matty Graves Novel (The Matty Graves Novels)
  5. Treason's River

ASIN: 0312325126
Release Date: 2005-11-29

Book Description

“This is a great book, exciting and utterly unique. For the lover of naval fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, this book has it all.”---James L. Nelson, author of Reign of Iron
The first of a trilogy set at the turn of the nineteenth century, when Britain was fighting hard to rule the waves; a wonderfully entertaining, swashbuckling adventure series.
Not many men emerged from Trafalgar with not an ounce of credit to their names, but through an overreliance on rum and his habitual bad luck, Lieutenant Martin Jerrold managed it. In February 1806, he comes to the White Cliffs of Dover with one final chance to redeem his reputation. Before he has been there a day, however, he finds himself standing over a corpse at the foot of the cliffs. Jerrold is suspected of murder. Only the fact that no one can identify the corpse prolongs his freedom. Distrusted by his superiors, set upon by intriguingly well-informed smugglers, and attacked by the French at sea, Jerrold has two weeks to save his skin---or perish in the attempt.

Praise for The Blighted Cliffs

“Enchanted readers loath to say bon voyage will impatiently await the sequel to this well-researched, charmingly outrageous debut.”---Publishers Weekly

“Jerrold swashes his buckles and splices his mainbraces to good effect, and this series will solve the gift problem for all armchair admirals.”---Scotland on Sunday (UK)

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars Disappointed by Flashman comparison.......2006-07-14

I bought this book based on a review which claimed that Martin Jerrold was a "nautical Flashman." I also thought that the opening lines were clever and well written, and certainly sounded like something Flashy would say. I found as I continued to read, however, that the witty tone of those opening lines soon disappeared. What I was treated to thereafter was a rather mundane historical mystery novel with an uninteresting main character. Both Harry Flashman and Martin Jerrold are anti-heroes who drink too much and find themselves falling into trouble, but the comparison ends there. Flashman is a coward, a bully, a toady, and a letch; he is a truly bad person, but he makes you like him despite these characteristics because of the humor and candor with which he tells his extraordinary tales. And George MacDonald Fraser (the author of the Flashman novels) has given Flashy such a wonderful voice that half the fun of reading the novels is not just what he says but how he says it. Martin Jerrold has virtually none of this saving humor, and he really isn't that bad a person. He is even somewhat honorable, something that could never be said about Flashman. So, if you want to read a Flashman-like character, stick to the original. If you want to read an historical murder mystery, one that is not bad, but certainly not great, then this might be what you are looking for.

4 out of 5 stars Not Like Flashman.......2005-12-04

I bought this book because it promised to be a naval analog of George McDonald Fraser's FLASHMAN. It was not but I was not disappointed.

The books takes place on the Kentish coast during the Napoleonic wars. Lieutenant Martin Jerrold has been sent there in disgrace. While he was at the battle of Trafalgar, he took no active part. He managed to get himself stuck in the hold of his ship and lost out on any chance of notice or distinction. So it is that he is sent to work with a revenue cutter and help suppress the thriving smuggling trade. He is only there for a single night, drunk, before he manages to get into trouble. While stepping out to relieve himself, he wanders into a smuggling operation gone wrong. A man is killed and the Lieutenant becomes the prime suspect. He finds himself in a situation where he must not only carry out his duties to suppress the smuggling trade, he must use all of his free time to try and clear his name before the deadline runs out. His bad reputation, bad luck and French intrigue do not help matters.

The protagonist of the book is not cut from heroic cloth but he is not the complete poltroon that the Harry Flashman character is; he does not seek trouble for its own sake. Instead, he is a bumbler who has bad luck. When the chips are down, though, he does possess a modicum of honor. He is not a character we like to revile. Instead, he is one with whom it is all too easy to identify.

This book is not as funny or exciting as the FLASHMAN series but neither is it as strained and contrived. It is a good read and I look forward to reading more.

5 out of 5 stars There Was Hornblower, Aubrey/Maturin, Now Jerrold.......2004-10-28

There was Hornblower, then Aubrey/Maturin, now comes Lt. Martin Jerrold, not cut from the same cloth at all. It starts out with him waking up from a hangover, a state in which he had gotten through the Battle of Trafalgar.

This though is a murder mystery set in the same time frame. Lt. Jerrold is quickly suspected of murdering a British sailor. His new commanding officer, and the magistrate would see him hanged. They probably would if they could identify the corpse. His long suffering Uncle at the Admiralty gives him two weeks to solve the murder.

Written in the same style as the other books, this one is even better at painting a picture of the life of the time. Life at Dover, a center of smuggling is presented as dramatically different than life at sea as in the other books. The people are more varied, the situations more surprising.

This is supposed to be the first of a trilogy. Now the problem is waiting for the second volume. I also wonder if Edwin Thomas realizes just what he has created here. He may well be writing of the hapless Lt. Jerrold for a lifetime.
Adventures of Martin Jerrold : Book One The Blighted Cliffs and Book Two The Chains of Albion
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Adventures of Martin Jerrold : Book One The Blighted Cliffs and Book Two The Chains of Albion
    Edwin Thomas
    Manufacturer: Bantam Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover
    ASIN: B000KEUJ3O
    THE BLIGHTED CLIFFS.
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      THE BLIGHTED CLIFFS.
      Edwin. Thomas
      Manufacturer: Bantam/ Transworld,
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

      HistoricalHistorical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
      Action & AdventureAction & Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
      Sea AdventuresSea Adventures | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
      ASIN: 0593050649

      Book Description

      Not many men emerged from Trafalgar with not an ounce of credit to their names, but through an over-reliance on rum and his habitual bad luck, Lieutenant Martin Jerrold managed it.

      In February 1806, he comes to Dover with one final chance to redeem his reputation. Before he has been there a day, however, he finds himself standing over a body that is too far from the cliffs to have fallen accidentally. To his horror, Jerrold is suspected of murder.

      Somewhere in Dover’s twisted streets, someone must know something. But Jerrold soon discovers that nothing is it seems in a town where smuggling is a way of life. And all the while, Jerrold is gaining sympathy only in the less-than-respectable arms of Isobel, the girl who seems without any great effort on his part — to be becoming his mistress.

      Distrusted by his superiors, set upon by intriguingly well-informed smugglers, and attacked by the French at sea, Jerrold has two weeks to save his skin — or perish in the attempt.


      From the Paperback edition.
      The Blighted Cliffs
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        The Blighted Cliffs
        Edwin Thomas
        Manufacturer: London Bantam Press 2003.
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover
        ASIN: B000GTRS0A
        The Blighted Cliffs
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          The Blighted Cliffs
          Edwin Thomas
          Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000OTGG0U
          The Blighted Cliffs : Book One of the Reluctant Adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold (Reluctant Adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold)
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            The Blighted Cliffs : Book One of the Reluctant Adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold (Reluctant Adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold)
            Edwin Thomas
            Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback
            ASIN: B000OTJJD6

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