L. A. Meyer and his Jacky Faber are back! I’ve read, reviewed, and enjoyed the previous four volumes in this series in these entries: Bloody Jack, Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Under the Jolly Roger, and In the Belly of the Bloodhound. Mr. Meyer is a former Navy person who lives near the shore; these appear to be his most popular books, and the sixth volume, My Bonny Light Horseman, was released a month or two ago. (I think I’ve behaved well enough for Santa to bring it for Christmas, no?) His inspiration for the novels in the first place was apparently a painting; anything else I know about the man I’ve rehashed four times prior to this.

Right after escaping the Bloodhound at the end of the previous book (seriously, was it a spoiler that they’d escape? I don’t think so!), Jacky Faber is nearly arrested by the British Navy, but some friends of hers come to her rescue and they (she, along with Jim Tanner and Higgins) make the decision to escape west with Katy Deere. They make it to Pittsburgh before they need an alternate form of transportation; fortunately, there they find a barge poleman named Mike Fink, and through a trick they make off with his boat. Soon, Jacky and her crew are a floating tavern and nightly musical act on the Mississippi River. However, after Jacky’s arrest (at which he was present), her Jaimy took off after her and got into his own adventures. Will they ever meet up again?

The addition of characters from American folk tales was, I thought, brilliant on Mr. Meyer’s part. I remember Mike Fink from a book of tall tales that belonged to my mother, and although he’s not quite as popular as Paul Bunyan, I hope another generation of children will discover him. He’s a great, larger-than-life character. Of course, so is Jacky herself, and I think perhaps Mr. Fink’s bragging is merely a small step past Jacky’s own adventures. The contrast is interesting. The non-folk-tale (as far as I know) characters were also great. I loved Yancy Cantrell and Chloe; the fact that Mr. Cantrell wasn’t quite lily-white himself (in terms of race) added a little bit of commentary which was solidified by Chloe’s presence, as well as a later African-American character.

The description of Jacky’s showboat and their show was excellent; it made me want to attend. They appear to have made an impressive amount of money, based on how much she was able to pay her employees at the end. Other than the voyage down the Mississippi, though, the strongest tension in the book was the dramatic tension over what we know is going on with Jaimy and Jacky that each doesn’t know. We follow Jaimy west of Boston, through a . . . strange romance, a stint in jail in Pittsburgh or thereabouts, a short career as a highwayman, and to the river, where he purchases a canoe and follows Jacky as if he were a Native American (referred to, of course, as Indians in this book, being that it is set just after 1800). Jacky we see during the same time period, and we know when they have near misses.

Jacky’s tales are still outlandish; she’s still a crazy flirt who gets herself into the strangest situations and out again. She picks up a few tricks during this trip, such as cardsharpery (or whatever you want to call it) and how to run some of the official confidence schemes and scams. As always, the story rides just on the line between believeable and un-, and it’s a great place to be balanced. I’m always amazed that Mr. Meyer manages to keep Jacky’s stories just there on that edge, and I always look forward to reading future volumes. This one was actually one of my favorite; although it doesn’t have much in the way of the British Navy (a little at the beginning and end), it does still have a lot of boats. 4/5 stars.