The Temple — Tom Grundner

It's 1798 and Sir Sidney Smith is languishing in “The Temple,” France's maximum security prison. For the past two years he had been running the Agence de Paris -- Britain's primary spy ring in France -- from his cell.  But the authorities are starting to close in.  It's time for Sir Sidney to leave; but, to do so, he must stage one of the most spectacular prison breaks in history.

Arriving back in England, Sir Sidney is welcomed as a national hero; but he is far from comfortable in that role. It is with relief, therefore, that he receives a set of orders sending him to Portsmouth for further duty. What he didn't know was that his new duty would involve working with a ner-do-well itinerant musician, by the name of William Parish -- who happens to be a genius at breaking codes.  

Napoleon is massing ships, troops, and supplies at Toulon and a number of other ports. He is clearly planning an invasion; but an invasion of who, where and when, no one knows.  The key is a captured message that Parish and Smith must break, but it's encoded in a way that has never been seen before.

From a dreary prison in Paris, to the opulent palaces of Constantinople, to the horror of the Battle of the Nile -- The Temple will take you on a wild ride through 18th Century history..

The Sir Sidney Smith Series is based on the life of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith (1764-1840)