The Halfhyde Line

Halfhyde Adventure #11

by Philip McCutchan

In the midst of a twelfth-century civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud, a hostage exchange is put in jeopardy when one of the prisoners dies, and Brother Cadfael determines that he was murdered

Genres: Historical Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

aka Robert Conington Galway, Duncan MacNeil

Philip McCutchan (1920-1996) grew up in the naval atmosphere of Portsmouth Dockyard and developed a lifetime's interest in the sea. Military history was an early interest resulting in several fiction books, from amongst his large output, about the British Army and its campaigns, especially in the last 150 years.

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

After taking his naval hero of the late 19th to early 20th century through ten books of a naval career, Phillip McCutcheon lets St. Vincent Halfhyde try his hand at being an independent merchant seaman. He soon finds out that being out of the Royal Navy can be as dangerous as being in it. One must be careful of what kind of cargo one takes aboard, especially if it involves unwelcome passengers, as well. The Halfhyde Line is the first episode with the protagonist as a civilian and it does not disappoint.

The novel highlights tension between the Irish predecessors of Sinn Fein and the British occupiers, as well as the hardships at sea. Realistically, though Halfhyde thinks quickly in terms of saving his ship from one type of storm to another, there are times when he is reliant on others. Also realistically, there are times when his plans simply don’t come to fruition for one reason or another, just as battle plans rarely survive contact with the enemy.

The Halhyde Line was so good that I forgot that I had read its sequel some years ago. It seemed like McCutcheon was going to assemble a cast of characters among the crew for future novels. Yet, the inevitable and often senseless deaths mitigated against doing that. No one can quibble that these were throwaway characters who faced death in this novel. Rather, most of them were characters with whom one has terrific sympathy.

The bad guy, Porteous Higgins the powerbroker and smuggler, combined with his mute (because of torture) bodyguard and hit man, are somewhat like pulp villains except for the fact that both have detailed background stories that come out in the course of the novel. And though McCutcheon doesn’t spell it out, once senses that Higgins gets his comeuppance at the hands of none other than Michael Connelly, “The Big Man” of the Irish Revolution himself. Again, that was my impression and I loved it—even if my sympathies are with the Irish. And despite my sympathies with the Irish, I rooted for Halhyde, the Englishman, because he had been so ill-used.

Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since I read a novel in this series, but I enjoyed The Halfhyde Line even more than the others in the series.