C. Northcote Parkinson, who died in 1993, wrote six volumes in the saga of Richard Delancey, who stumbled into naval service quite unintentionally but managed to rise quickly through the ranks and serve with distinction. Dead Reckoning, the sixth and final book in the series, finds him still in the early stages of marriage and, therefore, somewhat reluctant to return to sea. The needs of the service outweigh his personal desires, however, and soon he finds himself en route to the East Indies as captain of the 32-gun frigate Laura.

Despite his desire to go home and retire from active service altogether, Delancey spends several years on a series of missions including the siege of the Cape of Good Hope, the destruction of the privateer Subtile and the capture of a couple of French-held islands near Madagascar, most notably Mauritius -- where, coincidentally, a French agent who has crossed paths with Delancey in the past is in hiding.

Based largely on historical events, the book is an action-packed conclusion to the series. It is not, however, the best of Parkinson's books; Delancey here spends too much time moping about his distant wife and writing long-winded letters home.

Also, Delancey is, for most of this volume, surprisingly unmoved by the high number of casualties his crew sustains on various missions. Toward the end, he suddenly seems to worry about needless deaths, but he hadn't shown much care until that point -- and by that time, a lot of his crewmen are dead or disabled.

He occasionally shows a propensity to lie, even to his superiors, to further his aims, and his foreknowledge of his enemies' actions borders on unnatural, and his attitude after each correct supposition is smug.

Even so, Parkinson provides some exciting action before it all comes to an end, particularly the climactic encounter with two French frigates on his way home. Overall, it's been an enjoyable series, and I'm sorry to see it end.