Historical Fiction Series
The Hussar’s Love
Paris, France–1814. The French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, is defeated and faces banishment to Elba, while Prussian forces occupy the capital. Lieutenant Hugo von Löwenklau, comes to the rescue of a young Parisian woman. This simple act pits him against her calculating and opportunistic stepbrother, Captain Albin Richemonte. Margot’s stepbrother is determined to marry her off to the wealthy Baron de Reillac, all in an effort to extricate himself from his own mounting gambling debts.
In the face of their blossoming romance, the baron and the captain aren’t about to let the lieutenant whisk the lady away. Stopping at nothing to rid themselves of Löwenklau–even murder–they concoct a daring plot, ultimately exposing Hugo to Napoleon’s wrath.
The marabout, Hajji Omanah, is dying. Known throughout the vast deserts of Africa as a hermit and devout follower of Islam, Omanah has been keeping a terrible secret, one that has been plaguing him for years. On his deathbed, he plans to reveal it… to his son.
What his son doesn’t realize is that he’s soon to be caught up in the middle of a vicious feud going back over a generation between two powerful European families. The embittered Albin Richemonte is determined to avenge himself on Hugo von Löwenklau and his entire household. Richemonte concocts a brilliant scheme to cheat the marabout’s son of his rightful inheritance, and by doing so rob the Löwenklau’s of theirs as well.
In the spring of 1870, France is preparing for an imminent war with Germany. A French cavalry officer, Bernard de Lemarch, has been given the delicate task of approaching a high-ranking Prussian officer, hoping to glean vital military information. But what he doesn’t know is that the Prussian High Command has been forewarned…. and is expecting him. Posing as a painter, the disguised officer meets up with a bungling landscape painter forming an unlikely friendship, one that unwittingly propels both men headfirst into unexpected danger, while resurrecting a secret from Lemarch’s own past. Richard von Löwenklau, a vanguard in France, is tasked with trying to stop the build-up of arms and uncover the establishment of a new para-military presence, the franctireurs.
Captain Albin Richemonte, the real master of Castle Ortry, is making final preparations to equip his para-military band of thugs. He sends wheels in motion that will deliver the German military a decisive blow, one they’ll never forget. Count Jules Rallion, the captain’s trusted ally, has concocted a diabolical plot, that if successful, will not only deprive an American financier of his money, but also his life. Despite Richemonte’s best efforts, his granddaughter, Baroness Marion, refuses to accept his choice of a betrothed, Count Rallion’s own son. But the captain is not about to take no for an answer—especially from a woman. He is determined to tame her obstinacy, and if necessary, play his trump card… incarcerating her in a dungeon.
American bomber pilot Jack Swaggart had led his squadron countless times into hostile German territory, hit the assigned target, and return to base none the worse for wear.
Eventually though, Jack’s luck runs out. With his plane heavily damaged by flak, Jack and his crew are forced to ditch their crippled plane in the German countryside. Separated from his crew, Jack decides to trust an unlikely ally, Hilde Augsberg, a plucky young German woman, a decision which will catapult them into an adventure neither could have envisioned. By sheer coincidence, they spot a new type of German warplane in flight – a design unlike anything they’d ever seen before.
In that moment, Jack realizes that the Germans have developed a formidable new bomber, one that could dramatically alter the course of the war. In the blink of an eye, Jack’s mission shifts from one of survival to learning more about that plane – and how to stop it from turning the tide in a war the Allies are on the verge of winning.