''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...

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.

The last gift given Lady Blanche from her beloved father as a token of his love was a silver girdle – “wrought with figures men and beasts” – to be worn by one who knows lonely sorrow and the pain of toil, but also granting the strength to endure and the right of lordship. Lady Blanche dons the silver girdle after discovering that her new husband, Count Raoul de Roche-Bernard, has not been true to his vows and has betrayed her. Though unhappy in her marriage, when the Count leaves for the ...

Jacklin Baron, an artist of great talent, temperament, and beauty, marries an older man of character and refinement never suspecting that the real love of her life, restless and hungry as the sea, would appear on a trip to Paris and awaken her heart, challenging the path she's chosen and changing her life forever. Published in 1929, this early romance written by renown biographer and novelist, Samuel Shellabarger, is dark and sinuous, gradually capturing the attention of the reader as the ...

Occupants of Greyhouse are slowly and irrevocably being overtaken by an invading current that cannot be expelled. A force that causes a heightening of every mental and sensual power with a corresponding dwindling of all moral scruples. Scary.Dr. Richard Ames is unaware of this danger when he accepts an invitation to visit Greyhouse in order to observe Celia Ballion, it's mistress, who appears to be going crackers. Is it the house that is driving her mad or her husband, Francis Ball...

In underworld parlance, the period between midnight and four in the morning.“A little blarney is the lubricant of life.”Patrick Connelly, a rookie cop with an irreverent attitude and a swell Irish brogue, gets a tough assignment to get the goods on a big dope ring in spite of a doubting chief who believes he's giving the case to an ignoramus with no self-control. Connelly's orders land him on the estate of Bertrand Trenis, where he finds himself surrounded by a slew of susp...

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...

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, elemental, and cruel...

Lord Chesterfield was an immortal of his age, synonymous with the art of gracious living and representative of his world at its best in point of culture, international relations, and the social arts. Yet, today's literary world knows him through an extraordinary collection of letters to his illegitimate son―letters of admonition, encouragement and advice, often two thousand words long, revolving around the love and ambitions Chesterfield held for the boy himself as well as letters to those...

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, are cou...