The Temple

Tom Grundner

Jan 2010 · Fireship Press

About this ebook

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 nautical history.

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

About the author

Dr. Grundner received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Eastern Michigan University; a masters degree in Human Learning from the Institute for Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland; a second masters in Education from the University of Southern California; and a doctorate in Educational Philosophy and psychology, also from USC.

The majority of his working life was spent as a college professor.  In 1991, however, he bailed out of academia, ran a nonprofit organization for a while, bailed out of that and, given his background and training, made the only career move he thought to be logical—he became a full time custom golf clubmaker.

Tom’s experience as a clubmaker led him to write a series of best-selling golf equipment books with noted golf club designer, Tom Wishon.  As a result of the success of these books he was able to become one the original investors in Fireship Press.

Tom served as the “Senior Editor” of Fireship, which also allowed him to indulge in his first love—writing books about the 18th Century Royal Navy. As one of Fireship Press’s bestselling authors, he published four novels including The Midshipman Prince, HMS Diamond, The Temple, and Acre.