A Little Empire of Their Own: A Novel of Old Mexico

This is the first novel the author has published under his own name, though he has published history and political science books as Farcau and thrillers as Alexander M. Grace (Sky Blue). The book tells of the Empress Charlotte, widow of Maximilian, the French puppet emperor of Mexico, and her attempts to avenge herself on the Hapsburg dynasty that abandoned him. The action moves between World War I and Maximilian!s reign in the 1860s. Charlotte!s dupe in her plot of revenge is a forgettable milquetoast of a character named Gerhard, an unofficially disgraced German officer. The war diary of Mexican officer Ricardo Gallardo provides the flashback sequences, scenes containing some well-done verisimilitude, though foreknowledge of Ricardo!s fate lessens much of the punch. One senses a bodice ripper straining to burst out of this book. The story may have worked as a paperback original, but as a full-priced hardcover it is only an optional purchase for larger public libraries."Tom Vincent, P.L. of Charlotte & Mecklenburg Cty., NC
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