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Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #13
Cousins At Arms
In 1761 the cousins King Louis of France and King Charles of Spain agreed in secret that Spain would enter the war against Britain by spring of the following year.
Edward Carlisle’s ship of the line Dartmouth is sent from Jamaica on what looks like a trivial mission intended to demonstrate friendship to Spain. However, in Havana he finds evidence of growing co-operation between the French and Spanish navies. While carrying the new governor of Guatemala to his domain he uncovers further plots, and his wife, Lady Chiara, uses her talents for languages and diplomacy to earn a seat at the ship’s councils of war.
Carlisle’s search for evidence of preparations for war takes him further west into the Gulf of Mexico, and to a final battle with a more familiar enemy.
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Cousins At Arms offers the reader the thunder of guns and the clash of cutlasses, but at its heart it’s a thoughtful analysis of a nation’s ill-judged slide into war. This is the thirteenth Carlisle and Holbrooke novel. It continues the journey through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies, and ultimately to their bid for independence.
Edward Carlisle’s ship of the line Dartmouth is sent from Jamaica on what looks like a trivial mission intended to demonstrate friendship to Spain. However, in Havana he finds evidence of growing co-operation between the French and Spanish navies. While carrying the new governor of Guatemala to his domain he uncovers further plots, and his wife, Lady Chiara, uses her talents for languages and diplomacy to earn a seat at the ship’s councils of war.
Carlisle’s search for evidence of preparations for war takes him further west into the Gulf of Mexico, and to a final battle with a more familiar enemy.
--------------------------
Cousins At Arms offers the reader the thunder of guns and the clash of cutlasses, but at its heart it’s a thoughtful analysis of a nation’s ill-judged slide into war. This is the thirteenth Carlisle and Holbrooke novel. It continues the journey through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies, and ultimately to their bid for independence.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
322 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2023
About the author
Chris Durbin
15 books71 followersChris Durbin grew up in the seaside town of Porthcawl in South Wales. His first experience of sailing was as a sea cadet in the treacherous tideway of the Bristol Channel, and at the age of sixteen, he spent a week in a topsail schooner in the Southwest Approaches. He was a crew member on the Porthcawl lifeboat before joining the navy.
Chris spent twenty-four years as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy, serving in all classes of ship from aircraft carriers through destroyers and frigates to the smallest minesweepers. He took part in operational campaigns in the Falkland Islands, the Middle East and the Adriatic. As a personnel exchange officer, he spent two years teaching tactics at a US Navy training centre in San Diego.
On his retirement from the Royal Navy, Chris joined a large American company and spent eighteen years in the aerospace, defence and security industry, including two years on the design team for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
Chris is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the British Army Command and Staff College, the United States Navy War College (where he gained a postgraduate diploma in national security decision-making) and Cambridge University (where he was awarded an MPhil in International Relations).
With a lifelong interest in naval history and a long-standing ambition to write historical fiction, Chris has embarked upon creating the Carlisle & Holbrooke series, in which a colonial Virginian commands a British navy frigate during the middle years of the eighteenth century.
The series will follow its principal characters through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American Colonies in the 1760s. They’ll negotiate some thought-provoking loyalty issues when British policy and colonial restlessness lead inexorably to the American Revolution.
Chris now lives on the south coast of England, surrounded by hundreds of years of naval history. His three children are all busy growing their own families and careers while Chris and his wife (US Navy, retired) of thirty-seven years enjoy sailing their classic dayboat.
Chris spent twenty-four years as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy, serving in all classes of ship from aircraft carriers through destroyers and frigates to the smallest minesweepers. He took part in operational campaigns in the Falkland Islands, the Middle East and the Adriatic. As a personnel exchange officer, he spent two years teaching tactics at a US Navy training centre in San Diego.
On his retirement from the Royal Navy, Chris joined a large American company and spent eighteen years in the aerospace, defence and security industry, including two years on the design team for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
Chris is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the British Army Command and Staff College, the United States Navy War College (where he gained a postgraduate diploma in national security decision-making) and Cambridge University (where he was awarded an MPhil in International Relations).
