Pirates & Privateers: MaryLu Tyndall's Books

With her mother’s death, Lady Charlisse Bristol endures years of abuse at the hands of her uncle, a person of some note in the Anglican Church. His teachings and “instruction” destroy her faith in God, for how could He ever love someone as bad as her? Only one person may offer her the love she searches for: her father, a man she’s never met. She knows him only through conversations with her mother, but he offers Charlisse hope. Determined to find him, she books passage on a vessel bound for Jamaica. A vicious storm impedes her journey. She is the only one who survives, but life on a deserted island isn’t as appealing as one might expect. After months of loneliness, bitten by bugs, and living in filth, she waits to die.

Edmund Merrick has one goal in life: to bring Edward the Terrible, the worst of all pirates, to justice. Edmund once served as Edward’s second in command, but a drunken visit to a church, where he repented his sins and sought redemption through Christ, brought Edmund from the brink of despair. Before he can hunt down Edward, he stumbles upon an island where a bedraggled woman, delirious with fever, stumbles into his camp. While he nurses her to health, he realizes he must safeguard her from his men. What he doesn’t expect is to fall in love with Charlisse. When she reveals why she has come to the Caribbean, Edmund must decide whether love or justice is more important.

The Redemption is a rousing pirate adventure filled with sea battles, chases, arrests, and betrayal. Tyndall expertly interweaves history with fiction to create a spellbinding tale any lover of pirate romance will enjoy. Although there are a couple of minor historical errors, such as flying the Jolly Roger before it appeared, these in no way detract from the story. The inspirational message never intrudes, and the manner in which various characters find redemption makes for a compelling story. Once you lift the lid on this treasure chest, you will never regret the journey upon which you sail back to the pirate haven of Port Royal in 1665. The Redemption is perfect for a stormy day when the fire crackles in the hearth and you wish only to be stranded on a tropical island with a handsome pirate.

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The Reliance
by M. L. Tyndall
Barbour, 2006, ISBN 978-1-59789-360-2, US $9.97

Marriage agrees with Edmund Merrick, and he thanks the Lord every day for bringing Charlisse into his life. No longer a pirate, he now hunts them, and his travels take him to Porto Bello. Life is idyllic, until pirates – led by Henry Morgan – attack the Panamanian city and Merrick and Charlisse must escape the bloody onslaught. They seek refuge in a small Catholic church along with several orphans, but Merrick must go back to help a friend. No sooner does he leave the church than it blows up, killing Charlisse and devastating Merrick. Unable to cope, he drinks himself into oblivion and ventures into the dangerous streets and taverns of Tortuga in search of Morgan, whom he holds responsible for Charlisse’s death. He abandons his faith and makes a pact with the devil – a bloodthirsty, demented pirate named Collier.

Merrick’s loyal companions take his ship and sail for Port Royal, hoping to convince the preacher to come and save Merrick from himself. Instead, they encounter Charlisse – not dead, but held captive by her husband’s arch enemy, Kent – and another captive, Lady Isabel. After a narrow escape, Charlisse (with Isabel in tow) joins her husband’s crew and assumes command. Despite not having everyone’s support, she inflicts severe damage to Kent’s vessel before going in search of her wayward husband. The night she finds him in a tavern in Tortuga, a buxom lady sits on his lap.

Has Charlisse lost Merrick forever? How can he break his pact with the devil and cease being a pirate forever? And what of Kent? Will he truly stop hunting Charlisse, especially since Isabel has escaped his clutches? To learn the answers, one must read The Reliance, the sequel to The Redemption. Tyndall adeptly interweaves history and romance with fiction and religion into a world peopled with nasty pirates, jealous men, and greedy devils. Unlike the first book, here the inspirational message intrudes into the story a few times, but it remains as compelling an adventure as the original. Her depiction of Tortuga and buccaneer raids on Spanish towns is spot on, and readers will find themselves peering around to make certain they’re still safe at home, rather than in the 17th century.

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Surrender the Dawn
By MaryLu Tyndall
Barbour, 2011, print ISBN 978-1-60260-167-3, US $12.99
Also available in e-book format

Cassandra Channing often finds herself at odds with societal norms, and March 26, 1814, is no different. She wants to purchase shares in a privateering venture, but no one takes her seriously. Just one successful voyage will sustain her family and prove that women can succeed in business, rather than simply being housewives and mothers. The last thing she wants is to heed her mother’s wishes and marry a man Cassandra can’t abide. The only person who accepts her money is Luke Heaton, a seafaring scoundrel with a penchant for drink and gambling. With her family on the brink of destitution, she invests all their funds in Heaton’s vessel.

