The Italian Wars: Book Two: The Adventures of Baltasar Albueno

It Is the wInter of 1502 and the Spanish and French Armies are contesting control of the income and lands of the defunct Kingdom of Naples. Baltasar Albueno and his courtesan friend, Sheba of Tigre, enter into the conflict as agents of Venice on the Spanish side. The French have the edge with money, numbers, and arms, but the Spanish have Gonsalvo of Cordoba, the most successful general of the era. The rest of Europe and the Ottoman Turks look on and hope for a costly and enervating stalemate between the two emerging superpowers.

Baltasar and Sheba, experienced and skeptical observers of their masters’ follies, combine intelligence gathering with private commerce. They bend their efforts to avoiding violence, making their fortunes, and assuring a rapid escape should things go awry. Theirs is a story of friendship and mutual need evolving into an improbable and enduring love as, with imagination and spirit (and an occasional homicide), they strive to survive.