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Series
The Arms of War saga follows the Martingell and Elligan families through the international weapons trade from southern Africa in 1893 to the Italian invasion of Albania in 1939. James Martingell begins as an explorer and gun-runner whose willingness to supply any buyer creates wealth, political enemies and obligations inherited by his daughter and successors.
Each volume moves the business into a new imperial crisis: the Transvaal, postwar Asia, Senussi resistance in Libya and fascist expansion in the Balkans. The series treats armaments as a commercial network linking distant wars, while family loyalty and romance repeatedly complicate the claim that a dealer can remain neutral about how the weapons are used.
Reading order
James Martingell is a self-made explorer, hunter and prospector, and few men know war-torn Southern Africa better than he does. He also sells guns to whoever can afford them. Offered a fortune to deliver a huge stock of weapons to would-be Boer rebels in the Transvaal,…
In 1918, James Martingell is knighted for supplying the British Army, only to discover that peace threatens the arms business on which his fortune depends. He resumes negotiations with Sheikh Azam ud-Ranatullah despite the risk of being branded a traitor. Major Richard Elligan is sent to…
When the Senussi tribesmen of southern Libya rise in revolt against their Italian masters in the 1920s, their main problem is obtaining arms and ammunition to fight against a modern army. In desperation they turn to American soldier of fortune, Clayton Andrews, providing him with funds…
On holiday with three friends in the mountains, Catherine Ames abruptly finds herself in the middle of an Italian invasion. Plunged into a war she never realised was coming, Catherine and a badly injured Roberta are rescued by the American Clayton Andrews. Angry and keen to…