Luke’s an excellent seaman and privateer with vices that get him into trouble. The moment he saves Cassandra from thugs, his heart is lost, yet she’s a treasure he can never attain. No one is more surprised than he when she invests in his ship, and her trust compels him to strive for success. But he battles inner demons and harbors a secret that threatens to sink him.

The first voyage succeeds beyond Cassandra’s hopes, and she sees Luke in a new light. As she falls in love with him, she begins to suspect that all isn’t as it appears. She took a big risk trusting him and to insure that he does not sabotage her future in the privateering trade, she becomes a stowaway. Her presence on the schooner endangers Luke, the crew, herself, and her country.

Centered around the British attack on Fort McHenry, this historical romance unfolds primarily in Baltimore, Maryland, although there are a few scenes at sea. Placing trust in the Lord is a major theme and, while more intense than in some of Tyndall’s other books, it is never intrusive. She spins a tale of hope, betrayal, trickery, friendship, love, honor, guilt, and loyalty that captivates the reader and transports them back to witness a profound moment in American history. Although the final book in the Surrender to Destiny series, Surrender the Dawn works beautifully as a stand-alone book. Those who dare to join Cassandra and Luke on this adventure will enjoy the journey and the history.

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The Ransom
By MaryLu Tyndall
MaryLu Tyndall Books, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9910921-2-3, US $14.48
e-book ISN 978-0-9910921-3-0, US $5.99

21 March 1692
Seventy-nine days until the earthquake . . .

The last place Juliana Dutton should visit, especially after dark, is a dockside tavern in Port Royal, Jamaica. Unlike others of her station, she refuses to abandon her friend Abilene, who has fallen on hard times. A resolute Juliana pushes aside her niggling second thoughts and steps into a den of inequity, where pirates and other ne’er-do-wells sate their hunger for drink and debauchery. God will protect her, but His guardian angel turns out to also be a scoundrel, albeit one who speaks and acts like a gentleman – at least where she’s concerned. While grateful for the Pirate Earl’s assistance, she’s dismayed to discover she’s attracted to this rogue who knows not only her name, but also where she lives.

With her father ailing and her brother a drunkard who enjoys gambling, Juliana must run the family business. She has the necessary acumen, but her father believes she is trying to steal the company from him. Nevertheless she stealthily oversees the business, doing whatever she must to keep her father’s clients from learning the truth. If they do, they will take their business elsewhere, rather than deal with a woman, and the loss of income will ensure that she becomes as desperate and destitute as Abilene or the orphans whom she visits.

To further complicate her life, she must maintain her social life, attending soirees and making believe she hasn’t a care in the world. Her brother’s answer is to assist the unrelenting Captain Nichols in his pursuit of Juliana. He might be handsome and have a noble pedigree and wealth, but she can’t abide the man. When he learns of her encounter with the Pirate Earl, he admonishes her in front of her friends and vows to discuss the matter with her father. She can’t allow that to happen, but she has no way of stopping him from carrying out his threat and uncovering the truth.

As if aware of her dire predicament, the foppish and dainty Lord Alexander Munthrope, who decks himself out with ribbons and lace, intervenes. After escorting her to her home, he proposes a plan that will aid him in satisfying his father’s demand to choose a wife while keeping Nichols away from her. The moment Juliana agrees to the preposterous engagement, she doubts the wisdom of her decision, but Alex, who has worshipped her from afar, isn’t about to let her elude him. Although the plan succeeds, it engenders an enemy; if Nichols can’t have Juliana, no one will. He suspects this relative newcomer to Jamaica isn’t quite whom he seems to be, and when he learns that Alex’s father, the Earl of Clarendon, was once a pirate, Nichols is determined to ferret out the truth.

The Ransom is a deftly spun tale of masquerade, redemption, and forgiveness. Tyndall recreates the pirate haven with such realism that it’s as if it rises from its watery grave to show readers why it was once deemed “the Sodom of the New World.” It’s been awhile since her last pirate tale, and this voyage far surpasses the adventure, romance, and spiritual journeys in the previous titles of this series. She paints her characters with such vividness and detail that they come to life, pulling readers into the midst of their lives so we walk beside them through all the dark intrigue and dazzling gaiety. When the inevitable occurs, we experience their terror, suffering, and salvation. The Ransom is a journey not soon forgotten and one we never want to end.

