A King’s Cutter, by Richard Woodman

June 27, 2009 by
Filed under: book review, historical fiction, Main character, Nathaniel Drinkwater, naval fiction, recommendation, Richard Woodman 

Ten years have passed since we last met Nathaniel Drinkwater (in An Eye of the Fleet). He is now married, but he has not been promoted, A King's Cutter, by Richard Woodman and his career seems to be heading nowhere. Then suddenly a commission in a clandestine operation on a speedy cutter is offered to him by his old shipmate Lord Dungarth. The first mission actually, in a series of missions, initiated by the mysterious and enigmatic Lord. We also meet again in this book seaman Tregembo.

More historical fiction book reviews!

Naval fiction:

Alan Lewrie series, by Dewey Lambdin
Richard Bolitho series, by Alexander Kent
Lord Ramage series, by Dudley Pope
Kydd series, by Julian Stockwin
Frederick Marryat
Charles Edgemont series, by Jay Worrall
Nathaniel Drinkwater series, by Richard Woodman
Richard Delancey series, by C. Northcote Parkinson
The Fury series, by G.S. Beard

Other historical fiction:

Genghis Khan, by Conn Iggulden
Emperor, by Conn Iggulden
Gladiators of Empire, by James Duffy

Thus Nathaniel Drinkwater returns to the Royal Navy with an appointment to the twelve-gun cutter Kestrel commanded by the old and inscrutable Madoc Griffiths. Together they undertake a series of secret missions into France, now under the shadow of the French Revolution.

And as war thickens of the European continent, Kestrel is drawn into the struggle for the Channel, and Drinkwater for the first time encounters his arch enemy, the sinister and extremely devious French Captain Edourd Santhonax. He is, as usual, engaged in activities that attracts a lot of attention from the British government.

Eventually Drinkwater, to some extent by accident, uncovers a grand intrigue which results in mutiny in the Royal Navy, and which then, subsequently, permits the extremely bloody confrontation between the English and Dutch navies at Camperdown, one of the larger battles in Navy history.

In The King’s Cutter, we meet a Drinkwater that is older, smarter, and better equipped for a career in the Royal Navy. Even so, Richard Wood does not allow his hero to be promoted nearly as fast as some of the other heroes in nautical fiction series.

This book is definitely among the best of the books in the Drinkwater series. A King’s Cutter sees Drinkwater doing duty as an acting lieutenant and sailing master in the years 1792 – 1797. It is very well researched, and excellently written. The stories are great, and very interesting to read.

Links to Richard Woodman’s books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

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