Peter Wake, a merchant seaman from New England, has volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. It's 1863, midway through the conflict, and Wake believes the war will be over soon. He's rated master and assigned to command the one-gun sloop of war Rosalie, stationed in the Florida Keys.

He gets in hot water on page one. He hasn't even reported to his ship yet, but already he's met and fallen in love with a local girl, who happens to be the daughter of a prominent Rebel sympathizer. Although their romance does not loom large in the pages of Robert N. Macomber's At the Edge of Honor, the first book in an ongoing series, Wake's relationship with a member of a Confederate family reflects poorly on his judgment among his peers and superior officers.

More interesting by far are Wake's adventures at sea, where he must deal with Rebels, blockade runners and foreign powers that sympathize with the Southern cause. At the same time, Wake has to get used to a climate (along with the bugs and the sickness) that is far removed from his New England home.

Macomber definitely makes Wake the center of the action, but he supplies the story with plenty of supporting characters -- foremost among them a pair of bosuns, one of whom is surly and potentially deranged. The author also supplies an interesting perspective into the Navy's contributions during the Civil War, which are frequently overlooked. Wake's assignments carry him along the Florida coast and into the Caribbean, and his adventures call for diplomacy and subterfuge along with a few thrilling sea battles.

At the Edge of Honor did not immediately impress me at the same level as some other nautical adventure novels I could mention, but it's a good, solid story with characters and settings I would gladly revisit. I hope to read more from this author, to see how the narrative develops over time. (According to the blurb on the back cover, Wake's adventures in this 11-book series stretch to 1901, so I imagine there's quite a lot of change for our hero ahead.)