Hodder & Stoughton first paperback edition - 2026
This, the third, in the Will Bowman series looks like it will be the penultimate one. The Black Eagle, due out on 3rd December is apparently to be the final tale. What is even less surprising is the fact that Ben Hope will be back, in his 31st outing on 6th May 2027 - in The Jericho Road. In the early publicity blurb, it states that Ex-SAS soldier Ben Hope has tried to leave his past behind him - both in the forces and the dangerous choices he has made since. But for some people, a quiet life is no life at all. We left Hope and Roberta Ryder strolling barefoot on the sands of Jamaica's north coast, with the latter exclaiming, "'What's happening with us, Ben? Where do things go from here? Will it work out between us?" The reader will have to wait nearly a year to find out exactly what happened to lure Hope and Mariani back to another adventure. My guess is that the author may have found the historical constraints of the Third Crusade period too tight, whereas Hope can go and do wherever and whatever he likes. Equally, if not more, important is the likelihood that Hope's adventures sell better than Bowman's. I only hope Roberta's okay.
What of Die for a King? Although the author, in his Historical Note at the end says it is a novel of two distinct halves, in some ways it can be split into three. The first twelve chapters (pp.1-138) charts Bowman's continued service to King Richard I. Once more, it is a tale of fights against the Saracen, or building/rebuilding forts, castles and walled towns. It sees Richard relying more and more on Bowman, who is given command of the household guard, to act as my right hand man in this campaign and from now on answer only to me personally. Thus, Bowman finds himself yet again in the midst of hand-to-hand conflict. One of Mariani's strengths is his ability to take the reader with any protagonist (be it Bowman or Hope) into such a terrifying maelstrom: ...then the opposing charges slammed into one another with a stunningly violent crash and clash of iron and steel, bodies ramming into bodies, metal pierced flesh and organs, shields splintered and lances shattered, saddles twisted round unseating their riders, swords rang off helmets and struck sparks against other blades, blood flew in the sunlight. Broken horses lay pitifully thrashing on the ground with men crushed under them...
Meanwhile, news comes from England that brother John - Jean sans Terre - is running amok, whilst the perfidious Philip of France is threatening Richard's French lands of Aquitaine, Normandy and Gascony. It was to be the beginning of the end for Richard and his 'pilgrim' armies' hope of conquering Outremer. Bowman is with the King when they finally sight the Holy City of Jerusalem, still far away, a miraculous apparition bathed in gold by the rising sun. The king weeps, covering his face with his tabard and, bowing his head, his broad, powerful shoulders quaked with emotion. "Fair Lord God, " he wept, "I pray thee to shield the Holy City from my sight. For if I cannot deliver it out of the hand of thy enemies, I do not wish to see it". Richard has decided to return to England to sort out his brother.
So, Bowman feels he has had enough of the endless campaigning and (in my second of the three parts) joins the Knights Hospitallers, thanks to his friendship with one of their Brother Knights, Matthew of Hereford. Chapters 13 to 17 (pp. 139-196) chart a relatively brief period describing Bowman's admission to the Hospitallers (it includes an atmospheric account of his interview with its Grand Master), and his time at the famous Krak des Chevaliers - a breathtaking spectacle... dominating the landscape all around and visible from miles away. Bathed in the fiery colours of the sunset its lofty ramparts appeared to shine like burnished bronze... It is while managing a Hospitaller estate, that no less than Richard's mother, the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine (radiating dignified authority from every pore of her being), and wife, Berengaria (the black-haired young beauty) turn up and persuade Bowman to undertake a rescue mission.
It is here that Mariani commences his second 'half'; as he says in his endnote, this is where we largely break away from the documented historical record and go off on a journey...of alternative history, pure conjecture, even fantasy. Too true. Bowman's task is to rescue King Richard from a prison in the lands of Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, viz. the Holy Roman Emperor and more specifically an area run by Duke Leopold of Austria, no friend to the English monarch. The rest of the novel (Chapter 18 to 32, pp. 197-349) details the slow and dangerous journey taken by Bowman and his little band (the same who have been with him from nearly the first - Gabriel the Irishman, Samson, Roderick and old Joe - but now augmented with five other mercenaries) across the Mediterranean to Genoa. Once again, it gives Mariani the opportunity of using his skills to describe a horrific, near fatal storm and an attack by pirates. From Genoa, it is off to Milan, the Brenner Pass and into Austria. Of course, the rescue attempt fails, but not before (for really the first time) the reader has to suspend their disbelief in yet one more fight-to-the-death with Austrian soldiers. There are shades of Ben Hope's 'Mission Impossible' exploits here and it is the only jarring section in the tale.`
Hope and his colleagues reach Marseille, not only to find the two Queens are there but that Richard is to be ransomed anyway. The whole rescue mission had not only failed but had been pointless. Notwithstanding this, Eleanor grants Bowman a little castle in the border region of Northumberland, some miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed. It is but a plane and simple domain, but it will be a home for Bowman and his mates. It also means he will be back for one more time, before Ben Hope takes over.
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