SEEDS OF MUTINY, an adventure of Queen Victoria's special agent, John Hawkdale Penragon, a wounded survivor of the famous charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War, is set in London, England, in the mid 1800's,
Trevelyan's fourth book of The Pendragon Quartet is a rousing tale of adventure and detection, in which the clash of steel and the roar of musket provide a background to Pendragon's dashing and heroic feats. By Robert Trevelyan, (a pseudonym of literary award winning author, Robert (Bob) Forrest Webb), his writing in the Pendragon series has been likened by critics to the works of Rafael Sabatini, and his skill in providing shocks with authentic Victorian racial and social attitudes, and in-depth research of London of the period have been greatly praised.
The grand society wedding of the London season, that of Captain John Hawkdale Pendragon's lovely aunt Georgina to Sir Page Cloverly, is horribly marred by a dark-skinned assassin who stabs the groom outside the church, and then disappears into the crowd. This only the first of a series of seemingly unrelated, vicious attacks. Only when Pendragon establishes a common denominator do things begin to fall ito place.
With skill and persistence, the youthful ex-cavalry officer fits together the pieces of a puzzle that suddenly takes on an awful significance.
Flitting silently through the night alone, sometimes in Indian disguise, Pendragon fearlessly follows a trail through the labyrinth of Victorian London, through the sordid hovels of the East End, the echoing palaces of Kensington and the marble mansions of Mayfair. Eventually, this leads him to the instigator of a ruthless and dastardly campaign against the British.
If you enjoyed the first three of the Pendragon novels, 'Pendragon - Late of Prince Albert's Own' , 'Pendragon - His Highness Commands', and 'Pendragon - The Montenegran Plot', then you will be thrilled by this latest adventure.
A few lines from SEEDS OF MUTINY: ".....A pistol flared and a blast of flame momentarily blinded him. A heavy bullet chiselled stonework from the wall. He turned quickly and squeezed the trigger of his own revolver. There was a metallic click as it misfired. A dark figure stood close to him. He heard Sraj Khan give an unpleasant chuckle of satisfaction, and then a whisper: "And now, Captain Pendragon, I give you to Vatsasura..." There was the rattle of a blade being drawn from its scabbard. Pendragon leapt aside, protecting his neck and face with the revolver, A keen edged blade whistled past his shoulder. Somewhere beyond the candlelight there was a shout of satisfaction from Beauchamp, then the terrible rasping gasp of breath that accompanied a fatal wound. A man groaned, the sound turning into a terrifying gurgle as blood filled his throat....."