The fate of the British Army rests on a single shot.
In the darkest days of the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington is struggling to contain the French. With his regiments in disarray, falling back to Portugal, he sends his spymaster to discover the source of the enemy’s strength.
When his man returns with news that a deadly factory based in Zaragoza is pumping out a seemingly inexhaustible supply of gunpowder, Wellington knows he needs an elite sharpshooter to take out the maniacal French chemist in charge.
Step forward Thomas Plunket of the 95th Regiment, the “hero of Cacabelos”, who is famous for making the impossible shot. He’s ordered to take three men on a desperate race against time, to assassinate the chemist – or die in the attempt.
About the Author :
Robbie MacNiven is a Scottish author and historian. His published fiction includes over a dozen novels, many fantasy or sci-fi works for IPs such as Warhammer 40,000 and Marvel's X-Men. He has also written two novellas, numerous short stories and audio dramas, has worked on narrative and character dialogue for multiple digital games (SMITE: Blitz and Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground), has written the colour text for multiple RPG rulebooks and has penned the scripts for two graphic novels and three comics, for Osprey Publishing and Commando Comics respectively. In 2022 his X-Men novel "First Team" won a Scribe Award.
On the non-fiction front, Robbie specialises in Early Modern military history, particularly focussing on the 18th century. He has a PhD in American Revolutionary War massacres from the University of Edinburgh - where he won the Compton Prize for American History - and an MLitt in War Studies from the University of Glasgow. Along with numerous articles for military history magazines he has written six books on different aspects of the American Revolutionary War, five for Osprey Publishing and one for Helion Books. He has also written the scripts for ten episodes of the hit YouTube educational channel Extra Credits.
Outside of work and writing, his passions include re-enacting, gaming, and football.
