Keane

The Keane novels follow Captain James Keane of the 27th Foot, an unconventional officer recruited by Wellington to lead a small company of scouts, intelligence gatherers and useful misfits. Beginning in the Peninsular War in 1809, Keane operates beyond the normal security of the regiment, mapping roads, negotiating with guerrillas, hunting enemy agents and testing information before it reaches senior command.

The first three books remain in Iberia, where battlefield reconnaissance repeatedly becomes espionage and counter-intelligence. Conspiracy carries Keane into Paris in 1812, extending the series from Wellington’s field army into the political centre of Napoleon’s empire. Throughout, military action is shaped by secrecy, uncertain loyalties and the difficulty of distinguishing useful initiative from disobedience.