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The Reckoning
By MaryLu Tyndall
Ransom Press, 2015, e-book ISBN 978-0-9908723-4-4, US $4.99
print ISBN 978-0-9908723-5-1, US $13.88

How did life get turned so upside down? Morgan Shaw needs life to be predictable, to make sense, and to unfold according to plan. It’s how she deals with her anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her mom keeps telling her to trust God, yet pops pills to get through the day. Her father, an alcoholic, worships money and power (the two items that can fix any problem). Except they can’t. Not now. Not after the oncologist tells Morgan she has only a few more months to live. She’s only twenty-four, and God has abandoned her. She won’t be one of the less than thirty percent who survive liver cancer.

Life can’t possibly become more chaotic. But it does. After dragging her to a tall ship festival, her boyfriend dumps her. Then her girlfriend insists they go aboard the Reckoning, a replica of a real pirate ship. The minute her feet touch the deck, Morgan becomes queasy, a sure indication that seasickness intends to make her day even crummier than it already is. Still, she follows the tour guide into the captain’s cabin where he talks about Rowan Dutton, the notorious and cruel pirate captain whose portrait hangs on the wall. A closet artist herself, Morgan is drawn to the 17th-century oil painting. The only thing known about the mysterious artist is the initials LM.

When Morgan emerges from the cabin, she discovers her ex-boyfriend is aboard with a new girl on his arm. Unable to bear the humiliation, Morgan hides in the ship’s hold where she discovers an amulet. The sound of cannons firing draws her topside and, once there, she discovers she’s far out at sea on a ship full of pirates who are attacking a French merchantman. On the quarterdeck is a man who’s the spitting image of Captain Dutton. How she comes to be here, she has no idea. What she does know is that her father must be behind the whole charade. True to form he wields his power and money to convince her she’s not dying and that everything will be all right.

What is a scantily-dressed female doing on his ship? Who the heck allowed her on board? Rowan Dutton hasn’t the answer to either question, but he’s determined to find the answers. Not only does her presence divert his men’s attention away from their prey, allowing the French merchantman to flee from the pirates, but she has the temerity to talk back to and defy him. As much as she vexes him – especially when she insists he take her back to a Spanish city called San Diego, which he’s never heard of, and uses strange words he can’t decipher – Rowan also finds her fascinating. Even though he normally only associates with married ladies whose husbands are conveniently absent. When he discovers Morgan can decode the map to Roche Brasiliano’s buried treasure, he orders her to do so. She refuses, so he imprisons her in the hold. Maybe the rats, darkness, and bilge water will convince her to change her mind.

He doesn’t really like abusing her this way, but he needs the money. (He planned to purloin it from the French ship, which he’d been chasing for two years, until Morgan intruded.) Without the treasure, he can never repay his twin sister, and he must atone for leaving her destitute and alone in Port Royal shortly before the earthquake struck two years ago. Only then will he be able to retire from piracy and prove to his dead father that he can be a respectable and responsible member of society.

Since Morgan refuses to do his bidding, Rowan goes to Tortuga to track down a man who supposedly knows the map’s secret. He leaves Morgan under the watchful eye of a trusted officer and friend, but that man has other plans. He wants Rowan and the Reckoning to join with William Bloodmoon in an attack on the Spanish treasure fleet sailing from Nombre de Dios. After Rowan nixes the idea of working with the sadistic and treacherous Bloodmoon, the trusted officer betrays Rowan. The only man who may be able to save him is the legendary Pirate Earl, who just happens to be his brother-in-law, and Morgan must help convince him that Rowan is worth saving.

The keyword for The Reckoning, the fifth title in Tyndall’s Legacy of the King’s Pirates series, is trust – specifically, trust in God. The inspirational theme is strong throughout this time-travel romance, which reunites characters from earlier books, including Lord Munthrope/the Pirate Earl and his father, Captain Edmund Merrick, pirate hunter and missionary. His wife, Lady Charlisse, asks the one question that sums up my astonishment when I realized just who the hero is: “By all that is Holy, how did you ever fall in love with Rowan Dutton?”

I never equated the hero of The Reckoning with the drunk and scheming brother of Julianna in the previous title, The Ransom. I admit that I much preferred this Rowan to that one, but I would have liked to learn more about how he became the pirate that he is in this latest book in the series.

