From the Bookshelf of Espionage Aficionados…

[close] KINGDOMS FALL is a series of three historical novels that tell the story of the First World War from the perspective of two British agents of the fledgling Secret Intelligence Service, now known as MI-6. In the first book of the series, KINGDOMS FALL - The Laxenburg Message, David Gresham and James Wilkins are recruited into the intelligence services during the landings at Gallipoli in 1915. They are sent to Greece to prepare for the Allied landings at Salonika where they meet the rebellious Greek Prime Minister Venizelos preparing for a coup d'état, then to Serbia to rescue King Peter just as the Austrian army invades. After the disastrous retreat from Serbia, Gresham and Wilkins travel to Vienna with a plot to destroy the Hapsburg empire, but when they learn of the imminent enemy attack at Verdun, the young officers must race to France before the German army can “bleed France white.”