13 Dec Rosemary Hayes Traitor’s Game #HistoricalFiction #Spies #NapoleonicWars #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @HayesRosemary @cathiedunn

FEATURED AUTHOR: ROSEMARY HAYES

I‘m pleased to welcome Rosemary Hayes as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between November 22nd –  December 13th, 2024. Rosemary Hayes is the author of the Historical Fiction, Traitor’s Game (Soldier Spy, Book #1), released by Sharpe Books on 26^th September 2024 (134 pages).

Below are highlights of Traitor’s Game, the author bio of Rosemary Hayes, and an excerpt from her book.

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2024/10/blog-tour-traitors-game-by-rosemary-hayes.html

HIGHLIGHTS: TRAITOR’S GAME

Traitor’s Game
(Soldier Spy Book One)
by Rosemary Hayes

Blurb:

‘Right from page one you know you are in the hands of a talented storyteller… An exciting tale of espionage and adventure in the classic mould.’ ~ R.N. Morris, author of The Gentle Axe

1808.

Captain Will Fraser has just returned from the Front in the Peninsular War. He is disgraced and penniless, the victim of a conspiracy led by a jealous and influential officer. Fraser has been falsely accused of insubordination and cowardice and dismissed from his regiment.

Fraser and Duncan Armstrong, his wounded Sergeant, arrive in London to seek out Will’s brother, Jack, who works for King George’s Government.

But Jack has disappeared. He vanished from his lodgings a week ago and no one has seen him since. Friends and colleagues are baffled by his disappearance as is the young woman, Clara, who claims to be his wife.

Then Will is viciously attacked, seemingly mistaken for his brother, and only just escapes with his life. When news of this reaches Jack’s colleagues in Government, Will is recruited to find his brother and he and Armstrong set out to follow a trail littered with half-truths and misinformation.

For their task is not quite what it seems.

Will closely resembles his brother and it becomes evident that he is being used as a decoy to flush out Jack’s enemies. These are enemies of the State, for Jack Fraser is a spy and his colleagues believe he has uncovered evidence which will lead to the identity of a French spymaster embedded in the British Government.

Will’s search leads him to France but in this murky world of espionage, nothing is straightforward.

The soldier turned spy must unmask a traitor, before it’s too late.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bwwEee

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

AUTHOR BIO: ROSEMARY HAYES

Rosemary Hayes has written over fifty books for children and young adults. She writes in different genres, from edgy teenage fiction (The Mark), historical fiction (The Blue Eyed Aborigine and Forgotten Footprints), middle grade fantasy (Loose Connections, The Stonekeeper’s Child and Break Out) to chapter books for early readers and texts for picture books. Many of her books have won or been shortlisted for awards and several have been translated into different languages.

Rosemary has travelled widely but now lives in South Cambridgeshire. She has a background in publishing, having worked for Cambridge University Press before setting up her own company Anglia Young Books which she ran for some years. She has been a reader for a well-known authors’ advisory service and runs creative writing workshops for both children and adults.

Rosemary has now turned her hand to adult fiction and her historical novel The King’s Command is about the terror and tragedy suffered by a French Huguenot family during the reign of Louis XIV.

And Traitor’s Game, the first book in the Soldier Spy trilogy, set during the Napoleonic Wars, has recently been published.

Author Links:

Website: www.rosemaryhayes.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HayesRosemary

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosemary-Hayes/e/B00NAPAPZC

EXCERPT: TRAITOR’S GAME

Then his thoughts turned to the other news he had heard from Armstrong. That the Colonel of the Buffs, volunteers charged with fighting the smugglers, was none other than the father of his betrayer. The bile rose in his throat and he fought to suppress his anger and resentment.

I cannot fight old battles. I have a job to undertake, a brother to find and a spy to unmask.

At last he, too, lay down on the deck and closed his eyes, but his sleep was disturbed by vivid dreams and he was thankful when he was jerked awake by the crew pushing him out of the way so that they could hoist the sails. He stood up and stretched and looked across to the East where the dawn sky was streaked with red and orange and then, turning his head, he could just see, on the horizon, a glimpse of land.

