Jemahl Evans -'The Emerald Cross'
Blandford Candy Let Loose in the New World The 'Emerald Cross' is the fourth' Blandford Candy' novel ; a series that began with The Last Roundhead'- and pleased to say that maintains the high standard of the earlier books. Has been described as 'Flashman meets the Three Musketeers', with Candy as an 'endearing rogue'. Opens in 1720 when Candy is a crabby old curmudgeon, managing to get locked up for assaulting William Hiseland, who claimed to be the last surviving veteran of the English Civil War, having fought on Royalist side as the Battle of Edgehill . There are a fair number of laughs and the 1720 section reminds me of Smollet's 'Humphrey Clinker . But the 18th century story line is a secondary theme : The core of the book concerns Blandford Candy, accompanied by John Coxton , venturing to the New World in March 1646. After sampling the del