On Basilisk Station, by David Weber.

First of a huge series - summed up as a futuristic CS Forester - whom I haven't read, but now I don't need to. Stars "Honor Harrington," a heroic captain in a space navy in a semi-British Kingdom. Well written and paced. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are good and backstabbers get their comeuppance. Refreshing and good. Not in Bujold's class by any means but very enjoyable. Some of the books are available free at http://www.baen.com/library and the WHOLE series (thus far) is available on a (free to copy) CD ROM in the most recent hardback.