Rapscallion

By James McGee

Matthew Hawkwood, ex-soldier turned Bow Street Runner, goes undercover to hunt down smugglers and traitors at the height of the Napoleonic Wars in this thrilling follow-up to Ratcatcher.

For a French prisoner of war, there is only one fate worse than the gallows: the hulks. Former man-o'-wars, now converted to prison ships, their fearsome reputation guarantees a sentence served in the most dreadful conditions.

Few survive. Escape, it's said, is impossible.

Yet reports persist of a sinister smuggling operation within this brutal world – and the Royal Navy is worried enough to send two of its officers to investigate.

But when they disappear without trace, the Navy turns in desperation to Bow Street for help. It's time to send in a man as dangerous as the prey. It's time to send in Hawkwood…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Sep 4, 2008
• ISBN: 9780007283453

James McGee

James McGee was born into an army family. He was educated in Gibraltar, Germany and Belfast. His career has encompassed banking, bookselling and thirteen years in the airline business. He has also presented book reviews for BBC local radio and several independent stations. In addition to the successful Hawkwood series, he has also written several thrillers. He lives in Somerset.

Reviews for Rapscallion

[johnwbeha · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read and really enjoyed the first two books in the Hawkwood series a few years ago. I noticed book 4 in the series coming up on my reading list so I hastily acquired Rapscallions (book 3) on my kindle so a snot to lose the sequence. This was an excellent decision on my part.
The series is well written, well plotted and meticulously researched, dealing this time with prison ships and smuggling. I heartily recommend this book, the predecessors and, I expect, the successors.

[mikerhode · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe had retired back to England and joined the Bow Street Runners, these books would be about him. That's a compliment.

[nilbett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An amazing story taken from fact during the Napoleonic Wars involving smuggling on a large scale. Exciting to read. The slight early nineteenth literature style only added to the experience.