Time has passed for the captain and crew of HMS Scylla, a frigate in His Majesty's service, since the end of The Patriot's Fate. When The Torrid Zone begins, the doughty frigate is en route to St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, with a new territorial governor and his shrewish wife aboard. Scylla, badly damaged by the end of the previous book, remains in questionable shape despite the passage of time.

Captain Richard Banks, who had just met a lovely young woman in the last book, is now married and his wife, Sarah, is with him on the ship ... and pregnant. Another couple, the surgeon Robert Manning and his wife Kate, have lost the baby they were expecting. Lt. Thomas King is also married, and he's missing his wife who's home in England.

A relationship that was mentioned mostly in theory in recent books is now concrete, and going badly. And an officer's seemingly minor blunder has dire consequences for the ship -- and could destroy his career.

As if that's not enough, there are several French warships standing between Scylla and St. Helena.

Oh, and there's a serial killer among the crew. It's not a mystery -- readers will know the identity of the culprit even before the first shipboard murder -- but it certainly adds tension to the story, especially since the first murder is successfully disguised as a suicide.

While much of The Torrid Zone takes place on St. Helena, with the crew for all intents and purposes stranded while much-needed repairs are made (in fairly unique fashion), the book is not at all slow-paced. The ever-present French ships, for instance, provide a constant threat, although they are kept at bay by the island's formidable batteries of heavy cannon. A newly married officer, who suspects his wife of infidelities during his long absences from home, finds himself tempted by a government official's daughter. And of course there's the killer, who is quite adept at getting away with his crimes.

And, when ship-to-ship conflict finally occurs, it's dramatic and deadly.

Alaric Bond writes gripping nautical adventures, wringing excitement from seemingly mundane circumstances. He effortlessly juggles numerous characters, making each a distinct and three-dimensional element of his tale. Of course, I am eager to continue this series.