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Marguerite de Valois
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
A historical fiction novel set in Paris (1572) during Charles IX's reign and the French Wars of Religion. Marguerite de Valois, daughter of …
Chicot the Jester
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
This sequel to Dumas' “Marguerite de Valois” begins four years after the sudden death of King Charles IX and succession of his brother Henry…
The Forty-Five Guardsmen
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
The sequel to "Chicot the Jester" and final book of the "Valois Romances." This story begins six years after the famed &…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 1: The Borgias and the Cenci (version 2)
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent …
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 3: Mary Stuart (version 2)
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
The contents of these volumes of 'Celebrated Crimes', as well as the motives which led to their inception, are unique. They are a series of …
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Karl-Ludwig Sand (version 2)
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
This is the fourth volume of Alexandre Dumas' studies of celebrated crimes and their perpetrators. This volume is concerned with the story o…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Part 2: Urbain Grandier (version 2)
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
This is the dramatic story of Urbain Grandier, a catholic priest, who had a reputation to rival that of Casanova, which ultimately led to hi…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 4: Part 3: Nisida
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
This story details the many crimes (attempted rape, assault, filicide, etc.) surrounding a significant historical confrontation between a fi…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 5: Part 1: Desrues
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
This story chronicles the crimes of Antoine-Francois Desrues (also called "Derues") from his childhood to his execution. Desrues c…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 5: Part 2: La Constantin
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
Dumas chronicles the court intrigues that led to the execution of Marie La Roux Constantin. La dame Constantin was known by French nobility …
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 6: Part 1: Joan of Naples
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
The celebrated crimes committed during the life of Joan (Joanna I) of Naples span from personal misdeeds (adulteries and mariticide) to regi…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 6: Part 2: The Man in the Iron Mask
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
In the late 1600s a man was doubly-imprisoned: his body in an iron cell and his face in an iron mask. Who the “man in the iron mask” was, wh…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 6: Part 3: Martin Guerre
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
Martin Guerre was a French peasant that, during a long absence, was famously impersonated in the 16th century. Although the real Martin Guer…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 7: Part 1: Ali Pacha
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
Ali Tepeleni, Pacha of Janina, rose to power during the early 1800s in one of the Ottoman Empire’s most unruly territories (Albania). His fe…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 7: Part 2: Countess de Saint-Geran
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
This story details the crimes and trial surrounding the unexpected pregnancy and subsequent childbirth of the Countess de Saint-Geran in 164…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 7: Part 3: Murat
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
Amidst the political winds from Napoleon’s downfall, this tale turns our attention to the flight of a former French marshal and King of Napl…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 8: Part 1: The Marquise de Brinvilliers
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
The crimes of the Marquise of Brinvilliers, a French aristocrat during the reign of Louis XIV, included some of the most famous murders, sca…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 8: Part 2: Vaninka
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
The story of Vaninka, generally regarded as the most fictionalized of Dumas’ Celebrated Crimes series, occurs during the short and eccentric…
Celebrated Crimes, Vol. 8: Part 3: The Marquise de Ganges
Read by John Van Stan
Alexandre Dumas
The assassination of Diane de Joannis de Chateaublanc (the Marquise de Ganges) is a fitting tale to conclude Dumas’ celebrated crimes series…
Candide (version 3)
Read by John Van Stan
Voltaire
Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world …