A highly polished blade

Allan Mallinson's hero, Captain Matthew Hervey of the Sixth Light Dragoons, is one of the few officers of the British Army in India to have actually fought the Burmese - an experience he gained in Mallinson's previous book, A Call to Arms. It is natural, therefore, that he should be seconded to the staff of General Campbell when the latter embarks on one of the Empire's less successful campaigns, the Burmese War of 1823-6.

Luckily, a ball in the shoulder enables Hervey to escape jungle, paddy fields and fever: he's invalided back to India, where he recuperates under the care of his bibi, Neeta - a relationship that causes much scandalised comment in the drawing-rooms of Calcutta.

Soon he is part of regimental life again, prodding the indecisive temporary commanding officer, Major Joynson, into confronting such questions as: who should be regimental sergeant-major after the retirement of the redoubtable Mr Lincoln, what should be done about the subaltern who is having an affair with the riding-master's wife, or the one who is alleged to have received bribes from an Indian horse-dealer?

Then the infant Rajah of Bhurtpore is deposed by his cousin, Durjan Sal. The regiment is part of the force under Lord Combermere that marches against him, uneasily aware that the last siege of the reputedly impregnable Bhurtpore ended in a defeat commemorated by the Tower of Victory, built from skulls of the dead besiegers.

Plenty of action lies ahead for the Sixth, who often gallop into battle alongside elements of Skinner's Horse, the 1st Bengal Lancers, that famous regiment raised and trained by the legendary James Skinner, half-Scot, half-Rajput, who much impresses Hervey when they meet.

Mallinson is often compared to Patrick O'Brian and CS Forester. His historical detail is certainly no less accurate than theirs, and his battle scenes no less colourful and exciting. But he writes, of course, of the cavalry rather than the Navy, and not of the Napoleonic wars, but of little-known colonial campaigns in the succeeding years. And, whereas Aubrey and Hornblower, when not at sea, become private individuals, Hervey, though he has an intense private life (and appears to be losing his faith), is always a regimental officer, the men and horses of his troop are never far from his mind.

It is significant that one of the best set-pieces in the book, on a par with the cavalry charges, is the wedding of RSM - soon to be quartermaster - Lincoln in Calcutta: The Sabre's Edge is as much a celebration of the regiment and the Army as of its hero. With each successive novel - this is the fifth - Mallinson grows in stature as an author; one looks forward eagerly to the next instalment of Hervey's life.