Estonia may be at peace but Conrad Wolff, now a master of the Sword Brothers, seethes with anger against a wrong committed against him and his friends. The aftermath will lead to Livonia and Estonia being dragged into international politics as the Papacy intervenes in the affairs of the Sword Brothers and Livonia.
Meanwhile a frustrating war continues against the pagan Lithuanians in the south, a conflict that puts a severe strain on the resources of the Sword Brothers. But it is in the north where a crisis suddenly develops, resulting in Conrad and his order facing annihilation in the freezing wastes. Against this dire backdrop Conrad is forced to make a decision that will have major ramifications for both him and the Sword Brothers. And in the aftermath of that decision a giant of the crusader kingdom in the Baltic leaves the stage.
‘Master of Mayhem’ is the fourth volume of the Crusader Chronicles and continues the story of Conrad Wolff and the Baltic Crusade in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Me, I'm the voice of everyone's conscious in this twisted tale of zip codes, money and murder, for some reason everyone in these homes of lies and deceit don't seem to find me threating. I'll never forget the first time I met Lenni and Guy Wisemen, it was the Summer of 2003 and I was fresh out of real-estate school and my real-estate license was practically burning a hole in my pocket, I was excited about all the money I was going to be making and all the beautiful homes I was going see and be showing. Getting the prime listings wasn't easy at first, but I found a way around that after I slept with this gorgeous flexible yoga instructor named Alonzo Lovely, who I later found out is the husband of Karrissa Lovely who I sold a huge seven-bedroom mansion to in Sedona Arizona. It turned out that Alonzo knew someone who knew someone at the top of the real-estate food chain, and I slept with him too and voila here I am selling mansions to the very, very rich and snobbish.
Zip Codes Money and Murder
Last Spring Charles was shot by a so-called intruder when he walked in on the vandal unexpectedly, poor Charles his arm was in a sling for months after getting shot in the right shoulder, no tennis for him for a while. The stolen property of a few fur coats and JW's jewelry where quickly returned after a pawn shop owner in Phoenix match the serial numbers on some of the jewelry with the police report filed by June and Charles.
The night of the Winter Ball JW walked into the grand entry way of Len's Scottsdale mansion with her grey full-length mink coat hanging from her shoulders. One of the serving staff walked by with a tray of filled champagne and wine glassed and stopped to offer her a drink while another service staff member tried to take her coat, but JW refused. She took a glass of champagne from the drink tray and headed toward the small circle of women with Len being in the center as usual. JW could hear the women cackling like the gossiping hens they were, and she decided to fortify herself with a bit of liquid courage by finishing off the glass of champagne she had in her hand and picking up another off a server's tray while not missing a step as she headed for what she knew to be the lioness den.
"You look like a jack ass wearing that fur coat, for god sakes we're in Arizona!" Karrissa Lovely said fanning herself and rolling her eyes. "Or are you your own security system since the burglary and that's why it looks like you're wearing every piece of jewelry you own?" Karrissa said laughing snootily.
Outraged by the behaviour of the Sword Brothers, King Valdemar has placed a blockade on the whole of Livonia. With the Danes having a stranglehold over Livonia the crusader state is slowly dying, made worse by an outbreak of pestilence at Riga. But when the Danish king invades the island of Oesel the wheel of fate turns and Valdemar finds himself at the mercy of the Sword Brothers and Conrad Wolff, the man he wanted to have executed.
The Sword Brothers and Conrad’s Army of the Wolf save King Valdemar who lifts the blockade, thus saving Livonia. But Conrad has many enemies and an act of wickedness causes conflict to flare up on Livonia’s eastern borders that will threaten not only the crusader state but also the life of Conrad himself.
And south of the River Dvina, among the Lithuanian kingdoms, a great power arises that will have grave consequences for not only Conrad but also for the whole order of Sword Brothers.
This, the third volume of the Crusader Chronicles, continues the story of Conrad Wolff and the Baltic Crusade in the first quarter of the thirteenth century.
Maps of Livonia in the thirteenth century, the Lithuanian kingdoms and the tribal lands of Estonia can be found on the maps page of my website: www.peterdarman.com
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The dogs of war have been muzzled, and now they will be destroyed.
Luca Baldi has some very prestigious enemies – the emperor’s wife, the Queen of Thessaly, Dario Spinola (the richest man in the eastern Mediterranean), the Duke of Athens, and the entire French aristocracy. This is a remarkable achievement for a landless, penniless peasant. Unfortunately, they all want him dead, along with the rest of the Catalan Company.
Luca and his mercenary companions have no allies, no money and no land, and as their many enemies close in on them, it appears their days are numbered. The scene is set for a final apocalyptic battle that will decide the fate of Luca Baldi, the Catalan Company, the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Thessaly and the Latin lords of southern Greece.
