Late in 1664, the musketeer DArtagnan rode beside a carriage as it left Paris, carrying his friend Nicolas Fouquet to life imprisonment in a cell next door to the Man in the Iron Mask. From a glorious zenith as Louis XIVs first minister and Cardinal Mazarins protg and eventual protector; builder of the stunningly opulent chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte; and patron of the arts and lover of beautiful women, Fouquet had suffered a wretched decline. The story of the rise and fall of Nicolas Fouquet is both compelling and unforgettable. Charles Drazins beautifully written and vivid account brings to life Fouquets remarkable gains in fortune, influence, and power, as well as the lavish and hazardous world of the royal court in seventeenth-century France.