Commander John Richards agrees to join the Western Flotilla in the role of observer as a compromise with his new wife, but his temperament will not let him sit idly by while a war rages around him. Richards takes command of the gunboat MACHINEEL and brings navy discipline to the rough volunteers of the river fleet. He learns new ways to fight along the narrow confines of the inland waterways but finds his marriage endangered by his recklessness. From Memphis to New Orleans, his small command faces snipers, gunboats and cannon plus the growing threat of sinister new weapons: torpedoes, rams, and ironclads. Can he and his men open the Mississippi by aiding in the capture of the Gibraltar of the Confederacy: Vicksburg? The second book in D.A. Joy's Richards' Family Line explores a firsthand perspective of the actions between Union and Confederate naval forces on the rivers in 1862 and 1863.
About the Author: D A Joy is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha Writer's Workshop with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Don has written stories since he was a child and started writing his first book in high school. He has worked as a business analyst and project manager across the country while still living in Nebraska. Outside of work, he maintains a range of interests including history, reading, films, and hobbies such as building models from ships to planes to starships, and participating in local and national competitions. Other interests include science, astronomy and the investigation of unexplained phenomenon. "A Sudden Thunder" and "The Narrow Fury" are the first in The Richards Line of novels dealing with the naval history of the Civil War - or the War Between the States. They combine a deep knowledge of the naval aspects of the Civil War to paint the first years of the war through a combination of actual historical events and typical actions to present a personal view. Beyond the war, these are also the stories of men's service to their countries and the impact on their lives, friends, family and loved ones. Future novels will show the progression of the war, presenting the views of both northern and southern participants, and how life continues even under those harrowing circumstances. "Murder in Whitechapel: The Adventure of the Post Mortem Knife", his first published novel, combines a life-long love of Sherlock Holmes stories with an interest in the darker side of humanity displayed by Jack the Ripper. It provides Holmes' view of the pursuit of the serial killer in London using only his keen intellect and without the aid of modern forensics. And while Holmes is a fictional detective, the case surrounding Jack the Ripper and the murders is dealt with using the actual facts and suspects known to Scotland Yard in 1888.