RACE OF SCORPIONS

Book three of the series of Dunnett's mercantile adventures—which began with Niccolo Rising (1986) and continued in The Spring of the Ram (1988)—features hero. entrepreneur Nicholas (Niccolo) vander Poele's participation in a battle for the throne of Cyprus. Niccolo, the one-time dye-shop apprentice who bested the Borgias at 18 and conquered the Turks at 19, is now a wealthy 21-year-old widower in the year 1462. His beloved wife died while he was fighting the Turks and making his fortune, his stepchildren have locked him out of the family business, and he and his private army are the target of multiple conspiracies. On top of this, both contenders for the throne of Cyprus—Queen Carlotta, backed by the Venetians and the Pope, and Carlotta's illegitimate brother, James, a usurper allied with the Genoans—are demanding Niccolo's support, while an army of Egyptian mercenaries seeks an agenda all its own. The ensuing war is a complicated one, involving a conspiratorial concubine, a love-besotted maid, assorted murders, a number of epic battles, a horrendous siege, and one Machiavellian plot after another. Despite being kidnapped, tortured, tempted by the promise of untold riches, threatened with financial ruin and with death, Niccolo keeps his head and—through courage and cunning—manages to place the crown of Cyprus on the ruler of his choice. Throughout, Dunnett's exhaustively researched 15th-century characters and settings prove excitingly real in this story of an era when making a fortune wasn't just a job, but an adventure. Fabulous fare for all lovers of historical intrigue.