Cousins at Arms, the 13th book in Chris Durbin's ongoing series about Royal Navy captains Edward Carlisle and George Holbrooke, finds Carlisle's ship of the line HMS Dartmouth on a mission to deliver furniture to the Spanish governor in Havana. The seemingly trivial use of his ship and time is in reality an attempt to cement relations with Spain, which seems on the verge of signing an alliance with France and tipping the balance in the Seven Years War, as well as gathering intelligence for the British military in case war against Spain -- and its vast holdings in the Caribbean and the Americas -- is declared.

Along the way, Carlisle indulges in the pursuit of a small convoy of French ships through the Old Bahama Straits -- and nearly grounds his ship on the treacherous shoals. Saving Dartmouth from a wreck requires an intricate kedging operation with the ship's massive anchor, a task that might seem tedious but is a masterstroke of seamanship under difficult conditions. Author Chris Durbin makes what might be dull reading into a tense and exciting passage.

The novel continues with further dealings with the Spanish, as Carlisle (aided by his multilingual wife, Lady Chiara, who has joined him for this voyage) walks a tightrope of diplomacy and gains important information on Spain's plans for entering the war. There are naval battles, as one might expect, as well as a colony of stubborn English loggers in the Yucatan and a welcome appearance by Holbrooke (who usually appears only in alternating books in the series).

By the story's end, the status of a character who has been with the book since the beginning will have changed dramatically.

In his series, Durbin juggles two captains, two ships and two crews, and he has managed to create a self-contained world in which both parties move and act and only sometimes interact. Each captain has a unique personality, with diverse crew members who keep readers engrossed in their varied storylines. Coupled with a rich historical era -- the Seven Years War -- that seems to receive comparatively little attention from the nautical fiction community, and you've got a series that has kept me reading as fast as the author can churn them out. Fortunately, Durbin shows no signs of slowing down.

[ visit Chris Durbin's website ]