‘The Silver Stallion’ is the final volume in the Catalan Chronicles series – the adventures of Luca Baldi and a band of Catalan mercenaries in the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The Sword Brothers have won a great victory and the implacable enemy of their order is dead. There is now nothing to stop the Bishop of Riga from marching north and seizing the whole of Estonia. But in the moment of triumph the seeds of future difficulties have been sown, for the bishop’s German crusaders believe that the fight against the pagans has been won and thus there is no reason for them to stay in Livonia. Faced with a lack of holy warriors to complete his task, the bishop is forced to beg the ambitious King Valdemar of Denmark for military aid, a request that will have disastrous consequences.
While he is away Conrad Wolff, now a veteran brother knight of the Sword Brothers, his reputation high among pagans and crusaders alike, is sent to Ungannia whose ruler Kalju is an ally of the Sword Brothers. There a trivial incident escalates into a full-scale war that results in a great barbarian horde sweeping into Livonia and threatening the very existence of the crusader state.
Conrad is sent on a desperate mission to raise a ragtag army to delay the invaders long enough so Riga can summon crusader knights from Germany. Conrad and his companions soon find themselves battling Cumans, Russians, Lithuanians and Danes as their motley force – the Army of the Wolf – takes the field against the many enemies of Livonia.
This, the second volume of the Crusader Chronicles, continues the story of Conrad Wolff and the Baltic Crusade in the first quarter of the thirteenth century.
The dogs of war have been muzzled, and now they will be destroyed.
Luca Baldi has some very prestigious enemies – the emperor’s wife, the Queen of Thessaly, Dario Spinola (the richest man in the eastern Mediterranean), the Duke of Athens, and the entire French aristocracy. This is a remarkable achievement for a landless, penniless peasant. Unfortunately, they all want him dead, along with the rest of the Catalan Company.
Luca and his mercenary companions have no allies, no money and no land, and as their many enemies close in on them, it appears their days are numbered. The scene is set for a final apocalyptic battle that will decide the fate of Luca Baldi, the Catalan Company, the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Thessaly and the Latin lords of southern Greece.
‘The Silver Stallion’ is the final volume in the Catalan Chronicles series – the adventures of Luca Baldi and a band of Catalan mercenaries in the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
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While Loukas is playing his flute at the seawall one day, he befriends a mysterious talking, dancing snake that rewards him with fortune and favor. Some years later, tempted by greed and pride, Loukas loses all his riches and his family. He must now set off on a treacherous journey through a frightening forest filled with suspense and strange creatures to find Destiny, her son Ilion, the Sun, and her daughter Luna, the Moon. These celestial guardians will surely allow him to reverse his misfortune, restore his honor, and win back all that he loves and treasures, won't they?
A reimagined Greek folktale, Loukas and the Game of Chance is illuminated with dramatic and evocative pen and ink drawings that provide an ideal backdrop for the dark intrigue that fills this haunting story of human struggle, courage, and resilience.
Can the demons of our past ever be completely silenced?
Or are we doomed to carry them into every one of our relationships?
Devastated by the death of his wife, middle-aged businessman Marc Gray sells the development company they built together and moves his life to Aspen, Colorado. Leaving the business behind is easy; but the loss of his wife follows him as closely as a shadow.
On his first night in Aspen, Marc meets Susan. A graphic artist working for a NYC advertisement firm, she’s waiting tables to help support herself and her teenage daughter when Marc walks into her restaurant.
There’s something charming about the way Susan lives her life; ever on the edge financially, ever in search of her happy ending. Marc can’t help but find himself irresistibly drawn to her creative magnetism.
But as they dance around the beginnings of a cautious relationship, Marc and Susan struggle with past hurt and loss; as feelings grow between them, so do questions. Questions with difficult answers.
If they face the truth with honesty, could they finally yield to passion?
A poignant novel that explores the life experiences that follow us into new scenarios and leave their indelible mark on our interactions with others.
I never expected the man I saw as nothing but a billionaire player to be the only person who could rescue me from near insanity.
One moment, everything was perfect.
I was finally Dr. Harlow Lewis, research geoscientist, and I was actually employed at Montgomery Mining Laboratories, the crème de la crème of labs for my specialty. I also had good friends, a supportive parent, and a budding relationship with a great guy. Add all of those things together and it was impossible for my existence to be anything less than ideal.
I had exactly the life I'd always wanted, until it...wasn't.
I guess I never realized that brief periods of perfection could instantly be followed by a nine day, horrific hostage situation that would forever change the woman I'd been before that incident.
Oddly, after my release, the only person who knew that I was struggling to get my life back was Jaxton Montgomery, my billionaire boss, and the king of one-nighters . Not exactly the perfect confidante, right? The two of us barely spoke unless it was company business, especially after I'd turned down a date with him two years earlier. What rational female would want to have dinner with a man who was known for his one-and-done dating behavior?
