The French Executioner

Originally published: United Kingdom: Orion Books Ltd., 2002.

"If you can find a first impression, hoard it and wait till it rises in value like a first edition of 'Lord of the Rings'. This is as good." Crime Time UK The Tower of London, 1536, and the expert swordsman, Jean Rombaud, is brought from France by Henry VIII to behead his wife, Anne Boleyn. Yet on the eve of her execution Jean swears a vow to the fabled, ill-fated queen - to bury her six-fingered hand, symbol of her rumoured witchery, at a sacred crossroads. But in a Europe ravaged by religious war, the hand of this infamous Protestant icon is so powerful a relic that many will kill to have it... including Giancarlo Cibo, Alchemist and Archbishop of Siena. Stealing the hand, he leaves Jean for dead. Gathering a group of heroic misfits, Jean pursues his quest across a continent. Through battle and betrayal, from clashing blades aboard slave galleys to a black mass in a dungeon, from the hallucinations of St. Anthony's Fire to the besieged fortress of an apocalyptic Messiah, Jean seeks to honor his vow. "Thrilling, funny... painfully poignant." Independent on Sunday, UK

It is 1536 and the expert swordsman Jean Rombaud is to behead Anne Boleyn. On the eve of her execution Rombaud swears a vow to the ill-fated queen. He promises to bury her six-fingered hand, symbol of her rumoured witchery, at a sacred crossroads. Many others also want this infamous and powerful icon.

The first book in the classic vigilante action series from a “writer who spawned a genre” (The New York Times). Overseas, Mack Bolan was dubbed “Sgt. Mercy” for the compassion he showed the innocent. On the home front, they’re calling him the Executioner for what he’s doing to the guilty. In the jungles of Southeast Asia, American sniper Mack Bolan honed his skills. After twelve years, with ninety-five confirmed hits, he returns home to Massachusetts. But it’s not to reunite with his family, it’s to bury them—victims in a mass murder/suicide. Even though Bolan’s own father pulled the trigger, he knows the old man was no killer. He was driven to madness by Mafia thugs who have turned his idyllic hometown into a new kind of war zone. Duty calls . . . Introducing an action hero “who would make Jack Reacher think twice,” this is the first book in the iconic series of vigilante justice that has become a publishing phenomenon (Empireonline.com). With more than two hundred million Executioner books sold since its debut, the series continues to stimulate. Gerry Conway, cocreator of Marvel Comics’ The Punisher, credits the Executioner as “my inspiration . . . that’s what gave me the idea for the lone, slightly psychotic avenger.” The series is also now in development as a major motion picture. War Against the Mafia is the 1st book in the Executioner series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Years have gone by since the events surrounding the death of Anne Boleyn. But her missing hand and all that it represents to the dark world of 16th-century Europe still draws the powerful to seek it out. Jean Rombaud - the French executioner of the first novel - has grown old, both in age and spirit. Wearied by the betrayal of a son and the scorn of a wife, he fights in the seemingly never-ending siege of Siena. Meanwhile, Gianni Rombaud has forsaken everything his ageing father stands for and now kills heathen for the Inquisition in Rome. Then he is summoned by Cardinal Carafa himself. His masters no longer merely want his dagger in the hearts of Jews, they want the hand of the dead queen... But only three people know where it is buried, and one of them is Gianni's father...

Winner of the 1957 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière: A macabre thriller about the dangerous pitfalls of love It was fate that led her to step out in front of the car. A quiet mountain road. A crushed violin. And a beautiful woman lying motionless in the ditch. Carrying her back to his lodging on a beach near Barcelona, Daniel discovers that the woman is still alive but that she remembers nothing—not even her own name. And soon he has fallen for her mysterious allure. She is a blank canvas, a perfect muse, and his alone. But when Daniel travels to France in search of her past, he slips into a tangled vortex of lies, depravity, and murder. Written by one of the masters of French noir, The Executioner Weeps won the 1957 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France's most prestigious literary award for crime fiction writers.

From 1573 to 1617, Master Franz Schmidt was the executioner for the towns of Bamberg and Nuremberg. During that span, he personally executed more than 350 people while keeping a journal throughout his career. A Hangman’s Diary is not only a collection of detailed writings by Schmidt about his work, but also an account of criminal procedure in Germany during the Middle Ages. With analysis and explanation, editor Albrecht Keller and translators C. Calvert and A. W. Gruner have put together a masterful tome that sets the scene of execution day and puts you in Master Franz Schmidt’s shoes as he does his duty for his country. Originally published more than eighty years ago, A Hangman’s Diary gives a year-by-year breakdown on all of Master Schmidt’s executions, which include hangings, beheadings, and other methods of murder, as well as explanations of each crime and the reason for the punishment. An incredible classic, A Hangman’s Diary is more than a history lesson; it shows the true anarchy that inhabited our world only a few hundred years ago. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.