** A WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH **** AN INSTANT TIMES BESTSELLER **** A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR **** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD **** LONGLISTED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR **''A TRULY GRIPPING READ'' - GUARDIAN''FABULOUS, A DELIGHT'' - S.G. MACLEAN''A FINE ADVENTURE REMINISCENT OF PATRICK O''BRIAN'' - SUNDAY TIMESThis is the secret report of Laurence Jago. Unwilling spy. Reluctant sailor. Accidental detective. New Year 1795, and Laurence Jago is aboard the Tankerville mail ship, en route to Philadelphia. Laurence is travelling undercover, supposedly as a journalist''s assistant. But his real mission is to protect a civil servant, en route to Congress with a vital treaty that will stop the Americans from joining the French in their war against Britain.When the civil servant meets an unfortunate - and apparently accidental - end, the treaty disappears, and Laurence realises that only he can keep the Americans out of the war. Trapped on the ship with a strange assortment of travellers including two penniless French aristocrats, an Irish actress and a dancing bear, Laurence must hunt down both the lost treaty and the murderer, before he has a tragic ''accident'' himself...The new page-turning historical mystery from the author of BLACK DROP, a 2021 TIMES Book of the Year. Perfect for readers of Andrew Taylor, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and S.J. Parris.