Hi Bernard,

I remember reading once that one of your biggest regrets of the Sharpe series was killing Hakeswill off. He made a brilliant villain! My question: I’ve often wondered, reading your brilliant Last Kingdom series (renamed recently to tie in with the excellent TV series?) if you imagined Haesten to be sort of Uhtred’s Hakeswill? The traitorous villain who always slipped away… Warriors of the Storm was such a good read – you seemed to tie up lots of loose ends / story threads with the deaths of long standing characters and finally learning Finan’s story. Lucious to read – but I did worry you were beginning to draw it all to an end by giving us so much in one book…! I mean, he’s getting on a bit, though I’m glad to read book 10 won’t be the last! Bebbanburg surely soon?

One last thing – great to finally have my home, Lincoln, featured in the series! I actually live at the top of the hill, my street (the old Ermine Street) has four circles of brickwork laid into the road to mark where the entrance to the old roman forum used to stand. You can even still drive under a Roman gate a stones throw from our house. So much history here!

Thanks and looking forward to the next,

Simon