The Seven Years War is over, and George Holbrooke has for 18 months enjoyed a bucolic repose at his home at Wickham in Hampshire, England, with his wife Ann, son Edward and the light duties of a justice of the peace. But even without another war on the horizon, a naval officer can expect to be summoned at any moment to discharge duties that might take him far from home for months, even years ... and that's the case in September 1764, when Holbrooke is called to London to meet with the first secretary of the Royal Navy for secret orders.

Holbrooke's mission is to sail to the South Atlantic and join with Commodore John Byron to assert England's claim on Falkland's Land (now Falkland Islands, a strategic archipelago made up of nearly 800 islands in the South Atlantic, situated east of Argentina), then pass through the Straits of Magellan and sail to the North Pacific to seek the fabled Straits of Anian, which would provide a fast and easy passage back to the Hudson Bay.

Of course, it won't go so easily. For one thing, the French have established a colony on Falkland's Land, thumbing their noses at England's claim of ownership. For another, Byron proves deucedly difficult to find, and Holbrooke's ship Orion ventures into the South Pacific alone, hoping to find Byron's two-ship fleet somewhere on the route north. Along the way, he makes first contact with natives on the west coast of South America, trading trinkets and providing supplies to win their friendship.

Also problematic is the presence of Walter Farrington, a natural philosopher and master of several scientific disciplines, and his reclusive assistant John Stringer. The pair is foisted on Holbrooke by Lord James Douglas, Earl of Morton and current president of the Royal Society, England's renowned scientific fellowship, who supposedly seeks to expand the society's knowledge of astronomy, navigation and whatever natural sciences the ship encounters on its long voyage. While the principle of his inclusion in the party is sound, its practice proves difficult as Farrington and Stringer turn out to be quite secretive and, it seems, not all that interested in science after all.

Although England currently is not at war with any of the great naval powers, Holbrooke will have some diplomatic "incidents" to contend with in his meetings with French and Spanish representatives in his quest. Consequently, there is little in the way of sea battles in this book, but the ocean, the weather and their unexplored destination will give Holbrooke and his crew plenty to do.

I was a touch worried that the lack of conflict might make Straits of Anian a less exciting installment in the ongoing Carlisle & Holbrooke series, but I was completely mistaken. The author, Chris Durbin, has handled the aftermath of the Seven Years War admirably, finding new and interesting situations for his protagonists to face, and Holbrooke here has some tremendous challenges before him. Straits of Anian turned out to be another top-notch chapter in the series, and I continue to be impressed by the quality -- and the quantity -- of Durbin's books.

If you aren't already reading this series, pick up the first book, 2017's The Colonial Post-Captain, and get started!

[ visit Chris Durbin online ]