Clovelly — Max Brand

Michael Clovelly might not have been the greatest swordsman ever to come to London town during the reign of the Merry Monarch, Charles the Second, but if a better man ever wielded a blade, he had not yet stepped forth to claim the distinction.

Seeking gold with which to elevate his beggarly fortunes, Clovelly chances to encounter a bully, and his fierce swordwork brings him to the attention of Lord Teynham, who has need of a resourceful man with a rapier. The commission: to turn highwayman and rob a certain coach. The reasons? They are both murky and mysterious. But they have to do with a certain lady of impeccable character…. Since his belly is empty, Clovelly dares the hangman's noose for a certain sum of gold -- and barges into more strife and intrigue than he bargained for.

Max Brand was the personal pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust, one of the most prolific writers who ever lived. The creator of characters as diverse as Whistling Dan Barry, Destry and Dr. Kildaire, Faust specialized in Westerns, but also contributed to other genres. He wrote more that five hundred stories, but Clovelly is one of his rare cloak and sword swashbucklers.