Hoare and the Matter of Treason
A Maritime Mystery Featuring Captain Bartholomew Hoare
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Perkins created a marvelous character in Bartholomew Hoare, a brilliant naval officer in King George III's navy who could not be promoted to captain of his own ship because his throat was injured in a battle and he could not make himself heard in giving commands. But his work on land impressed his superiors and, with a motley crew and a tiny ship, he is doing important work in counterespionage. Now he is living on land with his new wife and adopted daughter and trying to ferret out a traitor in the high levels of the Admiralty. A high ranking officer is murdered, and Hoare's activities endanger not only him but his wife and daughter.
With a painstaking attention to authenticity, Perkins has delighted readers of naval historical fiction. But, unfortunately for us all, he is also the late Wilder Perkins, and Hoare and the Matter of Treason is the last book of the too-short series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sadly, this is last (and third) installment in a cleverly conceived, brilliantly executed series featuring Commander Bartholomew Hoare of His Majesty George III's Royal Navy. With his hoarse-voiced whisper (legacy of a musket ball), Hoare is an unusual naval officer, while his command, the Royal Duke, is equally unusual and unorthodox. The brig serves as a floating spy center with a crew of men and women whose least skills are seamanship. In fact, the Royal Duke's standing orders preclude it from setting to sea at all until extraordinary circumstances contravene them. Called to London, Hoare receives orders from Admiral Sir Hugh Abercrombie to locate and retrieve sensitive documents lost or stolen from the Admiralty. Hoare later finds himself confronting an old enemy as well as an unnamed nemesis whom he's thwarted in the past. Deadly treason threatens the government and Hoare personally when his new wife and his ward are kidnapped and he must gamble for their lives. The appearance of historical and legendary (Horatio Hornblower) characters enhances the pleasure. Despite sometimes quirky sentence structure, this novel, which Perkins completed shortly before his death in 1999, is a solidly entertaining blend of period adventure and mystery.