With a lifelong interest in naval history and a long-standing ambition to write historical fiction, Chris has embarked upon creating the Carlisle & Holbrooke series, in which a colonial Virginian commands a British navy frigate during the middle years of the eighteenth century.
The series will follow its principal characters through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American Colonies in the 1760s. They’ll negotiate some thought-provoking loyalty issues when British policy and colonial restlessness lead inexorably to the American Revolution.
Chris now lives on the south coast of England, surrounded by hundreds of years of naval history. His three children are all busy growing their own families and careers while Chris and his wife (US Navy, retired) of thirty-seven years enjoy sailing their classic dayboat.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 1, 2023
Another of the good sailing ship stories
I have read and enjoyed the series of novels by this author. They are well thought out and the continuing characters and sailing ship action is first rate.
I have read and enjoyed the series of novels by this author. They are well thought out and the continuing characters and sailing ship action is first rate.
April 23, 2023
An insiteful view of the French strategy for the Southern colonies not discussed in American histor
The book does describes the perils of ship handling in the Caribbean that is unrivaled even by S. E. Morrison or P. O'Brien. Life in Honduras is more alive than described by W. Dampier when he described his year as a red wood cutter in the land that would become British Honduras then Beleiz. I look forward to a future book that describes the between Britain and Spain that keeps the B. Honduras
The book does describes the perils of ship handling in the Caribbean that is unrivaled even by S. E. Morrison or P. O'Brien. Life in Honduras is more alive than described by W. Dampier when he described his year as a red wood cutter in the land that would become British Honduras then Beleiz. I look forward to a future book that describes the between Britain and Spain that keeps the B. Honduras
February 15, 2023
a great series, must read as soon as I see them
All around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
The main story is that of taking an almost grounded two decker out of harms way by kedging .
Well done Chris Durban.
All around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
The main story is that of taking an almost grounded two decker out of harms way by kedging .
Well done Chris Durban.
February 27, 2023
Not up to Durbin’s usual standards.
Disappointed. The storyline was very thin and slow. Nearly a whole chapter on kedging a ship off a Lee shore. Too much filler to get the word count up. The earlier books in this series were much better, and more interesting reads.
Disappointed. The storyline was very thin and slow. Nearly a whole chapter on kedging a ship off a Lee shore. Too much filler to get the word count up. The earlier books in this series were much better, and more interesting reads.
February 28, 2023
celebration and Sadness
We’ll developed plot line for this story. Good character development. Amazing description of many sea-faring activities. Much concern about the personal story of Captain Carlisle and his wife.
We’ll developed plot line for this story. Good character development. Amazing description of many sea-faring activities. Much concern about the personal story of Captain Carlisle and his wife.
February 15, 2023
another good one
Durbin’s series continues to excel! He wraps history into personal lives flawlessly and with exciting action. Can’t wait for the next one.
Durbin’s series continues to excel! He wraps history into personal lives flawlessly and with exciting action. Can’t wait for the next one.
May 14, 2023
great series
Superb story , I can totally recommend it and I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole series from start to finish , a cracking read with great characters
Superb story , I can totally recommend it and I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole series from start to finish , a cracking read with great characters
July 29, 2023
another great read from Chris
Loved the mix of political intrigue and sea action, really looking forward to the next instalment to see what’s happened to captain Holbrooke
Loved the mix of political intrigue and sea action, really looking forward to the next instalment to see what’s happened to captain Holbrooke
January 11, 2024
entertaining
Enough fighting and seamanship to hold my attention. Much more than the usual amount of social intrigue. I liked the lack of sexual intrigue for a change. In that regard like the books I read when
still a student in K-12.
Enough fighting and seamanship to hold my attention. Much more than the usual amount of social intrigue. I liked the lack of sexual intrigue for a change. In that regard like the books I read when
still a student in K-12.
April 21, 2024
Good historical story
Always enjoyable author and story moves right along an exciting narrative. Great character development and a real taste of life below deck.
Always enjoyable author and story moves right along an exciting narrative. Great character development and a real taste of life below deck.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews