The Conspirators; Or, The Chevalier D'harmental

Dumas sets his adventure in 1718 Paris, when the infant Louis XV sits on the throne and the regent Philippe d'Orléans rules France. Into this den of political wolves steps the young Chevalier Raoul d'Harmental, honorable, brave, and dangerously naive. A conspiracy forms against the regent, and d'Harmental finds himself entangled in its deadly web. What follows is Dumas doing what he does best: political machinations as treacherous as any swordfight, romance that blossoms in the shadow of the scaffold, and friendships forged in the fires of dangerous loyalty. The story crackles with the energy of the adventure genre at its most pure, duels in moonlit gardens, secret letters passed in crowded ballrooms, and the constant question of who can be trusted when everyone's playing a deeper game. Though perhaps not as famous as The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers, this earlier work shows Dumas already mastering the formula that would make him immortal. It's pure, propulsive entertainment wrapped in the velvet and steel of early 18th-century France.