Sharpe's Devil

Richard Sharpe and Patrick Harper in South America, c. 1820

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Sharpe is recruited by an old acquaintance (from Sharpe's Rifles) to find out what happened to another old acquaintance; a certain Spaniard, Captain-General Don Blas Vivar. The good general was last seen in Chile, leading the fight to quell the rebellious locals on behalf of Spain.

Another local Spanish strongman, Miguel Bautista, has taken over Don Blas's Captain-Generalship, and Sharpe's old acquaintance, Louisa Vivar, wants her husband back. She is convinced that he is not dead. All other authorities will not assist...so she contacts an off-duty Sharpe. Good choice.

Harper takes a break from running an Irish pub, and joins with his old best friend. Strangely, Harper is now fat. Huh. Too much beer, Sharpe thinks. Don't worry, the terrible naval food found on board an Atlantic-crossing ship will take care of that extra weight soon enough (mostly).

En route the ship stops by the island of Elba to visit with...you guessed it...old Boney himself. It seems the British had him under tight lock-down in a small moldering house atop a hill on an island in the middle of nowhere (but didn't outright kill him). He was even allowed to entertain visitors, to some extent. Apparently it was very popular for ships to stop there and request an audience with the former Emperor.

Harper and Sharpe have all sorts of para-military adventures on land and sea, inadvertently participating in ship battles and sieges and running for their lives. Horses. Cannon. Gunpowder. Blood. Very common in these books, even here, at the end of the run.

Richard and Patrick come back, having satisfied their mission, and retire; Sharpe to France and Harper to Ireland. As far as the author knows, they lived happily ever after.