Maybe Jax wasn't the guy I would have chosen to be the person who would drag me out of the darkness and back into life again, but he was the only one stubborn enough to do it. He systematically broke down all of defenses until I reached out and clung to him like he was the only lifeline I had.
It wasn't until I got to know him that I realized that Jax was so much more than the playboy he was portrayed to be in the gossip columns.
He was patient, he didn't judge, and he had a wicked sense of humor. Even stranger, he understood what I was going through, even when I didn't understand it myself.
Unfortunately, he was also the hottest guy I'd ever met, and as our bizarre friends-but-not-really-friends relationship continued, it was getting harder and harder to fight the intense chemistry between the two of us.
What happens when a guy you thoroughly disliked just a few months ago suddenly becomes your everything?
Jax had helped me claw my way back into my life, but was I brave enough to risk everything all over again to keep the one man I'd always wanted but could never have?
Jerusalem may have fallen to the Saracens but in the Baltic Bishop Albert of Riga has created the crusader state of Livonia to bring the word of God to the indigenous pagans. The battle to convert the natives is savage and unrelenting and into this holy war is thrust Conrad Wolff, a young native of the city of Lübeck whose family has suffered a terrible injustice.
Forced to leave his homeland to seek sanctuary in Livonia, Conrad’s fate is soon entwined with that of the Sword Brothers, the order of warrior monks that fights to defend and expand Christendom in the Baltic. But as Conrad begins his training to become a member of the brethren, the enemies of the Bishop of Riga gather and soon Livonia is surrounded and battling for its very existence.
Conrad and the order soon find themselves fighting for their lives as the enemies of the Sword Brothers close in on all sides.
This, the first volume in the Crusader Chronicles, tells the story of Conrad Wolff and the Baltic Crusade during the first years of the thirteenth century.
The dogs of war have been muzzled, and now they will be destroyed.
Luca Baldi has some very prestigious enemies – the emperor’s wife, the Queen of Thessaly, Dario Spinola (the richest man in the eastern Mediterranean), the Duke of Athens, and the entire French aristocracy. This is a remarkable achievement for a landless, penniless peasant. Unfortunately, they all want him dead, along with the rest of the Catalan Company.
Luca and his mercenary companions have no allies, no money and no land, and as their many enemies close in on them, it appears their days are numbered. The scene is set for a final apocalyptic battle that will decide the fate of Luca Baldi, the Catalan Company, the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Thessaly and the Latin lords of southern Greece.
‘The Silver Stallion’ is the final volume in the Catalan Chronicles series – the adventures of Luca Baldi and a band of Catalan mercenaries in the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Can the demons of our past ever be completely silenced?
Or are we doomed to carry them into every one of our relationships?
Devastated by the death of his wife, middle-aged businessman Marc Gray sells the development company they built together and moves his life to Aspen, Colorado. Leaving the business behind is easy; but the loss of his wife follows him as closely as a shadow.
On his first night in Aspen, Marc meets Susan. A graphic artist working for a NYC advertisement firm, she’s waiting tables to help support herself and her teenage daughter when Marc walks into her restaurant.
There’s something charming about the way Susan lives her life; ever on the edge financially, ever in search of her happy ending. Marc can’t help but find himself irresistibly drawn to her creative magnetism.
But as they dance around the beginnings of a cautious relationship, Marc and Susan struggle with past hurt and loss; as feelings grow between them, so do questions. Questions with difficult answers.
If they face the truth with honesty, could they finally yield to passion?
A poignant novel that explores the life experiences that follow us into new scenarios and leave their indelible mark on our interactions with others.
Find the Best Books of Spring Right Here!
I never expected the man I saw as nothing but a billionaire player to be the only person who could rescue me from near insanity.
One moment, everything was perfect.
I was finally Dr. Harlow Lewis, research geoscientist, and I was actually employed at Montgomery Mining Laboratories, the crème de la crème of labs for my specialty. I also had good friends, a supportive parent, and a budding relationship with a great guy. Add all of those things together and it was impossible for my existence to be anything less than ideal.
I had exactly the life I'd always wanted, until it...wasn't.
I guess I never realized that brief periods of perfection could instantly be followed by a nine day, horrific hostage situation that would forever change the woman I'd been before that incident.
Oddly, after my release, the only person who knew that I was struggling to get my life back was Jaxton Montgomery, my billionaire boss, and the king of one-nighters . Not exactly the perfect confidante, right? The two of us barely spoke unless it was company business, especially after I'd turned down a date with him two years earlier. What rational female would want to have dinner with a man who was known for his one-and-done dating behavior?
