Honorable Company: A Novel of India Before the Raj

This second installment (after A Close Run Thing) in Mallinson's swashbuckling adventure series details the escapades of Dragoon Captain Matthew Hervey in 1816 India. Mallinson, a British cavalry officer himself, writes with the color and romance of a lancer and the slashing violence of a dragoon. After his heroics at Waterloo, Hervey is assigned as a junior aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington. Eager to avoid occupation duty in France, the young soldier is thrilled to be sent on a secret mission to India, a land dominated by the British-controlled Honorable East India Company. What Hervey does not understand at first is that his mission is not what it seems: rather than gather intelligence regarding the military strengths and intentions of several bickering Indian states, he is meant to advance Wellington's personal fortunes. Hervey's journey to the small state of Chintal is filled with peril and betrayal, but the stakes are raised once he reaches the rajah's elegant court. Aided by the robust and much-scarred Lieutenant Locke of the Royal Marines, Hervey battles marauders, a sepoy mutiny and an invading army's heavy artillery, and questions his own role as he finds himself deviating from his official orders. This is a rousing tale of conspiracy, double-crossings and bloody slaughter, and Hervey is an enduring hero, a young officer with brains and courage, and just a little self-doubt. (Dec. 5)