Question:  Harlequin is the first novel in The Grail Quest series by an English author who  is best known for his novels about what Napoleonic Wars rifleman?

Context paragraphs:
Bernard Cornwell: Bernard Cornwell, OBE (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign.  He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe.  Cornwell has written historical novels primarily of English history in five series and one series of contemporary thriller novels.  A feature of his historical novels is an end note on how the novel matches or differs from history, for the re-telling, and what one might see at the modern site of the battles described in the novel.  One series of historical novels is set in the American Civil War.  He wrote a nonfiction book on the battle of Waterloo, in addition to the fictional story of the famous battle in the Sharpe Series.  Two of the historical novel series have been adapted for television; the Sharpe television series by ITV and "The Last Kingdom" by BBC.  He lives in the US with his wife.  He alternates between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Charleston, South Carolina.

Harlequin (novel): Harlequin (in US "The Archer's Tale") is the first novel in The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell.  It begins a series of stories set in the middle of the fourteenth century, an age when the four horsemen of the apocalypse seem to have been released over Europe.

Aubrey–Maturin series: The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a physician, natural philosopher, and intelligence agent.  The first novel, "Master and Commander", was published in 1969 and the last finished novel in 1999.  The 21st novel of the series, left unfinished at O'Brian's death in 2000, appeared in print in late 2004.  The series received considerable international acclaim and most of the novels reached "The New York Times" Best Seller list.  These novels comprise the heart of the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and other British authors central to the English literature canon.

Aiskew Hollis: Vice-Admiral Aiskew Paffard Hollis ("c." 1764 – 23 June 1844) was a Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who is best known for his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.  Born in the 1760s, Hollis entered the Navy in 1774 and served during the American Revolutionary War, seeing action at the Battle of Ushant and the French Revolutionary Wars in which he was badly wounded at the Glorious First of June.  In 1801, as the captain of HMS "Thames" Hollis was heavily engaged at the Second Battle of Algeciras and in the Napoleonic Wars he served in a number of commissions and all major theatres.

Vagabond (novel): Vagabond is the second novel in The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell.  Set during the first stage of the Hundred Years War, it follows Thomas of Hookton's quest to find the Holy Grail, a relic which will grant decisive victory to the possessor.

The Grail Quest: The Grail Quest is a historical fiction novel series written by Bernard Cornwell dealing with a 14th-century search for the Holy Grail, around the time of the Hundred Years' War.  The stories follow the adventures of the fictional Thomas of Hookton as he leaves Dorset after the murder of his father and joins the English Army under Edward III as an archer.  In "Harlequin" he is involved in battle in Brittany and subsequently at the Battle of Crécy.  The archers are the first soldiers to be deployed along the crest of the hill at Crécy, providing cover before the battle starts for the knights building a system of ditches, pits and caltrops below to maim and bring down the enemy cavalry.  The battle is a decisive victory for the English, even though they were outnumbered.

Death to the French: Death to the French is a 1932 novel of the Peninsular War during the Napoleonic Wars, written by C. S. Forester, the author of the Horatio Hornblower novels.  It was also published in the United States under the title "Rifleman Dodd".

Heretic (novel): Heretic is the third novel in The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell.  Set during the first stage of the Hundred Years War, the novel follows Thomas of Hookton's quest to find the Holy Grail, a relic which may grant decisive victory to the possessor.

1356 (novel): 1356 is the fourth novel in The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell.  It is set in 1356, nearly a decade after the original trilogy, and culminates with the Battle of Poitiers.  Intertwined in the plot is the quest to find La Malice, a fabled sword of Saint Peter and Christian relic which may turn the tide of the long war for France.

William Green (British Army soldier): William Green (7 June 1784 – 27 January 1881) was an English rifleman of the 95th Regiment who served in the Napoleonic Wars.  He was the author of a memoir entitled ""A brief outline of the Travels and Adventures of William Green (late Rifle Brigade) during a period of ten years in the British Service"", one of the few accounts by an enlisted man of life in Wellington's Army.  As such it has served as a primary source for many historians.

Supporting paragraphs: Harlequin (novel) Bernard Cornwell
Answer: Richard Sharpe