Series Title: The Flashman Papers
Summary: Roving British Army colonel Sir Harry Flashman, roisterous scoundrel and witty cynic, is a reluctant hero in exploits ranging from the Crimean War (Flashman at the Charge) to China's Taiping Rebellion (Flashman and the Dragon).
Booklist Reviews
(This review refers to Flashman and the tiger and other extracts from The Flashman papers)
Very few historical fiction writers possess the charm and authenticity that Fraser has exhibited in his series of novels featuring Sir Harry Flashman, "the celebrated Victorian soldier, scoundrel, amorist, and self-confessed poltroon." The conceit of this marvelously entertaining series, as his many fans know, has been that Fraser is simply editing for publication the personal papers/memoirs of Flashman; the conceit is carried even further in this latest novel, which purports to present three "packets" of Flashman's remembrances partnered in one volume. Fraser insists that these are "minor episodes in the career of an eminent if disreputable Victorian," but the reader will find them just as hilarious and endearing as any of the previous Flashman novels. The first (and longest) "packet" deals with Flashman's friend, the newspaperman Henri Blowitz, Paris correspondent for the Times of London. In two interrelated story lines, we see Blowitz scoop the terms reached at the 1878 Congress of Berlin before the official publication of the treaty's text, and we watch Flashman's intervention in a plot to assassinate Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. The second "packet" deals with the "Great Baccarat Scandal of Tranby Croft," in which the Prince of Wales actually had to testify at a cheating-at-gambling trial. And the third "packet" in the triptych concerns Flashman meeting the infamous Colonel John Sebastian ("Tiger Jack") Moran in South Africa. You gotta love Flashman. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 2000)) Copyright 2000
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