This is book 19 of the "Aubrey-Maturin" series.

This note contains spoilers for the book.

 

What a weird beginning. We hear unemployed Naval officers up on Gibraltar discussing the people associated with the ships they see, and it's casually mentioned by them that Diana killed herself (and Mrs. Williams) in a coaching accident at that bridge we've seen her take perfectly twice.

With Napolean on the loose, and rearming, there's a lot for both a Commodore and an intelligence agent to do.

We have, again, negotiations with a Dey, and double-dealing, and people being strangled with bow-strings, and very large amounts of gold being moved around.

And at the end, Jack manages to take yet another ship laden with those terribly heavy small chests. However, in the process, we have Barrett Bonden killed by enemy fire hitting the gun he captains. No warning, just, bang, he's gone. So that's Diana, and Mrs. Willians, and Governor Wood, and Bonden. So far. You'd almost think O'Brian was starting a clean-up operation.