In 1789, France declared itself a Republic.
Four years later, it killed the royal family.
The next year, it killed its Republican leader.
Meanwhile, it imprisoned 300,000 citizens and killed 17,000 by way of the musket ball and the guillotine.
In 1799, an obscure Corsican artillery officer took over the government, the third in ten years.
The new First Consul brought order, but his own position was far less stable than the nation’s.
Supported by England, which feared the spread of Republicanism to its shores, both the radical-Revolutionary Jacobins and the Royalists dedicated to the restoration of the monarchy plotted to assassinate the upstart.
By Christmas Eve, 1800, numerous attempts had been made on the life of the future Napoleon I, Emperor of the French.
THE CONSPIRATORS
GEORGES CADOUDAL, the mastermind behind the Royalist plot to depose Bonaparte and restore the Bourbon throne;
FRANÇOIS CARBON, a career sailor, Cadoudal’s chief accomplice in the field, and the architect behind the atrocity that took place on Christmas Eve, 1800;
PIERRE SAINT-RÉJANT, a former general in the Royalist army, one of Carbon’s partners in the Christmas Eve Plot;
JOSEPH PIERRE PICOT LIMOËLAN, a former Royalist general also, the third participant in the Christmas Eve Plot;
CHARLES PICHEGRU, another Royalist general, recruited later.
THE INVESTIGATORS
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, First Consul of the Republic of France;
JOSEPH FOUCHÉ, Bonaparte’s ruthless Minister of Police;
NICOLAS DUBOIS, Paris Prefect of Police, subordinate to Fouché.
SECONDARY CAST MEMBERS
JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE, the First Consul’s faithless and fashionable wife, First Lady of France;
CÉSAR, Bonaparte’s coachman, an accidental hero.
THE PAWNS
GEOFFREY RANDLE, fourth Earl of Rexborough and one of Cadoudal’s many British sympathizers, financial backers, and fellow schemers;
CAROLYN RANDLE, Lady, Rexborough, married to Randle contemptuous of him, and a veteran of illicit affairs;
CHARLES ESLÉE, a village physician;
MARIANNE DEAUVILLE, a widow of the French wars;
JACQUES MALROUX, a country constable;
THE VIPER, a pioneer in the profession of hired assassin.