The Man in Grey
Baroness Emma Orczy
 Set in Napoleonic France in 1809, the west of the country is being terrorised by a group of reckless criminals known as "Chouans" (Screech Owls) because they inflict terror by night and go to ground during the day, hiding out in the remains of chateaux left in ruins after the revolution. The group, which contains some of France’s most historic names, commit their crimes under the guise of Royalist convictions, but whether they really seek to reinstate the Bourbon royal line, or whether they are just a pack of lawless brigands is open for debate. "Theirs were the hands that struck whilst their leaders planned--they were the screech-owls who for more than twenty years terrorised the western provinces of France and, in the name of God and their King, committed every crime that could besmirch the Cause which they professed to uphold." They are as much an enigma as the one man who has succeeded in bringing some of these fugitives to justice, a mysterious figure known only as “The Man in Grey”, who is a secret agent for the Government.