France 1589, and on a cold wet January evening, Catherine de Medici, Queen mother of France lies close to death. 

For the people of this war torn country, her demise will be welcome news. The end of the evil Jezebel, mother of kings, whom she dominated, manipulated and ultimately destroyed. On her deathbed, the old queen recalls her long and tragic life. Hers is a tale of power, intrigue and a role in one of the worst atrocities in European history. A tale of the woman that history would label  

-Madame Serpent

The wedding of Marguerite de Valois and Henri, King of Navarre was intended to be a union that would finally bring an end to the wars of religion that had raged throughout France. Instead it became the occasion for the the famed massacre of Saint Bartholomew. One woman would be judged the instigator of the bloodshed - Catherine de Medici, the Queen Mother of France.

Seventeen years later,  and Catherine's life hangs in the balance, haunted by the ghosts from her past while the exhausted citizens of Paris threaten to throw her body to the dogs. 

All titles are copyright Peter Mowbray and are published by Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd