Dead Reckoning, by C. Northcote Parkinson

November 13, 2009 by Nekkidblogger
Filed under: C. Northcote Parkinson, Richard Delancey, book review, historical fiction

Dead Reckoning is the fourth book in the Richard Delancey series by C. Northcote Parkinson, and a very good one at that. We have now reached the year 1805, during The Napoleonic wars. Richard Delancey has married a former actress, Fiona, and is very happy. He is made post, brought back into the service, and given command over the old 32-gun frigate Laura. He is happy to be given command. However, his orders are not exactly what he would prefer as a recently married man. He has been assigned service in the Far East. He must part from his young wife for an unknown period of time.

There is a lot of naval action in this novel. There is convoy escort, a special assignment to chase down a French privateer that disturbs trade, an attack on Mauritius, as well as a bloody fight against two French frigates. In several instances Richard Delancey shows both courage and intelligence. His ingenious strategies while escorting a convoy of East Indiamen is very entertaining. So is the demonstration of pure willpower in the attack against a French privateer.

Delancey is a creative, solid, smart and very likeable officer in Her Majesty’s Navy. Dead Reckoning is thick with excellent plots and smart thinking. It is perhaps the best in the series so far, and certainly one that increased my interest in C. Northcote Parkinson’s series! Being a fan of nautical fiction, I rank this series highly!

Links to C. Northcote Parkinson’s books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.