John Winn Miller’s The Hunt for the Peggy C, a semifinalist in the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Competition, captures the breathless suspense of early World War II in the North Atlantic. Captain Jake Rogers, experienced in running his tramp steamer through U-boat-infested waters to transport vital supplies and contraband to the highest bidder, takes on his most dangerous cargo yet after witnessing the oppression of Jews in Amsterdam: a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution.

The normally aloof Rogers finds himself drawn in by the family’s warmth and faith, but he can’t afford to let his guard down when Oberleutnant Viktor Brauer, a brutal U-boat captain, sets his sights on the Peggy C. Rogers finds himself pushed to the limits of his ingenuity as he evades Brauer’s relentless stalking, faces a mutiny among his own crew, and grapples with his newfound feelings for Miriam, the young Jewish woman whom, along with her family, he must transport to safety.

When Rogers is seriously wounded, Miriam must prove she is as tough as her rhetoric to save everyone as the U-boat closes in for the kill. The Hunt for the Peggy C is a masterpiece laced with nail-biting tension and unexpectedly heartwarming moments that any reader, not just fans of naval fiction, will enjoy.

John Winn Miller is an award-winning investigative reporter, foreign correspondent, editor, publisher, screenwriter, indie movie producer and novelist. He is a Lexington native.

Tom Eblen is a journalist, writer and photographer based in Lexington, Kentucky. He was a columnist for The Lexington Herald-Leader from 2008-2019 and the managing editor from 1998-2008. He previously worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Associated Press. He was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2016.

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