THE SERIES:

No Quarter: Empires at War, 1756

The new year takes the war north along the Hudson as well as the Hudson Bay. It’s on the bay we find Remy Ducharme, thirty-three, year old Coureurs de bois who is running for his life. He has insulted his Cree in a most aggress way…seducing the patriarch’s daughter.

In the wilderness of Lake George, Fletcher Abernathy, a Rangrer and his partner Ross McGee have their own troubles to deal with. The Chaughnawaga want his scalp for the killing of one of their own and to take a prize, his Pennsylvania long rifle.

In New York, Margaret’s wartime supply business is booming. She is arranging for weekly bateaux to carry ordinances to Albany and Fort Edward beyond. The problem is, there seems to be a shortage of escorts and an abundance of highwaymen. But a French heiress Simone Sévigné seems more than eager to offer her help…well, at least a sympathetic ear.

In London, the noose is tightening for the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Fox when Clarissa reveals odd ledger entries to a studious accountant named Pierpont. When she is discovered dead and Fox points his finger at him, Pierpont reaches out to the precursor of Scotland yard, the Bow Street Runners.

No Quarter: Empires in Peril—1757

1757 is a difficult year for the British. Leadership is failing, Cicatrix and the highwaymen are becoming evermore aggressive attacking supply lines aiding the French. After suffering an attack by Cicatrix on supply bateaux he is guarding, Caleb is given the challenge to hunt down the outlaw gang. However, with the French and native forces massing for a siege on Oswego and Fort William Henry, his small squad is quickly overrun.

Cowman, with orders from the Mark of Lerna, hires assassins a labor, Travis to murder Margaret. He, in turn, gives the chore to Mopus, a sot and weak minded dolt. Despite any deficiencies, Mopus is a lumbering bulk of a man.

Simone, who has used Margaret’s friendship and coffeehouse meetings to gain supply shipping information, now engages her French allies to eliminate Cowman before any more harm can come to her secret source. Under the cover of darkness, Oakley Riagáin arrives in New York.

With the all of Oswego and Fort William Henry, William Pitt realized he needs Newcastle, so once again Parliament is in upheaval. Only this time Pitt is overseeing the Duke to ensure there’s no mischief.

No Quarter: Empires in Flames—1758:

Critically weakened, Lord Fox separates himself from the Duke’s new government. The Mark of Lerna is no longer an option, but the lines of transit are still open. Slipping into the shadows he plots a bold scheme: instead of eliminating Margaret, why not use her influence in the colonies to move non-military goods? There is also another potential smuggler in Boston he could pit the two against each other.

Behind the scenes, out of sight of Pitt, Newcastle has other plans to once-and-for-all eliminate Margaret White. In a dark, dank tavern, he calls on the most deadly assassin in all of England.

Daireann, forced into a marriage (No Quarter II) discovers she’s a widow when her husband, a Quebec nobleman, dies mysteriously. However, she now falls under the “protection” of François Bigot, the lustful intendant of New France whose mistress, Angélique des Méloizes sees Daireann as nothing more than a maid.

Caleb confronts Oakley and his fragmented band of highwaymen in a decisive engagement. Surrounding the outlaws at a remote stone house Caleb is about to open fire when Emmet bursts out of the door.

Daniel returns from London but not before news of a suspicious murder reaches New York. Margaret must somehow smuggle him into the colonies and develop an alibi to save his life. Her only means, the French spy, Simone Sévigné.

No Quarter: Empires in a Stranglehold—1759:

Wàka, having followed the “fire-hair” trail to Quebec spies Daireann on the parapets of the city. At last, she will have to chance to confront the demons that took her Maxk from her back on the blood soaked field at the Monongahela.

Caleb, now scribe for General Wolfe is sent to scout trail from a map smuggled out of the Quebec by Captain Stobo. It leads up a narrow, steep passage to a lightly guarded expanse known as the Plains of Abraham. Caleb studies the map. He recognizes the scribbled on the edge. It’s actually an embroidered message…Daireann is here.

The British navy, blockading the city with unrelenting bombardments has driven many of the French to abandon their homes for Montreal.

Angélique des Méloizes insists on getting away from the continuous noise and debris and wants her servants—including Daireann—to accompany her. But she steals away hiding in the servants passages. Once her mistress is gone Daireann searches for clean clothes only to discover the gold buckles. Made by Caleb, found by Oakley, stolen by Annance, traded for by Ducharme only to then sell in Quebec where Bigot bargains for them as a gift for his mistress but des Méloizes thinks them beneath her and tucks them in a drawer, forgotten about. Just as Wàka finds her.

In New York, the syndicates assassin burns Margaret’s warehouse to the ground and threatening to murder her and her son. With no other choice, Margaret challenges the killer to a duel—a knife fight onboard a neutral ship in New York harbor. Now, as the British army takes the field on the Plains of Abraham for the decisive battle that will determine the outcome of the war for American, Daireann wears the buckles Caleb intended for her back in 1754, just as she is confronted by Wàka. And Margaret meets her match.