The sails cracked as they filled with wind and during the next hour the galley made good speed towards the shore. They were within sight of land, and Will was already beginning to work out some sort of plan, when the Master suddenly gave a shout and let forth an oath. Will and Armstrong both looked up in surprise as the man pointed at a distant smudge.

‘That’ll be an English gunboat,’ he said.

It was not long before he was proved right. The smudge soon formed into a vessel and it was heading in their direction at speed.

‘Damnation!’ muttered the Master, then he turned to Will. ‘No point in trying to outrun it,’ he said. ‘It would only condemn us further. I don’t want to know your business, sir, but I’d ask you to have a fine story ready for the Government men.’

Two of the crew immediately set to work to conceal anything which might condemn them. They opened the false top of the barrel and emptied it, concealing ingots in their shoes and coins in their pockets.

One of the men had a fistful of documents in his hand. Will was thinking fast.

‘Give those to me,’ he said. ‘I’ll put them in my haversack and concoct a likely story about them.’

The man looked at the Master who nodded. ‘I hope, sir,’ he said to Will, ‘that you are a fine actor, otherwise we shall all be arrested.’ Then he ordered the false barrel top to be smashed into small pieces and tossed overboard.

The Master ordered the crew to lower the sails and they waited as the gunboat grew ever closer.

Armstrong was by Will’s side. ‘Act the officer now, sir. Stand up straight, put your shoulders back and act affronted.’

‘I’m not on the parade ground,’ muttered Will, but unconsciously he did as the Sergeant said when the gunboat came alongside and two armed men leapt onto the galley’s deck. The elder of the two introduced himself as the Lieutenant Commander of the gunboat and requested to search the galley. Will had, by now, transformed himself into an arrogant and well-bred officer of the sort he had never admired. He stood, legs braced and arms folded, and confronted the men. Then he proffered his hand to the Commander.

‘Captain Fraser of the Highland Light Infantry, recently returned from Portugal,’ he said. ‘I would ask you not to impede our passage.’

‘We have to search the vessel, sir,’ said the Commander. ‘Government orders.’

‘Search all you wish,’ said Will, hoping that any search would be cursory, ‘but you will find nothing of interest.’ He gestured towards the Master. ‘I have employed this man and his crew to take me, in all secrecy, to rescue two escaped prisoners of war and to hand over certain secret documents to those who are working undercover for the Government.’

The Commander did not look convinced. ‘This vessel looks mighty like a galley called the Queen Anne that’s been seized before.’

‘But as you can see,’ said Will, his voice calm, although his heart was beating wildly in his chest, ‘You are mistaken. This vessel is the Apus of London.’

He noted that the men exchanged glances and Will pressed his advantage.

‘I’m sure you understand that there is information I cannot disclose to you, sirs. I am in the service of the British Government and I am acting under orders sent from London on the highest authority.’ Then he took a couple of the sealed documents from his haversack and waved them under the men’s noses. ‘These contain the most confidential missives and must not, under any circumstances, fall into the wrong hands.’

‘And what is your role, exactly, sir?’

Will raised an eyebrow and twisted his lips into what he hoped was a sarcastic smile.

‘My dear Commander,’ he said. ‘Surely you know better than to ask.’

Both men were, by now, looking quite discomforted. Will continued. ‘Now, we have done you the courtesy of stopping and allowing you on board. I beg that you return the favour and let us continue on our journey with all haste. There is a rendezvous I need to keep in France and the security of our country will be at considerable risk if I do not make contact with my agent at the appointed time.’

In the event, to Will’s great relief, the men did not search the vessel but finally returned to the gunboat having shaken Will’s hand and wished him God speed on his mission.

When the gunboat had left and the crew had, once more, hoisted the sails, Armstrong turned to Will.

‘Lord, sir, Sally and Lottie would be proud of you. You’ve missed your calling. You should join them on the stage.’

Even the surly Master congratulated him on his performance and thanked him for his quick thinking. ‘You gave a good impression of a military man, sir. I could almost believe you were an officer!’

Armstrong turned away to hide his smile but Will was sweating profusely and trembling with the strain of it.

How much more lying will I have to do on French soil? I am not suited to such deception.

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