"The Forty Five Guardsmen" by Alexandre Dumas. Historical fiction from the time of the bitter conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in France after the St. Bartholomew s Day Massacre and before the reign of Henri of Navarre. According to Wikipedia Alexandre Dumas p ere French for father akin to Senior in English born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie 1802 - 1870 was a French writer best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels including The Count of Monte Cristo The Three Musketeers Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent.