Sir; A close friend of mine gave me a copy of, “The Archer’s Tale” (and “Master and Commander”), while I was recuperating from bypass surgery. Well, I loved it and went on to read the other two in the series. He told me that I would like both Cornwell and O’Brian, which turned out to be true, and after I finished off the O’Brian series, I began to attack the Sharpe series with the same gusto. But, I waited quite a while to start Sharpe, because (and this will sound extremely narrow minded and morbid) I was drained and depressed after reading the last book only to find out that it never resolved what happened to Aubry/Maturin, because Mr. O’Brian had died without finishing this classic series. I can’t believe that as of 2004, you actually want the ending of Sharpe/Harper to be that they lived happily ever after. So, if I may be so bold, and narrow minded, as to ask if you would be so kind as to write the ending book (of course with out telling any of us) just in case something, God forbid, unforeseen happens to you before you actually intended to end the series. I find it truly enjoyable that you keep adding new Sharpe novels to this masterpiece series and I hope that new ones will be focusing on both Sharpe and Harper. Between O’Brian and you, this American has learned a hell of a lot about the British, from both on land and sea from the last quarter of the 18th Century until the first quarter of the 19th Century. Respectfully, Steve Ellis