Hoare and the Matter of Treason

If you like naval historical fiction, you will probably like this book. I tend to prefer the best writers, like Patrick O'Brien and David Donachie, (Dudley Pope's works are not consistently as good, but they are also "good reads.") The Hoare series (3) is "good"--not great, but good enough that after this book, I bought the other two. It's true there are a couple of questionable references to Horatio Hornblower and a clerk named "Crachit," but overall, the book does hold one's interest and does contain good plot, setting and characterization. I liked the protagonist, Hoare, and found him to be intelligent, astute and sympathetic. If you are starved for naval historical fiction of this genre, and assuming you have read all of O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series, I would recommend the Hoare series, plus all of the David Donachie and Jan Needle novels. In fact, once the Hoare series is read, I have only the hope that Needle and Donachie will continue to publish more in their respective series. I have read just about every single historical novel in the 17th-19th century naval genre, and I would place the "Hoare" series as a "7" on a scale of 1 to 10, with O'Brien being a 10, and Needle and Donachie "9's." If you like Dudley Pope and Dewey Lambdin, you should definitely try the Hoare books.

This book ties up most of the loose ends of the first twobooks of this series. I disagree with the author injectingHoratio Hornblower and a rather mousy Admiraltyclerk named Cratchit in where they really weren't needed.It just seemed to cheapen a reasonably good read.

Commander Bartholomew Hoare enjoys being a naval officer who predominately uses his skills and that of his crew on land, which allows him time with his wife and child. His idyllic time ends when his superior Admiral Abercrombie orders Hoare to find missing sensitive documents taken from London's Admiralty House. Hoare knows that an inside traitor had to have stolen the documents. He makes inquiries, but soon finds his work endangers his beloved family as an unknown assailant kidnaps them to blackmail Hoare into failing on his mission. Treason threatens to topple the government, but Hoare now must choose between saving his family or saving his country unless the unconventional "sailor" can figure out some other path that rescues both. The third and final Hoare historical mystery is a great homage to the late Wilder Perkins. The story line is filed with action as Hoare struggles between his conflicting dilemmas. Hoare remains heroic and the appearances of real people add to the Regency era background of the novel. This novel and the previous two books are some of the best early nineteenth century stories of the past decade and worth searching for and then reading.Harriet Klausner