David Butterworth

The Buckle And The Blade David Butterworth

A skilled swordsman, a petty officer in the French Emperor's Dragoons, has a career furnished with glitter - until he rots in jail.

Herbert de Villeneuve, a young lieutenant, wields the flashiest of cuts with the sabre. But he shows them off right under the noses of his enemies - jealous officers in his regiment.

Falsely accused of smuggling military secrets, an innocent victim of a frame-up, he is thrown into a Paris jail, sentenced to twenty years.

Six years later, a trustworthy inmate and an upright captain plot an ingenious plan and de Villeneuve escapes.

Sent to an isolated hideout, the captain sets de Villeneuve on his feet and plans a new identity for him - the blackest rigout and most cloaked disguise.

Several months later after fleeing to the west of France, de Villeneuve returns to Paris. Brandishing the sabre once more, the disguised stranger enacts a campaign - of deadly revenge.

Set during the Empire of Napoleon III, and the first of a series, this historical swashbuckler is action-packed with tension, conflict, and glamour. It will stimulate the imagination from start to finish.