The Last Kingdom

Berry once again proves that history matters, skillfully crafting a fictional story around historical truths in this 17th Cotton Malone novel (following The Kaiser’s Web). This time the Justice Department agent–turned–antiquarian book dealer is searching for clues from 1886, the year when King Ludwig II of Bavaria was deposed. Eccentric almost to the point of madness, Ludwig searched for another kingdom to rule as he hid from the world, dying mysteriously shortly thereafter. Now the CIA, Germany, China, and a rogue band of ex-spies all hunt for the missing documents that could prove whether Ludwig found another country to rule before his death. Malone joins the hunt to determine if another monarch deeded Ludwig some land for his new empire. From clandestine meetings to code-crunching cipher wheels to secret compartments in antique desks that conceal what might be the “keys to the kingdom,” Malone and his protégé Luke must solve King Ludwig’s puzzle and reckon with the truth’s implications for global power dynamics.