This is an ebook only, billed as a novella, and released as some kind of trailer for the upcoming book in the Mary Russell series: The Pirate King. Whilst I’m looking forward to the new full length book, with a little trepidation since I believe it’s going to be a lighthearted farcical kind of a story, this ebook didn’t really fill the gap for me. I just don’t like short stories that much on the whole - by the time I’ve got the hang of them they are finished.

I think it’s worth putting a note in here about the trouble I have ordering Laurie King’s books from Amazon in the UK. The books seem to appear for sale in the US edition with the US release date and price and then vanish again. With a physical book order you get a cancellation notice as Amazon can no longer provide the book, with an ebook pre-order it just sits in your account without being fulfilled. Eventually the UK edition appears with a later release date and a higher price and you can order that but without the order being carried across or Amazon’s price promise being held to. I had been blaming Amazon UK for this but having contacted them when my eBook order didn’t turn up this time it seems that it is the publisher at fault - for eBook orders at least. I will be highly surprised if my pre-order of The Pirate King turns up on the date said at the price given…