Most Popular Books by Samuel Shellabarger

A masterpiece of a story about the last gift given Lady Blanche from her beloved father. Episodically told in chivalric prose, the story unfolds, treasured step by treasured step, as Lady Blanche dons the token so she may wisely and boldly face a lifetime as lady of the castle.

Jacklin Baron, an artist of great talent, marries an older man of character and refinement never suspecting that the real love of her life, restless and hungry as the sea, would appear on a trip to Paris and awaken her heart, changing her life forever.

Writing as John Esteven The Gleasing sisters, she-devils their father calls them, are all like the sea—no pity, no love, no truth; only cunning, strength, power, and, yes, beauty. When murder strikes, all roads seem to lead to the ruthless sisters.

Writing as John Esteven The Montenera Inn is an old tavern with an evil reputation. When the indominable Mrs. Lee leases it to support her family, she tells neighbors that she isn''t interested in nonsense of that sort. However, when faced with a mysterious theft and attempted murder, she has to wonder if the inn''s reputation is justified.

Writing as John Esteven Dr. Richard Ames accepts an invitation to visit Greyhouse in order to observe it''s mistress whose behavior has become most peculiar. Is it the house or her brilliant and unscrupulous husband who is driving her mad?

For five generations the ancestral home of the Tolbecken family had grown, but as their land and fortune dwindles, the Tolbecken family faces the loss of their home as well as a way of life. A well-characterized, well-written novel about life in America at the turn of 19th century.

Writing as John Esteven A rookie cop gets a tough assignment to get the goods on a big dope ring and soon finds himself face-to-face with murder and a corpse gone AWOL.

Set in the early 1500s in Renaissance Italy this novel is the story of Andrea Orsini, a peasant boy who rises far and becomes a secret agent for Cesare Borgia, who entrusts him with the most delicate political, military and romantic missions, Orson Welles was cast as Borgia, Tyronne Power as Orsini in the film version.

Writing as John Esteven Inspector Norse uses his expert knowledge and mental acumen to face a mare''s nest of issues: the murder of a controversial judge, his deviant family, mistaken identities, and a growing voodoo culture—savage, elemental, and cruel.

A new edition of the mid-20th century popular classic of a Spanish nobleman who accompanies Cortez to conquer Mexico.

Writing as John Esteven Dr. Miles Le Breton is called to the remote mountain home of the Dinsmore family in order to look into the mysterious attempts on the life of an old college friend. As the car lurches over the treacherous road leading to the Dinsmore residence, the fall breeze turns into a cold winter wind and Dr. Le Breton begins to feel a hostile and malevolent presence about to engulf him. Dr. Le Breton''s well-liked and good-tempered friend, Fred Morrison is a guest at the Dinsmore home and is engaged to marry Deborah Dinsmore, who along with her two brothers still live in the home of their father, Cyrus Dinsmore, now dead two years. According to the local buzz, Cyrus Dinsmore tortured his wife and crippled his son and is suspected of more than one murder. "A devil seeped in killer''s blood" they say ― blood that still runs in the veins of the Dinsmore children. As a psychiatrist and a criminologist, Dr. Le Breton is more than qualified to investigate the troubled and puzzling Dinsmore family, but as clues and bodies stack up, the life he is most desperate to save may be his own. Satisfyingly eerie and complete with a damp and decaying old house, a cavernous attic, a bottomless pond, a headless something that crawls around at night, and clues cleverly stitched into a lady''s knitting, By Night At Dinsmore a tense and brooding 1930s melodrama of murder and horror worthy of a midnight read by candlelight with the wind howling and the shutters flapping.

An actor living in Venice stabs a man of higher rank and is condemned to a life as a galley slave. Eventually freed, he travels across continents and dons many guises as he struggles to find himself.

Writing as Peter Loring Adventure-loving Eolia Allen accompanies her uncle, Dr.Bridges, on a trip to Bagdad where he has been asked to perform surgery on an old war buddy—a formidable and much respected Arab prince. Blazing sun, blowing sand, and the jingle of camel bells await the reader in this strictly old-fashioned, but thoroughly engaging, romantic escapade.

Writing as Peter Loring Count Falke of Falkenborg, Sweden is deeply in debt and are about to lose the family castle. Marriage to a wealthy American heiress would solve the problem, and the heiress is willing, but, what about the Countess? The heiress must decide if she should reveal a scandalous secret about the young Countess long buried in her past—the only way to win the man she loves.

A young Frenchman and a young Englishwoman are caught in the wild plots and counterplots surrounding the Bourbon conspiracy against Francis I in 16th century France.

A hungry wolf attends a performance of Swine Lake, performed by the Boarshoi Ballet, intending to eat the performers, but he is so entranced by the story unfolding on the stage that he forgets about his meal.

A distinguished, scholarly, elegant and witty biography about Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, one of the immortals of the eighteenth century who represented that world at its best in point of culture, international relations, and the social arts.