Mr. Cornwell, I began reading your books in the '80's, starting with a very old copy of Sharpe's Eagle that my father picked up in a used book store. You immediately became my favourite fiction writer and remain so to this day. I'm especially fond of your Arthur books, Sandman (would make a great movie if directed by Guy Ritchie, a la Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), and of course, Sharpe. Now here's the rub. I'm far too late, but you've got to do better when you write about highlanders in the Sharpe books! Their bonnets were (and still are) made with osterich feathers, not bearskin, and officers carried highland broadswoards. A claymore is an ancient weapon weilded with two hands and is as long as a man (albeit a highland man...) is tall. Definitely not carried during the Napoleonic period, not even by eccentrics. The notion of them following their cheiftains into battle, although romantic, was a thing that went out with the '45 rebellion. By the 19th century, although regiments still tended to recruit from certain regions and could be filled with several members of the same family, their overall makeup was little different from that of any English regiment, and most men in the ranks were just as unfortunate to be there as their English counterparts. I could go on, but I'm sure you get my point. I just find it odd that an author who obviously researches so thouroughly would have continually missed so many of what I consider matter-of-fact points on one isolated subject. Well, there you have it. As a Scottish decendant, a sergeant in a Canadian highland regiment (ASH of Canada), and a bit of a Napoleonic pedant, I just had to voice my concern. I pray I have not offended. Looking forward to The Last Kingdom! Respectfully, Kent Wilson