Sharpe's Prey (The Sharpe Series): The Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807 (The Sharpe Series, Book 5)

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Knowles plays a significant role in the recovery of stolen Spanish gold behind enemy lines in Sharpe's Gold and is shortly afterwards appointed as Adjutant to Lt Colonel William Lawford, the South Essex's senior officer ( Sharpe's Escape).

The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is at a very low point in his life. His beloved aristocratic lover, Lady Grace Hale, died in childbirth, along with their newborn son. Her family's lawyers then took all of Sharpe's wealth (loot he obtained in India), claiming it was Grace's, so it reverts to her family. Destitute and relegated to the menial job of quartermaster, Sharpe is on the streets of London, contemplating leaving the army.All of the Sharpe novels, not just the new one, Sharpe's Prey, feature genuinely complex plotting in which the reader is kept engaged not just by a central conflict but by a whole host of subplots handled as adeptly as his main narrative. How does Bernard Cornwell maintain such a high standard in his tales of historical derring-do and danger? The genre is a touch overcrowded these days, but Cornwell is unquestionably in the upper echelons, with a consistency that must give most of his rivals pause. It isn't just the formula that makes these books work so well (high-powered, vividly described action, conflicted protagonists risking both their lives and careers, impressive historical detail), it is another factor that has distinguished the author's books since his early work. At the end of the novel, when the South Essex is positioned on the British flank during the Battle of Talavera, Simmerson panics and starts to withdraw the regiment, before he is ignominiously relieved from his post by William Lawford.

In Sharpe's Christmas, it was Hagman who was called upon to deliver the baby of a French camp follower, "Isn't the first baby I've done, sir.... I'll see her right." He is also apparently the alternate barber to Sally Clayton, cutting Sharpe's hair when needed ( Sharpe's Havoc). Simmerson is thus portrayed as the archetype of the military dilettante allowed to hold rank and responsibility in the British Army, a type which is the constant bane of professional soldiers like Sharpe. Throughout the first novel, he consistently ignores the advice of the few professional soldiers among his officers, and blames the often disastrous consequences of his own blunders on them. He also displays blatant nepotism in favouring his nephew, Christian Gibbons, as his aide. Sharpe serves four uneventful years as a sergeant. In 1803, he is the sole survivor of a massacre of the garrison of a small fort carried out by a turncoat Company officer, William Dodd ( Sharpe's Triumph). Because he can identify Dodd, Sharpe is taken along by McCandless on a mission to capture and punish Dodd, to discourage others from deserting. Their search takes them first to battles at Ahmednuggur and then Assaye. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Leroy is a fictional character in the Richard Sharpe series of novels by Bernard Cornwell. He is an American Loyalist serving as an officer in the British Army during the Peninsular War.During the battle of Waterloo, after Sharpe takes command of the Prince of Wales' Own, Hagman takes a bullet through the chest and is fatally wounded. Sharpe kneels beside him, holding his hand, as the older man bleeds out. Sharpe offers to get him to the surgeons, but Hagman's last words were, "Bugger them surgeons, Mr Sharpe." Hagman then dies in Sharpe's arms ( Sharpe's Waterloo). After the Battle he is buried by Harper and Sharpe along with Sharpe's rifle ( Sharpe's Assassin). This ambivalence at his role led to frequent rebellion against authority and a reputation as troublemaker, one of the wildest men in the army. Consequently, he was transferred from regiment to regiment, until he settled in the newly formed 95th Rifles.