I tend to read quite a few books in the summer as it helps pass the time on a nice sunny day lazing about outside, so that’s when I tend to end up being lured into taking up special offers in bookshops!

Last summer I bought a book called Ratcatcher by James McGee. I’d never heard of the author to be honest, but the blurb on the back coupled with the intriguing cover art made it look interesting enough to take a chance on.

I’m glad I did as it was a cracking read, and was quickly followed by the second in the series, Resurrectionist.

Both feature a guy called Matthew Hawkwood who is a Bow Street Runner - a bit like an early London detective. It’s set in the 18th Century so it’s not at all like 24 or even The Bill, with all fighting involving swords, early guns and the like.

Not much about Hawkwood’s background is told to us upfront, but little by little it’s revealed that he’s not had the easiest life which ultimately puts him in good stead for chasing and catching the crooks he is after.

Resurrectionist is probably my favourite of the two books. As the title suggests, it deals mainly with the relatively distasteful problem of the time which was that people would go round digging up freshly buried corpses to sell on to hospitals and places of learning so they could be disected, poked and prodded. Obviously this is not the done thing and Hawkwood is sent in to track the culprits down and deal with them.

The pace of McGee’s books is pretty relentless which is all you can ask of an action adventure, so you aren’t long in rattling through the pages - he also has that vital knack of making you think “I’ll just read one more chapter” and before you know it the clock has wound forward 3 hours and half the book is gone!

And so when I bought his latest Hawkwood instalment, Rapscallion, I started into it knowing that I’d really enjoy it - and I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s slightly different in that the book is set away from his usual setting of the dark backstreets of London, with him this time housed away on a ship of all places.

The French prisoners-of-war are being held on decomissioned ships surrounded by water, yet somehow a few are managing to escape. The British are naturally concerned and not a little perplexed at how they are managing this so the navy have sent in a couple of undercover agents to try and find out the source and means of the escape plots. Both are found dead.

Cue Hawkwood being sent in himself to try his hand at escaping.

By setting the book somewhere fresh and new this keeps things interesting - probably more so for the author than for the reader in actual fact. It’s also interesting to read about these prison hulks which really were used in those times as a form of prison. It’s obvious that McGee has done a fair amount of research into life in that period and this knowledge really brings the book to life.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes a bit of action and adventure - even if you are not normally really into period pieces as this book is first and foremost a thriller which just happens to be set a couple of hundred years ago.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long before there’s another Hawkwood adventure on the shelves - no doubt in another book beginning with “R”!