Poor Sharpe has been a major (@ Waterloo I think), for a long time now. And he probably hates retirement! Isn’t he due for promotion to colonel in your next book? Don’t forget Harper. The poor guy can’t die a sergeant, and he’d positively do flips at being made an unwilling officer. Could be very humorous to finally get Sharpe into a position where he can finally give orders to blue bloods instead of having to find creative ways to survive bad orders from them. Chris Okusako