Maybe Jax wasn't the guy I would have chosen to be the person who would drag me out of the darkness and back into life again, but he was the only one stubborn enough to do it. He systematically broke down all of defenses until I reached out and clung to him like he was the only lifeline I had.
It wasn't until I got to know him that I realized that Jax was so much more than the playboy he was portrayed to be in the gossip columns.
He was patient, he didn't judge, and he had a wicked sense of humor. Even stranger, he understood what I was going through, even when I didn't understand it myself.
Unfortunately, he was also the hottest guy I'd ever met, and as our bizarre friends-but-not-really-friends relationship continued, it was getting harder and harder to fight the intense chemistry between the two of us.
What happens when a guy you thoroughly disliked just a few months ago suddenly becomes your everything?
Jax had helped me claw my way back into my life, but was I brave enough to risk everything all over again to keep the one man I'd always wanted but could never have?
The dogs of war have been muzzled, and now they will be destroyed.
Luca Baldi has some very prestigious enemies – the emperor’s wife, the Queen of Thessaly, Dario Spinola (the richest man in the eastern Mediterranean), the Duke of Athens, and the entire French aristocracy. This is a remarkable achievement for a landless, penniless peasant. Unfortunately, they all want him dead, along with the rest of the Catalan Company.
Luca and his mercenary companions have no allies, no money and no land, and as their many enemies close in on them, it appears their days are numbered. The scene is set for a final apocalyptic battle that will decide the fate of Luca Baldi, the Catalan Company, the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Thessaly and the Latin lords of southern Greece.
‘The Silver Stallion’ is the final volume in the Catalan Chronicles series – the adventures of Luca Baldi and a band of Catalan mercenaries in the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Can the demons of our past ever be completely silenced?
Or are we doomed to carry them into every one of our relationships?
Devastated by the death of his wife, middle-aged businessman Marc Gray sells the development company they built together and moves his life to Aspen, Colorado. Leaving the business behind is easy; but the loss of his wife follows him as closely as a shadow.
On his first night in Aspen, Marc meets Susan. A graphic artist working for a NYC advertisement firm, she’s waiting tables to help support herself and her teenage daughter when Marc walks into her restaurant.
There’s something charming about the way Susan lives her life; ever on the edge financially, ever in search of her happy ending. Marc can’t help but find himself irresistibly drawn to her creative magnetism.
But as they dance around the beginnings of a cautious relationship, Marc and Susan struggle with past hurt and loss; as feelings grow between them, so do questions. Questions with difficult answers.
If they face the truth with honesty, could they finally yield to passion?
A poignant novel that explores the life experiences that follow us into new scenarios and leave their indelible mark on our interactions with others.
I never expected the man I saw as nothing but a billionaire player to be the only person who could rescue me from near insanity.
One moment, everything was perfect.
I was finally Dr. Harlow Lewis, research geoscientist, and I was actually employed at Montgomery Mining Laboratories, the crème de la crème of labs for my specialty. I also had good friends, a supportive parent, and a budding relationship with a great guy. Add all of those things together and it was impossible for my existence to be anything less than ideal.
I had exactly the life I'd always wanted, until it...wasn't.
I guess I never realized that brief periods of perfection could instantly be followed by a nine day, horrific hostage situation that would forever change the woman I'd been before that incident.
Oddly, after my release, the only person who knew that I was struggling to get my life back was Jaxton Montgomery, my billionaire boss, and the king of one-nighters . Not exactly the perfect confidante, right? The two of us barely spoke unless it was company business, especially after I'd turned down a date with him two years earlier. What rational female would want to have dinner with a man who was known for his one-and-done dating behavior?
Maybe Jax wasn't the guy I would have chosen to be the person who would drag me out of the darkness and back into life again, but he was the only one stubborn enough to do it. He systematically broke down all of defenses until I reached out and clung to him like he was the only lifeline I had.
It wasn't until I got to know him that I realized that Jax was so much more than the playboy he was portrayed to be in the gossip columns.
He was patient, he didn't judge, and he had a wicked sense of humor. Even stranger, he understood what I was going through, even when I didn't understand it myself.
Unfortunately, he was also the hottest guy I'd ever met, and as our bizarre friends-but-not-really-friends relationship continued, it was getting harder and harder to fight the intense chemistry between the two of us.
What happens when a guy you thoroughly disliked just a few months ago suddenly becomes your everything?
Jax had helped me claw my way back into my life, but was I brave enough to risk everything all over again to keep the one man I'd always wanted but could never have?
Gabriel needs to build his team, and for once, he chooses to do it by the rules.
Little does he know the havoc his action will provoke.
He organizes a trip to the mountain, thinking that he will succeed.
Instead, he finds himself with a couple of crimes on his hands, and people think he is the culprit.
Now, Gabriel must show his strength or go down trying.
Will he redeem himself in the end?
A cozy mystery, a bit of romance, and endearing characters.
