Succession

It is 1782 and the Catholic Supremacy in England is coming to an end under the incompetent rule of Charles Edward Stuart, known widely as 'The Stuart Pretender' for the weakness and disasters of his reign.
When his grandfather James II repulsed William of Orange's invasion in 1688 and then allied with the Sun King, Louis XIV, to invade and destroy the Dutch Republic, he ushered in a golden age, earning the title James The Great. The Catholic Church is restored, the Jesuits and monastic orders re-established, Protestantism and dissent suppressed. In war after war England's armies triumph to reach a pinnacle of power. But then comes old age, illness and dissolution. When James III dies in 1766, England is at her lowest ebb, wracked by civil unrest and riot, rampant poverty and inequality, religious oppression.
Abroad war is endless as mighty empires grapple with each other. Beneath the banners, little-known to the marching armies and powerful fleets, a shadow war also rages, a war of intrigue, spying and violent death. All across Europe, on every front where the great powers – France, Spain and England – confront each other, a vast network of agents fight a secret war, sometimes for their masters, often for themselves.
Now Lieutenant Randall Chastain is returning to England from the Caribbean where he has survived war, siege, rebellion and the murderous intrigues of Catholic fanatics. Soon he is sent on a new mission to war-torn Germany and a real Stuart pretender, James Fitz-James, 4th Duke of Berwick. Braving murderous plots and arrest, he goes on to the Mediterranean where he must rescue a spy to save a throne.

Book 1 in the The Stuart Supremacy series (Pretenders War) sees Randall Chastain drawn into a web of murderous intrigue as rival powers vie to control the wealth of the Caribbean and the Americas