Review: The Blighted Cliffs

Well, I just had a grand time reading this book. It was, as promised, a jolly good read and a nicely crafted debut novel too.

It's 1806 and Britain is in the throes of war with the French, trying to hold back Napoleon's further grab for power. In the midst of it, we meet Martin Jerrold, currently stationed in Dover. He is a Lieutenant with the British navy, but he's not exactly the most heroic specimen. He drinks too much, jokes around too much, and has a roving eye for the ladies. After a typical night of carousing, he wakes up with a ferocious hangover to find a lady in his bed that he didn't remember meeting. Not wanting to deal with this, he stumbles out and walks towards the cliffs, where he sees the shadowy figures of a few men doing something nefarious. Just how nefarious those actions are become shockingly clear when Jerrold chances upon a corpse--and is taken to court on suspicion of murder of that very person.

The only reason Jerrold is let off is because no one knows who the victim is, but the magistrate is looking to hang someone--anyone--for the crime and Jerrold seems as good a fit as anyone. Then matters become even more pressing when the lieutenant receives a missive from his powerful uncle, who's none too impressed with Jerrold's latest adventures. Solve the crime, the uncle says, within a fortnight or else he'll be packed off to the Indies.

What's a poor navy boy to do? Well, Jerrold's never really solved any murders before but he manages to piece together a conspiracy involving smuggling, the highest echelons of Dover government, and appeasing the French. Not surprisingly he meets a pretty widow along the way, and gets into more drunken trouble. Though the mystery is well paced, THE BLIGHTED CLIFFS isn't really about that--it's more of a romp, with crackling dialogue and a scamp of a protagonist who it's easy to root for.

I really enjoyed this book. Not that there weren't some first-novel problems--a little too much use of passive voice for my liking, and some plot threads weren't always adequately followed to some sort of conclusion--but Thomas really captures the feel of the town, the smell of the sea and does so with a lot of dry wit and humor.

Although THE BLIGHTED CLIFFS is being billed as a "nautical Flashman" I look upon this as Horatio Hornblower's raffish cousin, the kind of guy who has aspirations to being noble and true but doesn't quite make it. Which makes Martin Jerrold a damn sight more interesting. I'm really curious to see what trouble he gets into next, and to Edwin Thomas's next books.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Sarah - RAM

Book Review: The Blighted Cliffs