Duke Jean Termonde, French Ambassador to Italy, in a search of information pertinent to French interests, finds a northern Italian city-state preparing territorial expansion among warring cities, a rogue Roman pope with designs on an Italian kingdom, and a French invasion of Southern Italy sponsored by the Avignon anti-pope. Seeking timely information means putting himself in danger and initiating a spy network operating out of the embassy. Friendships with the Mayor of Arles, a French privateer, city-state rulers, and a Vatican cardinal are fraught with adventure and danger. Then a twist of fate moves him into a dangerous situation with the English enemy in the middle of a coup d’état and the Hundred Years’ War.

A writer of mainly factual and historical fiction, Daniel C. Lorti is the author of the Jean Termonde Novels: The Avignon Legacy, Knights of Honor, and Knights in Action, the Jim Factor Novels: The Missing F_ctor and The Business End, which embody Lorti’s professional background as an arms broker in outstanding suspense thrillers, and The Mulligan, a parody on do-overs and his most recent completed novel — all published by W&B Publishing.

An aerospace engineer with sensors, weapons, and intelligence background, he was the Chief Radar Engineer for the Northrop Grumman Corporation and was on President Clinton’s twenty-member committee for Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland. A former international arms broker, he conducted business in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During his career, he, with partners, sold a successful aerospace company to the Northrop Grumman Corporation. A member of Mystery Writers of America and the Historical Writers of America, he currently resides in Newport Coast, California. Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency