All the technical details and swashbuckling action scenes readers have come to expect from Dewey Lambdin are present in this eighth installment in the Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures series. Fresh from his successes along the French coast, Commander Alan Lewrie is dispatched to the Adriatic to patrol the shores of Italy and intercept any French ships trying to reinforce Napoleon's armies.
A classic tale involving a miller’s daughter who supposedly can spin straw into gold, a crafty little man by the name of Rumpelstiltskin who asks for too much reward and a wise court jester which saves the day.
Arriving home disillusioned from the Crusades, Hugh discovers that his village has been ransacked and his wife abducted by knights in search of a relic worth more than any throne in Europe. Only by taking on the role of a jester is he able to infiltrate his enemy's castle, where he thinks his wife is captive. With the unstoppable pace and plot of a page-turning Alex Cross novel,
Fifteen-year-old Boaz is the new Zar, freshly ascended to his throne. In the turmoil following the old Zar’s death, courtiers jostle and conspire to secure their positions - not least his scheming mother, the new Valide. It seems his only genuine friends are his late father’s mad jester; Spur Lazar, head of Percheron's security; and a golden beauty - a new odalisque purchased in the foothills as a slave for the harem.