HALFHYDE GOES TO WAR

by Philip McCutchan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 1987

A somewhat de-fanged St. Vincent Halfhyde, usually clever at finding wars where none exist (part of the charm of the series), is embroiled in the real but conspicuously unnaval Boer War and suffers many lubberly indignities before regaining his quarter-deck. Fans of Halfhyde, energetic and brilliant bete noire of their Lordships of the Admiralty, may have some trouble recognizing their hero in this outing. They are certain to have trouble following the twists and turns of Anglo-Boer tactics as Halfhyde tries to get a load of bullion through the front lines in order to buy the treachery of a Boer officer. It's a curiously disspirited Halfhyde who ties up his ship, the Glen Halladale, in Cape Town, where he gets orders from the Admiralty to accompany the bullion as it makes its way to the interior. Halfhyde lets his Aussie mistress Victoria Penn do the grousing for him as he packs up and joins the naval gunners--and a Mr. Bewdley of the financial secretariat--on a train headed for the interior, where they are to turn the gold over to General Bullet, the man charged with lifting the siege of Ladysmith. When Boers sabotage the train, the sailors and Bewdley try to hump the cargo the rest of the way on foot, but it's no go. They're caught. One escape and one recapture later, still hanging onto the gold, they rejoin Miss Penn, who was, for some reason, shanghaied by Dutchmen back in Cape Town, and all lurch off in chains to Durban and the sea. Halfhyde adrift.

Pub Date: May 19, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION