Touch and Go

Written by C. Northcote Parkinson
Review by John R. Vallely

Parkinson’s Richard Delancey has been promoted to command H.M.S. Merlin in his fourth adventure of the series. Delancey serves in 1799 in Mediterranean actions against the warships of Revolutionary France. From dull and monotonous convoy duty, to fleet action off Malta, to viewing the slave trade, to combat against a Franco-Spanish fleet, Delancey is on the bridge for enough spirited naval combat to satisfy the legions of would-be Hornblowers and Aubreys. First published by the brilliant Parkinson in 1977, Delancey’s exploits are every bit as compelling some twenty-six years later.