Roger Burnage Books In Order

Publication Order of Merriman Chronicles Books

Roger Burnage
Roger Burnage grew up in the village of Lymm, which is a civil parish in Warrington, Cheshire, United Kingdom. National service with the RAF took him to Ceylon (or Sri Lanka as it’s known now), where he worked as a radio mechanic on large transmitters.

After Roger’s release from service, he went to work as a draughtsman at Vickers in Manchester, eventually becoming a sales engineer and traveled abroad to India and Scandinavia. It’s during this time that he began to read the “Hornblower” series by CS Forester, which sparked his interest in this genre.

He eventually settled in North Wales in order to build his business and raise a family. The thoughts of writing for himself were never too far from mind. Retirement gave him the opportunity finally.

After a shaky start and so many rejections from both agents and publishers, he’d almost given up on the idea altogether. An operation for a brain hemorrhage and open heart surgery would have most likely been the end of any notion to become an author for most people. But not Roger. He kept at it, slowly typing away with two fingers for months on end, and crafted “The Merriman Chronicles”.

With help from his youngest son, “A Certain Threat”, was published on Amazon KDP in Kindle and Paperback. Years later, his fan base is still growing, and book sales have remained strong.

He sadly passed away in December of 2015 after a short illness. He had so many more ideas for “Merriman” and left several unfinished novels in various stages of development. The adventures might yet be continued.

“A Certain Threat” is the first novel in the “Merriman Chronicles” series and was released in 2012. 1792. French Revolutionary agents are traveling around freely yet secretly between England and Ireland and war with France is now inevitable the English government of Mr. Pitt is desperately anxious to uncover any plots between the French and Irish rebels.

Lt. James Merriman with his ship, the sloop Aphrodite, gets ordered to the Irish Sea in order to assist Mr. Grahame, the principal Treasury agent, in this work. Merriman gets plunged headlong into the world of espionage and once Grahame gets seriously wounded it falls to Merriman to carry on this investigation.

Young James Merriman has to keep all of his wits about him in order to foil these plans particularly once his adversary gets revealed to be an exceptional French agent named Henri Moreau who hopes that by helping out the Irish to throw off the English yoke, France is going to be able to use Irish ports from which they can attack England.

The tone and dialogue feel very authentic, the characters are well drawn and memorable. Every scene either drives the plot forward or builds Merriman’s character further and there is a real sense of momentum and drama in this story. The descriptions of the naval encounters are a real highlight, exciting yet also clearly showing the danger that existed at this time, along with the skill that was required by every crew member in order to ensure victory in any engagement.

“The Threat in the West Indies” is the second novel in the “Merriman Chronicles” series and was released in 2013. 1793. James Abel Merriman has just been sent off to the West Indies as the Captain of his Majesty’s sloop Aphrodite. France, England’s oldest enemy, who is now under Napoelon’s control is in the throes of a revolution and is at war with the Netherlands and Austria. At this time in history (February of 1793) France has declared war on England.

In the West Indies many of the islands have been fought over by the French, the British, and the Spanish and at the time of this book, the principal islands of St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, and Martinique remain in French hands although by 1794 many French claimed islands were retaken by British Forces.

There is plenty of action right from the start. It’s got a fast pace and some excellent characters. It is great to see plot lines started in previous novels get woven into and then resolved her in this one. More French mischief while the war against the Directorate starts.

“The French Invasion” is the third novel in the “Merriman Chronicles” series and was released in 2014. Lieutenant James Merriman is recalled back home from the West Indies, and gets promoted to Post Captain and gets command of ‘Lord Stevenage’ the frigate. It’s known that the French are amassing an army and a fleet in order to invade Ireland and join up with Irish rebels. Should it succeed then England is going to be ringed by enemy countries under Napoleon Bonaparte’s control, and just the navy stands between England and France.

Merriman is once again involved in the murky world of secret agents with Mr. Grahame (English spymaster), a man that he knows far too well, in order to learn what they can about the French’s plans in Ireland where Merriman’s old foe Moreau (a French agent) appears one more time. Roger delivers a rousing tale about murder, fights with the French at sea and ashore with the background of the actual French invasion of Ireland which was attempted but that failed.

This is a really well done age of fighting sail saga. Roger adds a few characters while fleshing the old ones out.

“The Threat in the East” is the fourth novel in the “Merriman Chronicles” series and was released in 2014. 1798. It is known that Napoleon is assembling a fleet and army together in order to attack Egypt, from where he may be able to threaten and attack India in order to join with Tipu Sahib the ruler of Mysore, who’s a known ally of the French.

A British fleet under Admiral Nelson hopes to intercept him however there’s no word of their progress.

Merriman has just been ordered to take Treasury Agent Mr. Grahame to Bombay where their orders are to help The East India Company protect their shipping from pirates and discover just how far Tipu’s naval building has progressed by this point.