Sharpe's Sword - like an old pair of slippers

This is the 14th in the epic series featuring Richard Sharpe, a rough, no-nonsense soldier who has been dragged up from nothing and is now a Captain in Wellington's army, in their apparently never ending war against Napoleon. The action takes place in and around Salamanca, during the summer of 1812. During a bit of a lull in the fighting, Sharpe's Company takes a prisoner - a French dragoon calling himself Captain Paul Delmas. Sharpe is intrigued by the exquisite (and expensive) sword his captive is carrying, and eyes it with envy. When Delmas later escapes, killing several people in the process, he escapes into Salamanca with Sharpe hot on his heels, looking for revenge. Upon investigation, it turns out that this Frenchman is not who he claims to be, but is, indeed, a Colonel Leroux, whose mission is to find El Mirador - a British spy - from whom he intends to extract the names of every other spy before he kills them. Sharpe is tasked with finding Leroux, but this is proving a difficult task. One night he is taken to a party where he is introduced to La Marquesa, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. She is a well-educated and wealthy aristocrat, but despite the gulf between their social status, there is a strong attraction, and guess what, Sharpe just cannot resist - putting his wife and daughter to the back of his mind. Men! Still on the hunt for Leroux, Sharpe has to wait until the nearby forts are overwhelmed by the British before he can go in and continue his hunt. During which, he corners our man but is shot and disappears. Will he survive, will he catch up with Leroux, and will he get his hands on that sword? Well, I think we all know the answers to those questions - but it's fun getting there. As ever, there is plenty of action, twists and turns in this book, and the tale is wrapped around real events and real people. Reading these books is like putting on a pair of old slippers - you know where you are and what you are going to get and there is a certain degree of comfort in knowing these characters so well. I do enjoy escaping into this venal world at times - despite Sharpe's lack of moral backbone and immense flaws. Maybe it's a case of a great place to visit ... just wouldn't want to live there!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 314 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.50 from a second hand book shop.
Formats available: Print; abridged audio CD; abridged audio download; multiedia; ebook.