Moonfleet

This rollicking tale of smugglers, hidden treasure, and a wandering ghost casts the same kind of gripping spell as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and other adventure classics. Set in an English village during the 1750s, it tells of an orphan boy who discovers a dangerous secret down in a church crypt, which results in a series of perilous encounters on land and sea.
In the mid-eighteenth century, an epidemic of smuggling sweeps across England's south coast. The law, enforced by Magistrate Maskew of Moonfleet Manor, is unforgiving. So when young John Trenchard accidentally uncovers illegal activity and gets involved with a smuggling ring, he's drawn into a life-or-death struggle with the magistrate. Their conflict leads John into an even deeper mystery that climaxes with the search for a pirate's loot and resolves with the help of loyal friendship and the warmth of romance.

English novelist and poet John Meade Falkner (1858–1932) is best known for his 1898 novel Moonfleet. In addition to his novels and poems, he wrote topological guides to Oxfordshire, Bath, and Berkshire and a history of Oxfordshire.