Some might think Morgan’s disbelief in being transported back to 1694 won’t work for as long as it does, but it’s totally plausible based on her experiences in life so far. It also adds touches of humor that help to lighten the story when it most needs it. Having read some of Tyndall’s earlier books, I didn’t expect this historical romance to open in present day, but I can’t imagine it working any other way. As in all such love stories, there’s a pivotal moment when the hero and heroine seem to resolve their conflicts to live happily together only to have that long-sought-after moment snatched away from them. The author adeptly handles both this pinnacle and its resolution to show how Morgan comes to trust in God, spicing both with poignant tidbits that summon tears and smiles.

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Charity’s Cross
By MaryLu Tyndall
Ransom Press, 2016, e-book ISBN 978-0-9971671-0-8, US $4.95
print ISBN 978-0-9971671-1-5, US $11.95

Sing a song of sixpence
Pocket full of rye
Four-and-twenty black birds baked in a pie . . .

For two years, the nursery rhyme has provided twenty-five-year-old Charity Westcott with her only safe haven from her abusive husband. It provides little solace this night. Not after she kills her husband trying to protect her unborn child. The façade Lord Villemont projects to the world is far different from the brutality she’s endured, and no one will believe it is self-defense. If she can just get to Charles Town, South Carolina, her family will help her disappear. The closest she can get, though, is Naussau, so she boards the only ship sailing on the evening tide.

Charles, the new Lord Villemont, has no intention of allowing his sister-in-law to escape punishment for her crime. He just misses her in Portsmouth, and he’s already waiting for her when the vessel she’s on arrives in the Bahamas. When he gets aboard, she’s disappeared. He circulates reward posters and anxiously waits for someone to betray her whereabouts.

Charity is appalled to find that Charles is also in Nassau. Taking only her jewels, she slips over the side of the ship into the harbor. She’ll swim ashore, exchange her jewels for cash, and book passage on a ship to South Carolina. Unfortunately, her plans go awry when a concerned gentleman witnesses her fall and jumps in to rescue her. The more she protests, the more attention she draws from the watching crowd. At the first opportunity, she disentangles herself from her knight in wet clothes and escapes, only to discover she no longer has the jewels. Then she sees her likeness drawn on the wanted poster and desperately seeks out her rescuer.

Elias Dutton, reformed pirate turned preacher, is miffed when the beautiful mermaid leaves without even a thank you. Yet he can’t waste time looking for someone who should not be alone in this town, only recently civilized once Governor Woodes Rogers arrived and threw out the pirates. Elias promised his parents he would hasten to Barbados to help his sister, and he fervently prays he’s not too late. Getting the merchant captain to take him there, however, proves impossible until his ungrateful mermaid reappears, pretending to be his wife. Never able to resist a woman in need, Elias goes along with the charade.

Charity has no idea that her little lie means she will have to share the same cabin as Elias. She has no patience for his preaching – God abandoned her years ago – and she’s vowed to never trust another man. Until Elias assumes command and protects her and the ship from being captured by the pirate Charles Vane. Then Elias rescues her after she’s accused of stealing a horse and is kidnapped by cannibals. One falsehood becomes a tangled web of more lies, and no matter how much she’s attracted to Elias, he deserves an honest woman, not a pregnant murderess.

Tyndall spins a riveting tale of betrayal, violence, trust, and honesty in this latest inspirational pirate romance. She vividly recreates Caribbean locales as they were in 1718, while the depth of her characters conveys just how complex we humans are. She mixes serious subjects with light humor in situations that are realistically portrayed, while seamlessly weaving religion into the story so it never intrudes and always shows the power of faith and prayer. Charity and Elias capture readers’ hearts with sincerity, smiles, and tears, while secrets, jealousy, and anger provide formidable foes for the duo to overcome.

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The Liberty Bride
By MaryLu Tyndall
Barbour Books, 2018, ISBN 978-1-68322-617-8, Us $12.99
Also available in e-book format

Mixed emotions assault Emeline Barratt as her father’s merchant brig nears Baltimore, Maryland in August 1814. She’s been in England for two years, sent there after her father tired of her passion to paint and refusal to find a prospective husband. He thought her great aunt would teach her to be a proper lady willing to settle down; if only she could, then perhaps God would cease punishing her for her rebellious ways. That desire is not to be. She still has her dreams. Perhaps that is why the Royal Navy blockading the Chesapeake Bay intervenes. Instead of setting foot on the docks at home, Emeline steps aboard a navy frigate as a prisoner of war. Only her medicinal knowledge prevents her from being locked away in the brig with her father’s privateers.

