The Whole Wide World

By: Cade Jay Hathaway

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

As we begin The Whole Wide World, the fifth novel in the Rian and Mouse series, Captain Alois Bumper has officially become the commodore of his own line, The Blue Water Packet and Navigation Co., after he buys a second ship as a running mate to Cleo.

This causes what Tom and Bumper call “happy problems,” as their first course of action is to spruce up the new vessel and then fill any remaining crew berths in the ships. Mouse has been promoted to First Mate aboard the new packet, business is good at The Two Barrels, and Sofus and his new ‘Da’ have settled in together quite famously. All is well until the ships of The Blue Water Line become ensnared in another wicked play orchestrated by nefarious evildoers.

The Crown has engaged our sailor friends in transporting millions in gold to Britain’s Caribbean next emerging colony, soon to be known as British Honduras. The treasure is necessary to keep the shaky, fledgling colonial government solvent, and to remove temptation from forces who would prefer that French become the nascent colony’s national language.

Add hostile threats from Spain via the Catholic Church, as well as the protestations of the indigenous Mayans who detest the arrogance of colonialism in any case, and our favorite sailors are caught between emerging world events and doing their duty for King and country. What is the answer?

And all political and piratical turbulence aside, will this be the first time in their loving relationship that Rian and Mouse encounter rocky shoals of their own? You see, with Mouse’s promotion to First Mate, not only has he become Rian’s supervisor second only to Captain Tom Andersen, but shipboard etiquette and longstanding laws of the sea requires that Mouse exhibit nothing but professional personal exchanges with Rian at all times. Must love in all its beauty and glory be paused for the good of a seaborne commission for Mouse, the new officer?