In 1661 Charles II put an end to the diplomatic wrangle between European powers to provide him with a wife. He announced he would marry the sister of the disabled King of Portugal, Catherine of Braganza. As part of the marriage treaty Portugal ceded the strategic north African port of Tangiers to England in return for three thousand English troops to assist Portugal maintain its independence from Spain. The instability of both Portuguese and Moroccan politics and conflict within the city itself forced Charles to send his agent Colonel Luke Tremayne to investigate the general situation and forestall any attempts by Moroccan war lords to undermine English influence. Their possession of an emerald and silver ring becomes crucial to such an end.
Geoff Quaife, born and educated in Melbourne Australia has been a university lecturer, historian and academic administrator spending most of his working life in Armidale in regional NSW. He is the author of academic works on witchcraft and sexual and the fifteen earlier Luke Tremayne adventures.