Peter Mann starts his fictional life as a 25 year old news paper reporter for the Halifax Morning Post in 1775. One day he is sitting with two of his friends, drinking a pint of bitters, when they tell him about William Bartleby, a famous pirate who recently arrived in the local jail, awaiting a likely hanging. Peter is very interested in pirates and wants to write a book about them. Since pirates were often quickly done away with, Peter rushes off to the jail to interview the famous 'Scourge of the Seven Seas.' Over the ensuing weeks, the pirate convinces Peter to help him escape. Eventually Peter agrees and with the able assistance of his girl friend, Virginia Spencer, and the family maid, Marianne Bartoldi, they manage to sneak Bill out of the prison. Since the three friends realize they can not go back and expect to get away with their treason against the English Crown, they decide to join the pirate and escape with him, on a sloop purchased with the proceeds from a treasure the pirate had come to Halifax to reclaim.

The four friends sail to the Caribbean and gradually gather up former members of Bill Bartleby's gang; plus a number of others in order to establish a pirate colony in the Caicos Islands. From there they carry on their sweet trade. Over the following 63 years of the story, Peter gradually becomes the quintesentail pirate captain, with a hook, a patch, and a peg leg. He survives numerous dangerous swashbuckling adventures, through two revolutions, the American and the French; always believing he is doing the Lord's work, as he rids the world of nasty people and relieves them of their treasure to distribute amongst those who need it more. Eventually, after surviving three years in the Bastille, during the madness of the French revolution, he befriends the Cocteaus, with whom he escapes from France, back to his island home in the Caicos. Alas, things are not what they were and life takes on a whole new direction for Peter.

Peter goes legitimate and forms a company with Monsieur Cocteau. Eventually, Cocteau & Mann becomes a huge trading enterprise plagued by pirates. Now the tables are turned and Peter must battle blood thirsty pirates intent upon Diablo's agenda.

A Pirate's Tale tells it like it might have been in the world of piracy during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This highly entertaining story takes the reader on a swashbuckling rollercoaster, he or she will not soon forget. The story is about more than just piracy. This book explores many interesting ideas about why people might become pirates. How piracy can be seen as a legitimate expression of disgust with the status quo, where the King can steal to his heart's content and is not sent to jail or the gallows, while common folk suffer all manner of terrible reprecusions if they resort to stealing in order to feed their starving families. People did not become pirates entirely out of a sense of adventure, or to seek, 'the easy life.' Becoming a pirate was a serious commitment, which could just as easily end one up on the end of a rope, or worse.

For the very sensitive reader, I do warn you, there are some very graphic scenes; where swashbuckling is what it is and cruelty a matter of life and death. Some scenes will make you cry, others will make you laugh. If you let the story carry you, I guarantee it will carry you to lots of amazing places in your heart and mind; where you likely have never been before.

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