Desperate Valour
New Orleans, 1815.
In the sequel to Ranger, Alexander Charteris – “Chart” - a mixed-race major in the British Army´s 1st West India regiment – is sent to New Orleans on a dangerous spying mission. The success or failure of the British invasion of Louisiana depends on the information he collects. Chart joins an American militia battalion of “colored” gentlemen as cover for his spying.
His contact is the beautiful agent Bagatelle, madame of a high-class brothel. She is the slave of Chart’s old nemesis Julien Fédon, who has a price on his head for leading a rebellion against British rule on the island of Grenada twenty years earlier. Fedon blames Chart for his defeat on Grenada and vows to kill him when he discovers he is in Louisiana.
After Jocasta and Chart become lovers, she is betrayed and imprisoned on Fédon´s slave-breeding plantation. Chart is torn between rescuing her and fulfilling his duty to warn the British invaders about the Americans‘ strong defenses. At enormous risk, he goes to the British headquarters, but his intelligence report is ignored.
The spy becomes a soldier once more and leads his regiment of black Redcoats in the Battle of New Orleans, during which the British suffer a catastrophic defeat. Ordered to retreat with the defeated army, Chart must make a fateful decision.
Leave the Army, and risk being shot as a deserter, or venture behind enemy lines to rescue the woman he loves and eliminate Fédon.
Reviews
´´… this is storytelling of the highest order, immersive, atmospheric and persuasive. The characters are gripping, their situations and relationships convincing. The pacing is immaculate, building as it does to that climax which simply gets more and more tense until Chart is catapulted into a final section where the tension tightens a seemingly impossible notch tighter. I could not recommend this book more highly.”
Aspects of History
https://aspectsofhistory.com/book_reviews/desperate-valour-by-timothy-ashby/
“Desperate Valour contains all the necessary ingredients of a successful adventure story in the style of great masters of the genre…. Ashby displays a truly meticulous eye for facts and details … and possesses the ability to take these unadulterated facts and transform them into a gripping narrative!”
Historical Fiction Company
