The Pirate Devlin by Mark Keating

Patrick Devlin is only young but already he has chalked up more suffering than most of us experience in a lifetime. He ends his youth as servant to an RN Captain whose ship is captured by pirates whom he joins. With the knowledge of navigation that he picked whilst serving in the RN ship he advances through the pirate ranks until he is Captain. Loads of punch-ups and cunning plans lead to his crew sailing off with a chest full of French gold. One could almost imagine Errol Flynne in the lead role or perhaps these days Russell Crowe. Just the thing for a sunny day, a swimming pool and a bottle of vino. Or should that be Jamaica Rum? Yo Ho!

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Everyone has heard of Cleopatra the fabled Queen of the Nile and her love for first Julius Caesar and then the dashing, if unreliable, Mark Anthony. Also well known is her son by Julius named Caesarion and murdered by Octavian following his victory at the Battle of Actium. However, few including myself were aware of her three children by Mark Anthony. Twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene and the youngest, Ptolemy. Ptolemy dies as they are transported to Rome but Alexander and Selene live to be paraded through the streets in Octavians Triumph. Afterwards, although they are kept in luxurious conditions in the house of Octavians sister, they are nonetheless prisoners whose fate will be decided as a matter of political policy. Selene, through whom the story is told, meets Prince Juba who is Caesars bodyguard despite being the son of King Juba of Numidia who was defeated and executed by Caesar. He tells Selene that her only chance of survival is to make herself useful to Caesar which she does by using her talent for drawing in the design of public buildings that he is funding. Michelle Moran provides us with a very colourful and entertaining account of life at the Court of Rome's first Emperor, luxurious and priviledged to outsiders but full of mistrust and fear for those within. A truly excellent novel.

The Gun-makers Gift by Mathew Plampin

Of all the worlds arms manufacturers Colonel Samuel Colt must be one of the most iconic. It was his factory in Hartford Connecticut that made the famous "Peacemaker" revolvers, "the gun that won the West" and many other places beside. What very few people know is that the Colonel attempted to open a factory in London for the manufacture of the "Navy" revolver, the gun used by Clint Eastwood in the film "The outlaw Josey Wales". Around this short-lived enterprise Mr Plampin has woven a fascinating tale whose leading character, Edward Lawry, is hired by Colt to be his London Secretary. Lawry becomes romanticaly involved with a young woman in the factory and through her is dragged into the plots of a gang of Irishmen whose ambition is to steal enough of these technicaly advanced weapons to enable them to carry out an assassination. A very good book.

Young Bloods by Simon Scarrow

This is the first in a series of novels which chart the careers of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte. Actually I picked this book up several years ago under the impression that it was one of Mr Scarrow's excellent Roman novels and was so disappointed when it wasn't that I put it aside. This shows me two things, one: that I should have known that Simon Scarrow could not write a dull book no matter what the subject and two: the reason why some well known writers produce work under a pen name. I digress. Arthur Wesley is born the third son of an Irish Earl and therefore has to carve his own path to fame and fortune a circumstance that costs him the chance to marry the woman he loves. Fearful of the spread of revolution and determined to preserve Britain's traditional values he throws himself into a military career. Bonaparte, seething with resentment of his treatment as an outsider because of his Corsican birth, abandons his attachment to the land of his origins and embraces the revolution. We all know the course of events that these two men will dominate over the years of conflict to come but Simon Scarrow brings the tale vividly to life on the back of meticulous research and his talent for pacy narrative. On the subject of research, mine gives the familly name of Wellington as Wellesley whilst Scarrow persists in calling him Wesley. Which of us is right?

No Sleep for the Dead by Adrian Magson

The title is a give-away for the plot. A villain is walking about who should be pushing up the daisies. Adrian Magson centres his books on an interesting duo of a freelance investigative reporter and a former military policeman. The story opens with Frank Palmer, the ex MP, hired to serve papers on a dodgy company director whilst Riley Gavin, the female reporter, acts as a diversion. Job done but as they leave the building Palmer spots a man who should be dead. Has the villain recognised Palmer? If so what is his next move and what can the duo in the white hats do about it? Just to complicate matters an old enemy surfaces this time allied to a black gangster with a ferocious reputation. OK so the plot is not overly original but Magson keeps the pace going from first page to last making this a warm afternoon no-put-downer which is the kind of book that I, and millions of others, really prize. The first Magson I have read but it will not be the last.

The Information Officer by Mark Mills

Normaly I would never touch a book set in the Second World War if only because most of the plots were threadbare when I first read these stories as a boy. It was, therefore, with a certain amount of trepidation that I approached The Information Officer by Mark Mills but I am delighted to report that he has managed to produce an excellent novel by using the war background with intelligence. Malta in the summer of 1942 is a bitterly contested strategic outpost for the British and suffers daily bombing raids from which the native islanders see their homes and livlihoods destroyed. It is the job of Major Max Chadwick, the Information Officer, to make sure that the news that is diseminated to the islanders is positive to keep up their morale. When Max is given evidence that points to local women being murdered by a British Officer he embarks on a private investigation. This is discovered by his superiors and he is warned off but his love for a local woman forces him to persist despite the danger. Mark Mills has written a superior novel which combines an intelligent plot and excellent page-turning writing.

The Black Pearl by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

I first began to read Miss Harrod-Eagles chronicle of the Morland familly of Yorkshire in 1997 and continued up to volume 12 in 1998 and then for reasons that escape me now I stopped. Deciding that a break of 12 years is quite long enough I have begun to re-read starting at volume 5 in case I do not live long enough to get to the end. In The Black Pearl we join the Morland familly at the end of Cromwell's rule. They are in reduced circumstances as a result of vicious fines and confiscations levied on them by the republican government but by hard work and determination manage to hold what is left of their estates together. The Restoration leads to some, but not all, of their lands returning to them and at a time when death from disease haunts every familly the Morlands are not immune. The young, beautiful but illegitimate Annunciata Morland is presented at Court where she finds love, danger and the answer to her mysterious background. I have already obtained volume six.