The Complete Escapades of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Volume 7-The Laughing Cavalier and The First Sir Percy

High Adventure in the Netherlands of the Eighty Years War periodAlthough the novels in this volume are part of Baroness Orczy’s ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ series they are set in an earlier historical period than those which follow the adventures of the English daredevil during the turbulence of the French Revolution. Instead, this volume features tales of one of the Scarlet Pimpernels ancestors, Percy Blake (who, in these novels is Frans Hal’s adopted son and the subject of his famous ‘Laughing Cavalier’ portrait) and they take place in Holland in the years 1623-4. The hero of the first novel is one of three mercenaries and this is a swashbuckling tale of high adventure which includes, as the reader might expect, its fair share of intrigue, an assassination plot, romance and rescues. The second novel, ‘The First Sir Percy’, is a sequel and once again features Percy Blake in an adventure which takes place a few months after the first story. Naturally more skulduggery is afoot, but this time the action is played out against an invasion by the Spanish army under the Archduchess Isabella. These two classic and well-written historical adventures, in which the embryonic spirit of the ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ abides, are reminiscent of the ‘Three Musketeers’ and are sure to appeal to all aficionados of the series and the genre.Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.