Set in the early 1500s in Renaissance Italy this novel is the story of Andrea Orsini, a peasant boy who rises far and becomes a secret agent for Cesare Borgia, who entrusts him with the most delicate political, military and romantic missions, Orson Welles was cast as Borgia, Tyronne Power as Orsini in the film version.

A new edition of the mid-20th century popular classic of a Spanish nobleman who accompanies Cortez to conquer Mexico.

To every man, joy and grief before night.~Old Norse proverbCount and Countess Falke of Falkenborg are deeply in debt and are about to lose the ancient but respectably shabby family castle when they meet Patricia Morier, a wealthy American heiress, who feels a tingle along her veins when she first sets eyes on the passionate and masterful Count and instantly falls in love. Since the Count doesn't resist their mutual attraction too energetically, Patricia promptly buys the dilapidate...

''Prince of Foxes'' by Samuel Shellabarger is the popular historical adventure novel about Andrea Orsini, a peasant masquerading as a nobleman who serves as a secret agent for the ruthless Cesare Borgia in Renaissance Italy. The story details Orsini's journey from a cynical spy to a man of honor when he chooses to rebel against the Borgia family to save an independent city-state. Set in Italy around 1500, meticulously researched, bringing the politics, settings, and culture of Renaissance ...

''Captain from Castile'' by Samuel Shellabarger is the best-selling historical adventure novel that follows Pedro de Vargas, a young Spanish nobleman who flees the Spanish Inquisition and joins Hernán Cortés on his expedition to conquer the Aztecs in Mexico. Set in the early 16th century, the story functions as both a swashbuckling epic and a coming-of-age narrative. The novel opens in 1518 Spain. Pedro's prominent family falls victim to the greedy and manipulative Diego de Silva. De Silva...

For five generations, dating from 1753, the ancestral home of the Tolbecken family had grown and the land had dwindled; the house had become a mansion and the land a town block. By the end of the 19th century, not only the land, but the fortune of the Tolbecken family was diminishing, and, fiber by fiber, the roots were snapping, as the tree that supported their old life began toppling toward the earth.The patriarch of the family, Judge Rufus Tolbecken, has pinned a great deal of h...

"Well, well, it's very mystifying. But then, murders ought to be like that, oughtn't they?"   The reefs, lonely, vast, and menacing, made a thunderous sound as the surf rose and fell ― a cry that mounted “ shriek upon shriek, as of some tortured devil, lifting and quavering and dying away.”  “That's them,” residents of Clearport would say.  “Hear 'em?  The Five Sisters.”  Retired sea captain George M. Gleasing named his three daughter...

 Dr. Miles Le Breton is called to the remote mountain home of the Dinsmore family in order to look into the mysterious attempts on the life of an old college friend. As the car lurches over the treacherous road leading to the Dinsmore residence, the fall breeze turns into a cold winter wind and Dr. Le Breton begins to feel a hostile and malevolent presence about to engulf him.    Dr. Le Breton's well-liked and good-tempered friend, Fred Morrison is a guest at...

Peter Court is summoned to Dunbar Manor (the stuff in the house is worth millions) at the request of the lady of the house, Nina Galliard, who submitted to an affair with an unscrupulous Italian society man in a moment of rattle-brained, life-thirsty longing to experience what was missing in her marriage, and now finds herself being blackmailed.Nina Galliard's husband is 20 years her senior, and is so stuffy, conceited, rigid, humorless, controlling, and hypocritical (to name a few...

Change the title of this book to Indiana Joan and the Desert Lion and you will have a better idea about the hijinks awaiting the reader in this strictly old-fashioned, but thoroughly engaging and light-headed romantic adventure set in the Arabian desert.  The heroine, Eolia (not Joan) is a gorgeous, cigarette-smoking, adventure-loving, straight-talking daredevil, who neatly dodges marriage to a Methodist minister back home in Kansas (not Indiana) by accepting an invitation to travel t...

Judge Matthew Frole is a hated figurehead, a zealot of the code, intolerant, and feared.  When he's paralyzed from an unknown poison and eventually dies, his wife and children are all suspects  – of a heinous crime. Inspector Norse, first introduced to readers in Door of Death, returns with his expert knowledge and mental acumen to face a mare's nest of issues: the murder of Judge Frole, his deviant family, mistaken identities, and a growing voodoo culture―savage, element...

Maryland fried chicken and cream gravy, asparagus on toast, telephone peas, hearts of lettuce with French dressing, cream cheese balls, and meringue with whipped cream, all freshly prepared by Mrs. Lee, the new manager of the Montenera Inn - an old tavern with native stone and grumbly walls and an evil reputation.  Needless to say, the indomitable Mrs. Lee is not interested in nonsense of that sort. Recently widowed, Mrs. Lee and her spunky daughter, Ann, and young son, Buck, ...