First Lieutenant Owen Masters curses the day Emeline and the Americans are captured. For eight years he has successfully navigated dangerous waters as a spy aboard Royal Navy ships, seeking information to aid America’s fight for continued freedom. With an invasion imminent this knowledge is within his grasp, but the presence of the prisoners, especially Emeline, endangers his mission and his life. Already Lieutenant Dinsmore watches his every move. The marine officer’s attraction to Emeline seems a good way to thwart his nemesis until Emeline declares that her loyalties lie with the British rather than the country of her birth.

Only after the burning of Washington are both Owen and Emeline given the opportunity they each desire. Her supposed loyalty to England makes her an ideal candidate from whom to glean much-needed information for an assault on Baltimore; in reality, she can escape the clutches of the English, warn authorities, and hopefully cease to anger God. Owen can finally return home and turn in a traitor. Dinsmore is determined to prove that Owen is a spy and save Emeline for himself.

The Liberty Bride is the sixth book in the Daughters of the Mayflower series and is set during the final stages of the War of 1812. This fast-paced inspirational romance vividly portrays the many perils both Emeline and Owen face at sea and on land. Dinsmore is the epitome of a villain readers truly dislike, in spite of his good looks and charm. From the depths of despair to the joys of true love and finding God, this is grand adventure spiced with pinches of humor, sorrow, and intrigue.

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Timeless Treasure
By MaryLu Tyndall
Ransom Press, 2020, e-book ISBN 978-1-7344420-3-8, US $4.99
print ISBN 978-1-7344420-4-5, US $13.55

Her family has long been cursed. Her father is the latest to be incarcerated, but he abandoned her when she was six months old. Now that her mother has passed, Lexie Cain is alone, penniless, and homeless. Her mother’s legacy – a gold coin and 300-year-old letters signed by Stede Bonnet – offers her a slim hope. According to her mother, the pirate is a distant relative and pirates buried their treasure, didn’t they? With no other options open to her, Lexie heads to Charleston, South Carolina, hoping the etchings on the coin and clues in the letters will lead her to the trove.

Although his beloved son died in 1712 and four years have passed, Stede Bonnet is still haunted and tormented by the loss. He has a wife, other children, wealth, and a good reputation, but Barbados is more a prison than a home. His only saving grace is the love of his life, Melody Rogers. She is not his wife and must now accompany her father to Charles Town where he will endeavor to save the souls of the pirates and other scoundrels living there. Stede’s only option is to leave his life behind and go on the account. Perhaps plundering will gain him a new fortune on which he and Melody can live one day soon. To that end, he builds a pirate ship, hires a crew, and sets sail. But he is a soldier, not a sailor, and gaining the crew’s respect proves a difficult and perilous task.

Barret Johnson, a handsome history professor at Charleston Southern University, feels truly blessed. He has a family, comes from money, has a job, and is working on a new book about Stede Bonnet that might garner him an award that will allow him to continue his research on South Carolina pirates. The woman with a tattoo who barges into his office irritates him. He doesn’t believe a word Lexie says, but if there’s even a slim chance that the letter she shows him is authentic, he must pursue this new avenue of research.

Lexie thinks Barret is arrogant and the less contact she has with him, the better. Although she needs his help to understand her ancestor’s writings. No one else knows as much as he does about Bonnet, but Barret is not the only one interested in the letters. Someone is stalking her. Then someone breaks into her apartment. Barret comes to her rescue, and the more time he’s with her, the more of an enigma she becomes. She has so little, but goes out of her way to help others even less fortunate than herself. He’s determined to protect her, even when her stalker proves that he is willing to do anything and harm anyone, especially those closest to her, to get the letters and the coin.

This inspirational romance will captivate readers with its two parallel love stories. One takes place in present-day Charleston, the other in the past. The outcomes differ, but Tyndall deftly contrasts the differences between those who have and those who have not. She does an excellent job portraying Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet, weaving a plausible tale that fills in the blanks that history has left of their association. Bonnet may be an ineffective pirate and not necessarily likeable, but readers will sympathize with his predicament. Lexie’s and Barret’s emotional struggles pull at the heartstrings in a deftly woven love story that will become a cherished favorite.

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