The Last Kingdom by Steve Berry

The Last Kingdom by Steve Berry

King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom. One separate from Bavaria, a place he could retreat to and rule as he wished. But a question remains: Did he succeed?

Enter Cotton Malone. Luke Daniels, Malone's Magellan Billet protégé, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group on the trail of a 19th century deed that proves Ludwig's long-rumored search bore fruit. A document that could not only secure Bavaria's independence, but also change the balance of power in the modern world. The United States, China, and Germany all want it.

In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden inside Ludwig's three fairytale castles, Cotton and Luke battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries all intent on finding the last kingdom.

The Lincoln Myth, The King's Deception, The Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperor's Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Connection, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room are among Steve Berry's New York Times and #1 international bestselling novels. His books have been translated into 40 languages and sold in 51 countries, totaling more than 17,000,000 copies. Every Steve Berry novel is based on historical events. It was because of this devotion that he and his wife, Elizabeth, founded History Matters, a organization dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009, Steve and Elizabeth have traveled around the country raising funds through talks, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular writers' workshops to rescue threatened historic treasures.

Over 2,500 pupils have attended the sessions to date. The American Library Association honored their efforts in 2012, naming Steve the inaugural spokesman for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed to the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to help promote and support the libraries' objective of providing information in all forms to scientists, curators, researchers, students, and the general public. He's been awarded the Royden B.

Davis Distinguished Author Award and Poets & Writers' 2013 Writers for Writers Award His novel The Columbus Affair won the Anne Frank Human Writes Prize, and his historic preservation work earned him the International Thriller Writers' Silver Bullet in 2013. Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia, where he received his education at Walter F. Johnson High School. Mercer University's George School of Law

He worked as a trial lawyer for 30 years, 14 of which he served in elective office. He was a founding member of the International Thriller Writers, a organization of over 2,600 thriller writers from all over the world, and served as its co-president for three years. Visit www.steveberry.org for additional information.