The Traitors

Crowds fill the square in Theos, denouncing Russian spies and the government of Metzger while calling for Nicholas of Reist. Inside his ancestral house, Nicholas weighs the chance to take power as his sister Marie urges him to answer the people. His loyalty to his country is bound up with his family's claim to rule, and the prospect of a republican presidency clashes with his wish for a crown.

E. Phillips Oppenheim's spy novel follows political unrest into private conversations and concealed alliances. Brand describes a secret meeting with Baron Domiloff, who proposes replacing King Ughtred with Nicholas. Brand's articles for an English newspaper make him useful to the plotters, since his reporting can shape opinion abroad. The mountain capital, its old streets and competing foreign influences give the intrigue a distinct setting. Readers interested in the relationship between personal ambition, national loyalty and the press will find those tensions at the centre of the story.