Parody; satire; a comic novel packed with hilarious episodes, some macabrely so; the history of a Quest; a page-turner of an adventure tale It is all of these things A French Duc aestivates (mm ) in his Yorkshire retreat, unaware that in the neighbouring county an evil compatriot is about to exploit the weaknesses of two men in order to steal long-hidden artefacts. The Duc accepts a commission from the Catholic Church to find and recover the malevolent Talisman and two scrolls with perilous content. Helped by old friends, a young American astro-physicist and a maimed, aristocratic, exiled...