Matthew Hervey Books in Order
Part ofAllan Mallinson Books in OrderSee the Matthew Hervey series by Allan Mallinson in order, with short book summaries, reading order, series background, and clear where to start advice.
Last updated: June 30, 2026
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Publication Order
14 books
A Close Run Thing
by Allan Mallinson
1999
At Waterloo in 1815, young Cornet Matthew Hervey is swept into the last great struggle against Napoleon. Split-second choices in battle, and in love, set the course of the life ahead of him.
The Nizam's Daughters / Honorable Company
by Allan Mallinson
2000
Fresh from Waterloo, Hervey leaves his fiancée behind and sails to India on a secret mission. Court intrigue, shifting loyalties, and the threat of war in Chintal test him far from home.
A Regimental Affair
by Allan Mallinson
2001
Back with the 6th Light Dragoons in 1817, Hervey clashes with a vain and cruel commanding officer. In Canada, that regimental tension meets frontier danger, and both threaten his future.
A Call to Arms
by Allan Mallinson
2002
Hervey is ordered to raise a new troop and take men and horses to India at once. On the Burmese frontier, a punishing jungle march turns the expedition into a desperate trial.
The Sabre's Edge
by Allan Mallinson
2003
Stationed in India in 1824, Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are drawn toward the looming storm around Bhurtpore. A formidable fortress, a usurper prince, and brutal siege work test both nerve and leadership.
Rumours of War
by Allan Mallinson
2004
Sent to Portugal in 1826, Hervey returns to ground marked by his earliest campaigning. The mission stirs memories of Corunna and pulls him toward fresh trouble in the Peninsula.
An Act of Courage
by Allan Mallinson
2005
Imprisoned in Badajoz at Christmas 1826, Hervey plots escape while reliving earlier Peninsular campaigns. Past battles and present danger close in together, making this one of the series' more reflective war stories.
Company of Spears
by Allan Mallinson
2006
Looking for a new posting, Hervey heads to the Cape to raise a mounted force on the frontier. The South African plains, the Zulu threat, and the strain of command quickly turn the assignment into a hard campaign.
Man of War
by Allan Mallinson
2007
Recovering in England after Africa, Hervey hopes to settle his personal life and return quietly to duty. Instead he is caught in family obligations, a looming inquiry, and the wider crisis that leads to Navarino.
Warrior
by Allan Mallinson
2008
Summoned back to the Cape in 1828, Hervey rides north as tension around King Shaka turns deadly. Civil war, brutal marches, and a perilous escort mission leave little room for error.
On His Majesty's Service
by Allan Mallinson
2011
With peace bringing cuts to the army, Hervey is sent as an observer to the Russian campaign against the Ottoman Empire. The assignment is meant to be detached, but battle and private loyalties pull him straight into danger.
Words of Command
by Allan Mallinson
2015
In the bitter winter of 1830, Hervey takes command of the 6th Light Dragoons amid unrest at home. A trip to Brussels for the Waterloo anniversary soon turns dangerous as Belgium rises against Dutch rule.
The Passage to India
by Allan Mallinson
2018
Out of favour after the Bristol riots, Hervey gets a new chance when the 6th Light Dragoons are sent to Coorg. There he faces revolt, hard campaigning, and personal stakes that make the mission even more dangerous.
The Tigress of Mysore
by Allan Mallinson
2020
After the Coorg campaign, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey expects a quieter spell in India. Instead he is sent against Thuggee and dacoity gangs, and the mission grows into a brutal warning of larger trouble to come.
Series background & context
Matthew Hervey is Allan Mallinson's long-running historical series about a cavalry officer in the fictional 6th Light Dragoons. It begins with A Close Run Thing at Waterloo in 1815 and then follows Hervey through the wars, postings, and political aftershocks that shaped the British Empire in the early nineteenth century. The books range through India, Canada, Portugal, South Africa, the Balkans, and back to Britain, so the series feels broad in scope without losing sight of one man's career.
Hervey himself is a big part of why the books work. He is brave and capable, but he is not built like a simple swashbuckling hero. As the son of a vicar, he does not have the wealth that could buy easy promotion, and he tends to think hard about the cost of the orders he gives. Across the series he grows from a young cornet into a senior officer, and that shift changes the books in a satisfying way. Early on he is learning how to survive. Later he has to decide how other men will fight, march, and sometimes die.
He is not a swaggering hero.
Mallinson is especially good on the everyday machinery of soldiering. The regiment itself feels almost like a recurring character, with its own habits, loyalties, tensions, and old wounds. You spend time not just in battle, but in camps, barracks, orderly rooms, on long sea voyages, and on hard roads where supply, weather, horses, and bad timing can matter as much as courage. If you like historical fiction that treats logistics, horsemanship, rank, and military routine as part of the drama, this series has a lot to offer.
The setting matters too. In The Nizam's Daughters, A Call to Arms, and The Sabre's Edge, India is not just backdrop, it shapes the politics, distances, and dangers of the story. A Regimental Affair and Company of Spears show how frontier duty can be as tense as formal war. Words of Command and The Passage to India bring in unrest, reform, and imperial politics, reminding you that soldiers are never far from the decisions made above them.
These books care as much about responsibility as heroics.
There is plenty of action, sieges, marches, cavalry work, prison escapes, and desperate fighting, but the tone is more thoughtful than flashy. Friends such as Eyre Somervile and Edward Fairbrother give the series continuity, and Hervey's private life, faith, and sense of honor matter from one book to the next. The emotional thread builds best in publication order, so start with A Close Run Thing and let the series widen from there. What begins as a Waterloo novel grows into a full career story, and into a sharp look at how armies, empires, and individual consciences collide.
Edited by
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