Liberté ... égalité ... fraternité ... Treachery! France is victorious as her magnificent empire expands under Napoleon Bonaparte’s brilliant miliary leadership. From the ashes of the Revoloution, a phoenix has risen to spread the grandeur and glory of Parisian culture through the world ... by force, if necessary. The devoted wife of an ambitious young gendarme, Mme. Victoire Vernet—as sparkling and exquisite as a vintage champagne—revels in the Republic’s many triumphs. But when her husband is wrongly accused of theft and murder, the indomitable Vitoire vows to clear his name. It’s a promise that could prove most perilous indeed for a novice investigator, as the trail leads her from the relative safety of the boudoir into the treacherous heart of an insidious conspiracy to assasinate Napoleon himself. DON’T MISS THE NEXT MME. VERNET INVESTIGATION: DEATH WEARS A CROWN