![]() Upon the captain’s death, Jim and his mother find a map in the old man’s sea chest. Young Jim knows the man is hiding secrets, and fears being found out by other seafaring men. It functions well as a mystery, too, as young Jim Hawkins encounters first a mysterious sea captain hiding out at the Admiral Benbow Inn. It is the first pirate book that springs to mind, of course, but deservedly so, for it set the template by which all other piratical novels are judged. Here, then, is a look at a few pirate novels that might appeal to lovers of crime fiction. Toss in a highly sought valuable bauble or secret map, or perhaps a good revenge quest, and you’ve got plenty of reasons to keep the swashbuckling going at full tilt-and plenty of plot points and character types that ought to make crime fiction fans feel like climbing aboard. But aside from that, there are plenty of conspiracies, double crosses, break-ins and swindles to go around. ![]() Admittedly, the murders committed by fictional pirates tend to not be particularly mysterious, as a sea thief often will skewer or shoot his victim in front of multiple witnesses and even brag about the bloody deed later when passing a jug of rum. ![]() They tend to exist in the popular imagination as colorful rogues living lives of independence, but their subsistence depended upon stealing ships and goods from other people and, often, killing them.Ī good pirate tale, then, ought to appeal to lovers of crime fiction on several levels. This seems amiss, as pirates were, in fact, criminals. We see lists of the best classic mysteries, the best crime books of this decade or that, the best crime fiction set in England or France or the Scottish Highlands, etc., but pirate literature seldom shows up on any of them. One place pirates seldom appear, however, is on lists of great crime fiction. It is no wonder, then, that pirates show up so often in movies, TV series, comics and literature. Pirates tend to exist in the popular imagination as colorful rogues living lives of independence, but their subsistence depended upon stealing ships and goods from other people and, often, killing them. Fictional pirates promise action, drama, adventure…the stuff of imagination. An actual peg below the knee will do the same, of course. ![]() Here are the best books I’ve devoured on the topic so far, some that embrace the romantic, swashbuckling legends and some that shine a light on the real men and women who sailed under the black flag.The iconography surrounding pirates is so well known, so ingrained in our minds that the mere glimpse of a sneaky fellow with an eyepatch is enough to peg the man as a pirate. The period has been extensively dramaticized and romanticized (I’m looking at you, Pirates of the Caribbean), but the real history is just as fascinating-how a band of outcasts and rogues, ex-sailors, indentured servants, and former slaves managed to briefly form a free, democratic society outside of British colonial rule. Mine is the Golden Age of Piracy, the period between roughly 16 when pirates-including legendary figures like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach-successfully took over the struggling British colony on New Providence Island, Bahamas, and turned it into a pirate republic, a base of operations from which they interrupted and plundered trade to major colonial outposts. Most people have some sort of random obsession-a topic or fandom or hobby that they are completely fascinated with and their friends are tired of listening to long-winded monologues about.
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