The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers follows young d'Artagnan as he leaves home in Gascony to join the king's guard, in Alexandre Dumas's classic tale of duels, honor, and friendship.

D'Artagnan arrives in Paris with little more than an old sword and a quick temper. Within his first day he manages to challenge three different men to duels — Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, the three musketeers of the title. Instead of fighting each other, the four become fast friends, and d'Artagnan is pulled into their world of swordplay, taverns, and court intrigue.

Soon the friends are drawn into a plot involving Queen Anne, a set of diamond studs given to her by a foreign admirer, and the scheming Cardinal Richelieu, who wants to use the jewels to disgrace her. To save the queen's honor, d'Artagnan and the musketeers race against the cardinal's agents to recover the studs before they are missed. Chief among those agents is the cool, dangerous Milady de Winter, who will become one of the great villains of adventure fiction. Along the way, d'Artagnan falls for Constance Bonacieux, the queen's seamstress, and finds himself caught between romance, loyalty to the crown, and Milady's growing threat.

This is swashbuckling historical adventure, full of sword fights, secret messages, and court conspiracy in seventeenth-century France. It's perfect for listeners who love tales of brotherhood and derring-do, or anyone drawn to a rich historical setting with a touch of romance and danger.

Andrew Bond reads slow and steady, letting the clash of swords and candlelit intrigue settle into something calm and easy to fade out on. Stay with d'Artagnan and his friends as their adventures walk you gently down.